Henry James’s short story (or novella, as it’s also sometimes labeled) “The Turn of the Screw,” which was first published in installments in Collier’s Weekly Magazine in 1898, is at the same time one of his most popular works of fiction and also the one that has been most controversially discussed. In fact, the question whether the apparitions the governess sees are real ghosts haunting and trying to corrupt the children or merely hallucinations of a neurotic woman “blessed” with an overactive imagination has stirred so much controversy that it has even led to the formation of two opposing critical camps sometimes referred to as the apparitionists, i.e. those who believe that the ghosts are real, and the non-apparitionists, i.e. those who believe that the ghosts are just a product of the governess’s overactive imagination. This question of the ghosts’ reality is of course closely linked to the role of the governess as the main character and also narrator of the story, as well as her personality, aims, and motives. Therefore, even apart from the question of the ghosts’ reality, which probably will never be solved to everybody’s satisfaction anyway, one aspect of the story seems to be worth having a closer look at: is the governess rather a heroic woman unselfishly and selfsacrificingly attempting to save the children from the evil influence the ghosts exert on them, or a hysterical and overly protective character wanting to possess her charges and control their every move? In order to shed some light on this conflict (which, just like the aforementioned question of the ghosts’ reality, probably can never be definitely solved), I will first try to sum up the basic information on the governess as provided in the prologue to the actual story, then briefly talk about the point of view from which the action is presented in the narrative proper as well as the effects it has on the reader, and finally discuss various possibilities of characterizing and assessing, based mainly on her actions and statements, the governess and her motives, which I will do in connection with a brief outline of the position some more or less influential critics or critical schools have taken in this matter in the time since the story came out. [...]
At a glance
- Grade: 1.0 (1.0 is the best grade)
- Contrasts Edmund Wilson’s psychological reading with Robert Heilman’s ghost-story interpretation
- Examines John Lydenberg’s interpretation of the governess as an authoritarian oppressor
- 10 sources in the bibliography
Table of Contents
1. Table of Contents
A Introductory Paragraph
B The Role of the Governess: Heroic Savior or Possessive Neurotic?
I Basic Information on the Governess as Presented in the Story
II The Point of View and Its Effects on the Reader
III The Governess’s Character and Motives
1 The Governess as a Psychological Case
2 The Governess as the Children’s Unselfish Protector
3 The Governess as the Children’s Possessive Oppressor
C Conclusion
Aim and Themes
This paper examines the governess in Henry James’s The Turn of the Screw, asking whether she is best understood as a self-sacrificing protector, a possessive oppressor, or a psychologically disturbed narrator. It considers her background, the effects of her first-person perspective, and competing critical interpretations of her actions and motives.
- The governess’s social background and relationship with her employer
- First-person narration and the reader’s dependence on the governess
- Psychological and supernatural interpretations of the apparitions
- The governess’s protective and possessive relationships with the children
- Contrasting critical approaches to James’s story
Excerpt from the Book
The Point of View and Its Effects on the Reader
We must be equally careful when it comes to the narrative proper. The reason for that is the point of view from which the action is presented here. Obviously it is presented from the governess’s point of view, which means we have a first person narrator who is at the same time the protagonist of the story. The effects of this are pretty obvious and actually needn’t be discussed at length. By seeing the events through the governess’s eyes, the reader virtually becomes a participant in the story. Moreover, he is completely dependent on the information he is given by her and on how she perceives the action going on around her. Of course one might rightly object that the reader of a fictional text is always dependent on the narrator, his readiness to give information and his judgement of the things happening; still, in the case of “The Turn of the Screw,” this fact is especially significant as there is no all-seeing, all-knowing omniscient narrator floating, as it were, above the events and objectively providing us with all the facts we have to be aware of. Instead, we have a narrator who only has a very limited perspective. This limited perspective forbids the governess to have insight into everything which is going on so that she can only speculate about events which remain concealed from her and the thoughts and intentions of the other characters she’s dealing with. However, it’s not only that there are things she simply cannot have any knowledge of. As she’s not just an observer watching things from a distance and not in any way personally affected by what’s happening, but an acting character directly involved in the events she’s relating to in her narrative, she probably can’t be fully objective. In fact, the reader must carefully evaluate what he’s told by the narrator. That doesn’t mean he should persistently disbelieve or distrust everything the governess says, because then there would be no story. We certainly must accept her rendering of the basic events or the conversations she has with the children or Mrs. Grose as the truth. What we should not blindly trust and take for granted, however, is her judgement of these things and her own actions. For instance, simply because the governess claims the children and the ghosts “perpetually meet” (236), it doesn’t necessarily mean that this is actually the case. Likewise, simply because she fancies herself an “expiatory victim” who’s mission is to “guard the tranquillity of the rest of the household” and “absolutely save” (195) the children, that doesn’t mean we have to share her view.
Chapter Summaries
Introductory Paragraph: The introduction presents the controversy over the apparitions and frames the question of the governess’s character and motives.
The Role of the Governess: Heroic Savior or Possessive Neurotic?: The main chapter examines the governess’s background and narrative perspective before considering psychological, protective and possessive interpretations of her role. It draws on passages from the story and on contrasting critical positions.
Conclusion: The conclusion reviews the competing characterizations and reflects on the story’s interpretive ambiguity and critical reception.
Keywords
Henry James, The Turn of the Screw, governess, narrative perspective, unreliable narration, apparitions, hallucinations, psychoanalytic criticism, sexual repression, childhood, protection, possession, literary interpretation
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the paper about?
It examines the governess’s character and role in Henry James’s The Turn of the Screw.
What are its central themes?
The paper explores narrative perspective, the disputed reality of the ghosts, the governess’s motives, and her relationships with the children.
What is the main research question?
It asks whether the governess is a self-sacrificing protector or a possessive, potentially harmful figure.
What method does the paper use?
It uses literary analysis of the story’s narration, characters and passages, alongside discussion of published critical interpretations.
What does the main chapter cover?
It discusses the governess’s background, the effects of her first-person narration, and three interpretations of her character and motives.
Which keywords characterize the paper?
Key terms include Henry James, The Turn of the Screw, governess, narrative perspective, hallucinations, protection and possession.
How does the paper approach the governess’s narrative perspective?
It considers how her limited and personally involved perspective shapes the information available to readers and requires them to assess her judgments.
Which contrasting critical interpretations are discussed?
The paper considers psychological readings associated with Edmund Wilson, supernatural readings associated with Robert Heilman, and John Lydenberg’s portrayal of the governess as an oppressor.
- Quote paper
- Bernd Steiner (Author), 2001, The Governess in Henry James's The Turn of the Screw - Heroic Savior or Possessive Neurotic, Munich, GRIN Verlag, https://www.grin.com/document/70461
