Henry James's "The Turn of the Screw": Are The Ghosts Actually Real?

Throughout the novel Turn Of The Screw by Henry James, there is plenty of evidence that proves the Governess is insane.In the novel she is constantly thinking irrationally, she turns against the people she trusts and the children she adores, and there is a significant amount of evidence that the ghosts are all apart of the governess’ imagination. The governess’ irrational thinking, paranoia, and hallucinations prove that she is insane and that the ghosts are all in her head.

In Henry James’s The Turn of the Screw the governess believes that the ghosts of Peter Quint and Miss Jessel, the past governess, haunt Flora and Miles. The governess believes that they contribute to the poor behavior of Miles and Flora. The ghosts appear to be real to her when in all reality she is only imaging them. Whenever she sees Miss Jessel or Peter Quint, Miles, Flora, and Miss Grose do not seem to see them. The governess may be seen as a heroine in this story, but her insanity appears in many examples throughout The Turn of the Screw.

Henry James’ The Turn of the Screw is one of the more disputed texts in all of literature, as it is famously known as an ambiguous text. The primary uncertain element of is whether there are ghosts scaring the governess and the children, or whether the governess is actually going insane. Even though a certain portion of the text is ambiguous, there are other portions of the text that are much more black and white. For example, the relationships in this novella are nothing close to normal. There are three key relationships in The Turn of the Screw: the Governess and Mrs. Grose, the Governess and Miles, and the governess and Flora. All of these relationships show how the governess’s maternal instinct influences her interactions and

The governess, in her mind, believed she knew what the intentions of others were though, in reality, she had no evidence. After a simple agreement about the children's activities, the governess believed that herself and Ms. Grose would be in some sort of pact or pledge where they saw eye to eye on all situations. After this interpretation of Ms. Grose as a close friend, the governess began to feel distraught when Ms. Grose was busy cleaning the house and didn't habitually stop work to consult with the governess.

Miles represents a socially and sexually corrupt figure by the ghost of Peter Quint who violated status on two occasions. His being “too free” with Miles leads to controversy as well as his love affair with the previous governess. The governess’s knowledge on the history behind Quint and Miles changes drastically as she learns more information to discover truth. Her rejection of the idea that Miles could be “bad” transforms into an obsession noting his every action in hopes to reveal that the children are being possessed by ghosts. Despite the connotation of Quint’s clash of class boundaries, the text also suggests the potential homosexual nature of his association with Miles. Therefore, the ghost of Quint stands for everything the Governess is afraid of, and his sense of menace dictates Miles living through his identity.

It is not surprising that Henry James’ “The Turn of the Screw” could be considered a decidedly unsettling novella. The main narrator of the story, the governess, is constantly placed into situations where, coming from her point of view, appear to be fantastic and unnatural. Apparitions, mysterious deaths, and unlikely events begs the question of what really might be happening at the Bly estate. Flora’s act of being able to row the boat by herself to the opposing shore infers that Flora is superhuman, and quite possibly, a child that is possessed by a supernatural being.

As readers we join her in these fears but we are conflicted as know the irrationality and we are aware of her untrustworthiness as a narrator. We as readers begin to see the ambivalence that the children embodied; they are delightful and angelic but we are unconvinced of their nature. Her overbearing approach to protecting the children seems to have an adverse effect on them , however we are only left to assume how they feel as we do not know what they feel. We start to see the cracks in the governesses armour and we become aware that she is trying to find out what if the children are seeing the ghosts, to the reader this seems like a harmless thing to do, and possibly the children are at faulty, but when looking at it from the perspective of the children on can see that the governess is struggling to hold it together and may be terrifying. This puts more doubt about the ghost existence or purpose at Bly.

When she is watching Flora play at the lake, she sees the ghost of Miss Jessel. She thinks that Flora sees her when she says that "[Flora] had, in her play, turned her back to the water… [and] the governess's apprehension of what she was doing sustained [her]" (James 29). There is no evidence suggesting that Flora sees the apparition that the governess sees. The governess is afraid of what Flora is doing, even though she is simply playing by the lake. Since the governess is afraid of a ghost that Flora cannot see, indicating that it is not real at all, she is insane. Later in the story, Mrs. Grose points out that she cannot see the apparitions. She and the governess find Flora on the lake, but the governess notices that the ghost of Miss Jessel is also watching over them. After pointing her out, Mrs. Grose asks, "'What a dreadful turn, to be sure, miss! Where on earth do you see anything?'" to which Flora replies, "'I see nothing,'" (James 71). This shows that the governess sees things that are not real. Instead, these images are just part of her own imagination and are unverifiable because the other characters cannot see them. The governess is a deranged woman because, according to the other characters, the ghosts she sees are not

The governess in the Turn of the Screw hallucinates ghosts throughout the novella. The novella is in order of all of her memories on the situation and is in her perspective. In the Turn of the Screw, Henry James reveals an ambiguous reality through the governess, who eventually doubts her own perceptions. In the beginning, the governess trusts her own perception entirely, but after some time it is revealed through her actions that neither she nor the readers can completely trust her perception of what is real and what is not. The governess’s misconceptions of reality are contributors to her ghost sightings. She is a very suspicious and doubtful woman. Her suspicions cause her to know and see things she does not want nor need to know or see. The governess is loving and affection toward Miles and Flora, but her affection exceeds its limits.

Henry James’ The Turn of the Screw has been described as one of the best ghost stories of all time. However, there is clear evidence that the main character, the governess, suffers from delusions. The strange events that occur throughout the story happen in the estate of Bly. The anomalies, described as horrors or ghosts, only come to light after the governess arrives. These events are due to creations of the governess ' mind, her controlling intent to protect and overrule the children, and her unstable mental state. In this way, her thoughts and her actions are the cause of the strange events at Bly.

As ‘The Turn of the Screw’ was written in the 19th century when most of his family were famous and praised for their study of the mind and investigations into spirit phenomena, this could have inspired Henry to write the story. The fact that his older brother was famous and successful man when it came to psychology and physiology may have contributed to sibling rivalry. Henry had written novels that hadn’t sold well and had written plays that were far too intellectual for many of the general public to even watch. Writing a psychological ghost story in a spirit-obsessed era when his family were renowned for their knowledge seems to be best explanation as to why the novella was written.

The Turn of the Screw is one of the most controversial works in literature and the text has provoked a variety of critical interpretations from its publication in 1898. In this novel, the governess tells her experience with two apparitions that no one but she could see. And the governess accuses the ghosts of servants for corrupting the children, Miles and Flora. Critics concerning about the truth of the story are divided two basic camps based on their acceptance or rejection of the governess's credibility as a storyteller. Some critics believe that the ghosts are real and the governess is a rational and credible narrator, while the others believe that the ghosts are hallucinations of the governess and regard the governess as an incredible and mentally abnormal narrator. Also, we could speculate the author’s intention on the basis of his life experience and other works of Henry James. This essay will examine the reliability of the governess on the basis of the text and interpret Henry James’s intention on the basis of other sources.

Hamlet is not the first one to see the ghost, Marcellus and Bernardo were. The next night it appeared to Horatio as well. It was only after its first two appearances that Hamlet got a chance to see the ghost. At this point the reader doesn't have much of a choice but to take the ghost at face value. If several characters saw the ghost…there must really be a ghost. It's not until Hamlet's second encounter with the ghost that the reader is asked to decide whether they buy into the idea of the ghost being real.

At the outermost layer of all, the title of the text itself, "The Turn of the Screw", imparts an ominous atmosphere. Whether or not the "screw" refers to a sinister thumb-screw for torture purposes, or merely to a simple fastening device, the implication is that a ghost story involving children is a degree more oppressive than one that concerns only adults.3 In the second paragraph of the text, Douglas says, "If the child gives the effect another turn of the screw, what do you say to two children-?"4

In The Turn of The Screw by Henry James the governess keeps seeing these mystical beings that may be real, or in her head. The article Believing Is Seeing by Barry L. Beyerstein shows a message that people can see a mystical being and their are explanations behind their citations that prove the appearance they see are not real. Whether you believe in ghosts, or believe that ghosts are fake, I will prove that ghosts are not real in The Turn of the Screw and how informational texts contribute to these types of explanations.