McKenzie

Maureen McKenzie

EH 273

Dawson

16 September 2008

A Turn of the Screw Response Paper: Option #1

Being a non-believer in ghosts myself I fall into the critical camp of the ghosts being figments of the narrator’s imagination in A Turn of the Screw. I base this critical perspective in the fact that the ghosts were selectively seen by her and that her creation of this ghostly psychosis could be rooted to her fear of inadequacy in tending for the children.

        The beginning of the actual story creates a narrative voice that may be firm but is also easily convinced to take a job she is unqualified for and is unsure of due to the charms of the Master of Bly and his willingness to take anyone for the job who is willing and attractive. “She was young, untried, nervous: it was a vision of serious duties and little company, of great loneliness…on a second interview she faced the music, she engaged” (121). Once she chooses to take the job she of course is told that she will never interact with him again, putting her in a position in Bly Manor of great power and decision making that she is inexperienced with doing and won’t have to answer to anyone if she makes a poor decision. Such a position of power and responsibility taken in such naïveté has many times over throughout history proved to create hardship and paranoia for the individual in power. (Just look at the history of any monarchy.)

        On top of all this there is seedy history in the Bly house; the last governess is dead and so is Quint, the master’s handy man, and the two of them were having an “infamous” affair (152). “Oh of their rank, their condition…She was a lady…And he so dreadfully below…I’ve never seen one like him. He did what he wished,” as Mrs. Grose described the affair (152). As the story is slowly unfolded to the narrator by Mrs. Grose, it turns out that Miss Jessel died mysterious while on leave and Quint likewise speciously found dead on the side road. Of course being of lower ranks and risking the possibility of shame on the house, none of the servants speak openly of this tragic happening. But this is not the only circumstance of controversy that arises while she is the charge of Bly.         

        In taking this charge she of course is faced with her first decision when she receives information of Miles’ expulsion from school. With Mrs. Grose speaking so highly of Miles, the narrator is unsure of how to approach this information. As we later find out, Miles was expelled for talking dirty to the ladies. “Well—I said things…it was only to—I don’t remember their names…only a few. Those I liked…they must have repeated them. To those they liked…it was too bad” (216-7). When considering Miles’ male role models, Quint and in brief periods his uncle, no wonder he likes to talk dirty to girls. Quint was having a roll in the hay with the previous governess and his uncle is a notorious bachelor who only hires attractive governesses.

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        The narrator is confronted with the contradictive impression she is given of Miles by Mrs. Grose versus the information of the child’s expulsion. Rather than logically getting as much more information as possible by asking the school what he did to deserve the expulsion the narrator goes to Mrs. Grose for advice. She has been instructed to never disturb the Master with any issues but doesn’t have the experience to know how to deal with them. Mrs. Grose being of lower rank, making it hard for her to speak ill of the children, and having a lack of education herself ...

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