Jane K. Marshall
The novel opens on a Christmas Eve when a group of people are gathered to hear ghost stories. A man named Douglas recalls a particular horrifying story having to do with two children. He says he must find the manuscript entrusted to him by the governess of his sister’s children in order to tell the story. As it turns out, the story is the governess’ story; it describes her first employment experience. It seemed she was to have full responsibility for two children, Miles and Flora, and was not to trouble her employer, their uncle, with any problems which might arise.
Her story opens with her arrival at Bly, the country home of the children. There she is greeted by the housekeeper, Mrs. Grose, who describes the children as perfect and beautiful. The governess grows very fond of the children. She soon learns that Miles has been expelled from school, but initially assumes this to be unimportant.
The story continues, and the governess appears to grow even fonder of the children. At one point she secretly wishes that her employer, with whom it seems she is infatuated, could see how well she is handling her responsibility. It is at this point that she notices a strange man standing on a tower. She later sees him again this time peering through a dining room window, and decides to discuss the event with Mrs. Grose. The conversation leads both women to conclude that the man was the ghost of Peter Quint, a manservant who had been dead for about a year.
It is not long before the governess encounters yet another ghost. This spirit, it turns out, is the ghost of Miss Jessel, a former governess to the children, who too had been dead for a year. Mrs. Grose informs the governess that Jessel and Quint had both been “too familiar” with the children, and were “intimate” with one another.
The governess concludes that these ghosts are trying to communicate with the children, and seeks to find out whether the children are indeed aware of them. She soon decides that they are, for one night she finds Flora peering out a window and Miles standing outside looking at something. It is at this point that the governess vows to protect the children from the evil forces.
The governess soon is confronted once more with the ghost of Miss Jessel. She tells Mrs. Grose that the former governess is tormented and wishes to control Flora. At this point the governess decides that, despite her employer’s orders, she will inform him of the visitations and of the danger she feels her charges to be in.
Later that day the governess again sees the ghost of Miss Jessel, and asks Flora to identify her. Flora becomes hysterical, refuses to identify Jessel, and begs Mrs. Grose to take her away from the governess. The housekeeper claims not see Miss Jessel and whisks the child away.
The next day the housekeeper tells the governess that Flora has used terrible language. She feels the child has been in contact with evil, and decides to take her away to London. It also comes out that the letter written to the children’s uncle was never posted.
The governess remains at Bly with Miles. She tries to talk with him about school and about Quint. That evening Quint appears. The governess forces the boy to look at him. As a result of being “dispossessed” the boy’s heart fails and he dies.
Criticism:
Criticism of
The Turn of the Screw
, as mentioned previously, is vast and diverse. The novel seems to have captured the imaginations of several generations of critics; indeed, reactions have been published at nearly every decade of the twentieth century. The debate has been intense, and retractions have even been written. New ways of looking at this novel seem to be never-ending.
It is impossible to do any of these treatises justice in a paper of this length. I can only give rather sketchy versions of various critics’ positions; I suggest that the teacher refer to the Norton Critical Edition of
The Turn of the Screw
or to various books and articles mentioned in the teacher bibliography of this unit to gain a clear or complete picture of this phenomenon.
The Critics:
Harold C. Goodard—”A Pre-Freudian Reading of The Turn of the Screw”
Goddard contends that the governess is insane even though the existence of the ghosts is left open; “Whether the insane man creates his hallucinations or whether insanity is precisely the power to perceive objective existences of another order . . .no open-minded person can possibly pretend to say.” *This critic points out that the governess initiates the appearances of the ghosts. She alone sees them; the housekeeper, even near the end of the tale, denies having witnessed such visions. He also points out that mention is made of the governess’ unstable background; it seems that her father suffered from some mental aberration. Given the immense pressure of a new and unaccustomed responsibility, that of managing a household, it seems possible, if not probable, that the susceptible mind of this governess would “give way”. The governess has repressed her love for the master of the house whom she had been forbidden to contact; what follows is a reaction to “repressed love and thwarted maternal affection”.
Edmund Wilson—”The Ambiguity of Henry James”
According to Wilson, in his first criticism of
The Turn of the Screw
, the governess is disturbed, and this disturbance is of a sexual nature. Thus the ghosts are hallucinations or the product of sex repression. The governess fell in love with her employer; “her later behavior is meant to impress him”. Latent sexual repression is also seen in her too intimate attitude toward the little boy, Miles. Wilson also notes Freudian symbols such as the tower. The governess, then, is responsible for Miles’ death. She alone, frightens him to death.
Wilson was later to respond to another critic’s question: How was the governess able to describe Quint in such detail when she had never before seen him? Wilson concluded that James’ “personal and authorial blind spot was sex”. “His inability to confront, perhaps even to understand sexual feelings, was transformed into the ambiguity of the governess. In
The Turn of the Screw
, not merely the governess is self-deceived, but James is self-deceived about her.”
*This and all subsequent quotes refer to the
Norton Critical
Edition:
The Turn of the
Screw
.
Robert Heilman—”The Turn of the Screw as Poem”
With Robert Heilman’s criticism comes an entirely different view of
The Turn of the Screw
. He claims that there are ghosts which the governess can see. The ghosts are symbols of evil. The intuitive governess attempts to ward off this evil. The children are victims of this evil. Mrs. Grose, the housekeeper, symbolizing as she does the “commonplace mortal”, cannot perceive the evil, well-intentioned as she is. The story embodies the “oldest of themes the struggle of evil to possess the human soul.”
Heilman’s essay makes much of the symbolic quality of the work. The children themselves are symbolic. The names have a “representative quality, Miles—the soldier, the archetypal male; Flora the flower, the essential female”. The setting is also symbolic; “there is the suggestion that this is the story of the decay of Eden”.
Heilman notes that the story is reminiscent of a Miltonic myth. This is a dualistic view of reality. How could Miles be an angel at home and a fiend at school? “By the angel-fiend antithesis, James underscores what he sees as a central human contradiction.” Miles struggles bitterly with evil. The governess, at one point, becomes a “sister of Charity”, and attempts to cure Miles. She also attempts to get Miles to confess, for only through confession will Miles gain self-will or “become accessible to grace”.
Yet, the story ends with Miles’ fall. “We have, then, a modern late-fall defeat patterned on the ancient springtide victory.” (We have, in essence, a “Black Easter”.)
Eric Solomon—”The Return of the Screw”
Eric Solomon reads
The Turn of the Screw
as a mystery. Murder has been committed. The motive is ambition and greed; the culprit is Mrs. Grose, the housekeeper. Solomon sees duplicity in Mrs. Grose’s statements to the governess. Much of what is said can be read with ironic meaning, once the possibility of evil in Mrs. Grose is considered. Mrs. Grose wishes to better her position. She also wishes to control Flora. She induces madness in the governess and thereby secures her position.
Solomon also suggests to the reader the possibility of Peter Quint’s murder. The motive in this case is jealousy. Quint, Mrs. Grose’s former lover, was not only intimate with Miss Jessel, but tried to gain control of the children. Mrs. Grose will not be usurped by anyone especially a social equal.
Solomon gives many examples of the duplicity of Mrs. Grose through her own ironic statements. He also points out that the governess had initial misgivings about taking over Mrs. Grose’s position. He even finds evidence in a pun. At one point the governess senses that someone is “practicing upon her”; “there was but one sane inference: someone had taken liberty rather
gross
.”
ADDITIONAL CRITICISM:
Oscar Cargill—”The Turn of the Screw and Alice James”
Cargill believes that James is really writing about the mental illness of his sister, Alice. James’ sensibility and his admiration for his sister’s courage in the face of such a disease, allowed him to write about it only in a much disguised form.
Joseph J. Firebaugh—“Inadequacy in Eden: Knowledge and
The Turn of the Screw
.
The governess destroys the innocent children by imposing evil upon them. The governess believes in the essential sinfulness of all mankind.
Dorothea Krook—”The Turn of the Screw”
Krook feels the novel shows the co-presence of good and evil. Governess and children are innocent and guilty. It is impossible to “determine the degree of innocence in the guilty and of the guilt in the innocence.”
John Clair—”The Turn of the Screw, The Ironic Dimension in the Fiction of Henry James”
Miss Jessel and the uncle are the parents of Flora and Miles. Miss Jessel is mad, and is locked in the tower; Quint is her guard. Mrs. Grose controls what goes on at Bly.
Stanley Trachtenberg— “The Return of the Screw”
Douglas is Miles. He confesses an unspecified childhood guilt through the story. The whole story is a deathbed confessional.