The Significance Of Ghosts In The Turn Of The Screw By Mr. James

The Ghost in Hamlet cleared out the event that Hamlet was uncertain of. The spirit clarified the death of King Hamlet, and caused Hamlet to perform his evil deeds. The Ghost’s request to avenge him caused the death of Hamlet’s family, friends, and eventually himself; therefore, the spirit can be viewed as evil because it failed the four tests that was set by Lewes Lavater and the Church.

Henry James's Turn of the Screw was written in a time when open sexuality was looked down upon. On the surface, the story is simply about a governess taking care of two children who are haunted by two ghosts. However, the subtext of the story is about the governess focusing on the children's innocence, and the governess trying to find her own sexual identity. Priscilla L. Walton wrote a gender criticism themed essay about the Turn of the Screw, which retells certain parts of the story and touches on the significance they provide for the sexually explicit theme. Walton's essay is accurate because James purposely put an undertone of sexuality and identity confusion in the Turn of the Screw.

Through out the short novella, 'The Turn of the Screw,' by Henry James, the governess continually has encounters with apparitions that seem to only appear to her. As Miles' behavior in school worsens so that he is prevented from returning, and as Flora becomes ill with a fever, the governess blames these ghosts for corrupting the children, Miles and Flora, and labels them as evil and manipulative forces in their lives. But why is it that these ghosts only seem to appear to the governess even when the children are present at the time of the sightings by the governess? Evidence from the short story leads the reader to believe that the ghosts are not real but are merely the evidence of the fragmenting sanity of the governess.

One of the most critically discussed works in twentieth-century American literature, The Turn of the Screw has inspired a variety of critical interpretations since its publication in 1898. Until 1934, the book was considered a traditional ghost story. Edmund Wilson, however, soon challenged that view with his assertions that The Turn of the Screw is a psychological study of the unstable governess whose visions of ghosts are merely delusions. Wilson’s essay initiated a critical debate concerning the interpretation of the novel, which continues even today (Poupard 313). Speculation considering the truth of the events occurring in The Turn of the Screw depends greatly on the reader’s assessment of the reliability of the governess as a

The book I chose for my Theme Project is Breathe: A Ghost Story by Cliff McNish. In his new rural house, a young boy with a dead father begins sensing ghosts of children, and a mother, in the house. The Ghost Mother meets Jack and offers to become his mother, and he accepts. But when he finds out that the mother has been doing horrible things to the Ghost Children, and killed her daughter, she resorts to possessing his mother. She slowly kills off the four children, sending them to the hellish Nightmare Passage. After sitting down once, the boy communicates with the daughter on the Other Side. She tells of how her death from pneumonia drove the mother to suicide, and refused to go with her loved ones to the Other Side. Finally, with

Ambiguity in The Turn of the Screw The Turn of the Screw, is a tale about two young children who live under the care of their newly hired governess out in the countryside at Bly. Shortly after the governess’s arrival, two ghosts sporadically appear to her, but it is not long before she realizes that they are not there to see her. “On the spot there came to me the added shock of certitude that it was not for me he had come there. He had come for someone else” (James 34). Also, it just so happened that the people who the ghosts decided to come for, where the children she would now be looking after.

Interpreting The Turn of the Screw by Henry James from a Marxist point of view brings about serious social class distinctions and consequences of violation within that code. Miles and the unnamed Governess’ relationship demonstrate the wrongdoing of social and legal norms. The Governess’ indeterminate social status leave her as a forbidden woman in Victorian society taking on the role of primary caretaker to children, while Miles embodies the character of the absent master to whom the Governess feels intimately attracted. Mile’s union with rebellious, symbol of threat, Peter Quint, ultimately possesses him and lead to the breakdown of the social hierarchy. The Governess and Mile’s connection display the

The Governess’s psychology state of mind plays a role to understanding whether the ghost manifests the children, or whether The Governess is nevertheless, mentally ill. Gender Role is also a huge element of “The Turn Of The Screw” as The Governess, being a woman, fills the role of a mother to mile’s and Flora. The children’s innocence and actions are nevertheless questionable, as they seem to hold a secret that they do not disclose. Nevertheless, the perception of The Governess is questionable since she seems to be the only one that visually sees the ghost.

The major plot of “The Turn of the Screw” is that the governess is trying to protect the children from the ghosts she is seeing, she even continues to do this when she starts to feel that the children have been corrupted by the spirits. She even begins to plead with the children to guide them away from the apparitions. “’Dear little Miles, dear little Miles, if you knew how I want to help you! It`s only that, it`s nothing but that, and I`d rather die than give you a pain or do you a wrong – I`d rather die than hurt a hair on you. Dear little Miles’ – oh, I brought it out now even if I should go too far – ‘I just want you to help me to save you!’”

Throughout the Turn of the Screw we are introduced to four main characters; the Governess, Mrs. Grose, Miles, and Flora. Other minor characters in the book are Miss Jessel, Peter Quint, and the children’s Uncle. I think Henry James portrays each of these characters in a certain mysterious way, and this is what helps catch the audience’s attention. Some people believe that Henry James wants the audience to infer that the entire story was just a hallucination that the Governess had. While others say that the Governess was completely sane and that the events throughout the story should have driven her to insanity.

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.

At around ten o’clock at night, a young girl was laying in bed when all of a sudden someone started rubbing her cheek. She looked around and no one was there. Was this her imagination, or was someone there? Ghosts always make their presence known, just like the Ghost in the tragedy Hamlet written by William Shakespeare. Throughout the character of the Ghost of Hamlet’s father, Shakespeare portrays many Elizabethan beliefs on ghosts. Shakespeare creates the question: is the ghost good or bad? Many people have their own opinion on this question, but in this writer’s opinion, the Ghost of Hamlet’s father is a good ghost because throughout the tragedy the Ghost of Hamlet’s father never physically hurts anyone, instead he persuades Hamlet

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.

Throughout The turn of the Screw by Henry James, the theme of ambiguous issues is constantly leaving the reader on their own. The ambiguity and uncertainty within this text causes the readers to come up with their own theories as to what the text really means. The ghost story perspective only adds to the infuriating vagueness. The title itself is about all of the twists within this story and basically foreshadows the confusion that the text will cause.

The days have given way to longer nights, and the warmer days are now cool and crisp. The air is thick and green. At night you can smell fresh cedar wood, fireplaces burning, and hear the cracklings of bonfires in the distance. Inside you curl up in your favorite chair, wrapped in the warmth of a fleece blanket, next to you a simmering, sweet cinnamon and pumpkin candle. In your hands a 1902 copy of Turn of the Screw, which you found at an old book fair. The sweet smell of those century old pages is intoxicating, and the story, strange, and sinister. You think there is nothing like a good ghost story to chase away the October chill.