The Turn Of The Screw By Henry James (1843 - 1916) Essays - Fiction

The Turn of the Screw by Henry James (1843 - 1916) The Turn of the Screw by Henry James (1843 - 1916) Type of Work: Early psychological thriller Setting England; nineteenth century Principal Characters The "governess," an unnamed twenty- year-old woman Mrs. Grose, an older housekeeper Flora, an eight-year-old girl Miles, a ten-year-old boy Story Overveiw At Christmas time, a group of people in an old country home swapped ghost stories. One story tl)at particularly chilled tl-te group involved the visitation of a ghost to a young boy. When it was finished, a man in the group, Douglas, asked: "If the child gives the effect, another turn of the screw, what do you say to two children?" Weeks later, when Douglas was able to obtain the manuscript containing this second story, he read the narrative to his listeners, after prefacing it with a bit of background. The tale's author was a woman who had been his sister's governess, and Douglas was the only person to whom she had revealed her dreadful tale before her death ... On a pleasant June afternoon, a young lady of twenty, "the youngest of several daughters of a poor country parson," arrived in London to answer an advertisement for the position of governess. The advertiser was a bachelor who had been left guardian to his young nephew and niece. The uncle, a wealthy and charming gentleman, "beguiled" the young woman instantly The terms of her employment were quite simple: she was to take charge of the two children on his country estate of Bly in Essex, and to "never trouble him . . . neither appear nor complain nor write about anything." She would be replacing the former governess, a young lady who had died under curious circumstances. While the mystery surrounding the prior governess' death did cause the woman to Pause and consider, she nonetheless accepted the position and took the coach to Bly. The new governess soon met stout Mrs. Grose, the Bly mansion's head housekeeper, and little Flora, the bachelor's niece. The girl was a "vision of angelic beauty," and the governess looked forward to "teaching" and "forming" the child. Miles, the little boy, was due home in a few days for his school holiday, and according to Mrs. Grose, the governess would be equally "taken" with Miles. Both children seemed incapable of giving any trouble. However, before Miles arrived, the governess received two letters. The first was from her employer, instructing her to handle the details of the second letter, sent from the headmaster of Miles' school. This second letter in effect stated that Miles was dismissed from school, permanently. This news worried the governess, but Mrs. Grose, upon hearing the report, could not believe it, and urged her to wait until she met Miles before forming a judgement. A few days later Miles arrived, and the governess beheld his "positive fragrance of purity." In private she told Mrs. Grose that the headmaster's accusation was "grotesque." Together they decided not to bother Miles' uncle further about the matter. The governess enjoyed the summer days in the country. It was the first time in her life that she "had known space and air and freedom." Then, while strolling through the garden one day as the children napped, the governess allowed her imagination to wander. She imagined how charming it would be to meet a handsome young man around the turn of the path. Still deep in fantasy, she rounded the corner of the garden and it was as though her "imagination had, in a flash turned real." On one of the towers of the old mansion stood a figure; not the man she had been dreaming of, but a strange fellow who stared at her menacingly for a minute, then disappeared. The next Sunday evening as the governess entered the rain-shrouded dining room, she became aware of "a person on the other side of the window and looking straight in." It was the same man she had seen earlier, but at that instant she realized that "he had come for someone else." She rushed out of the house to the spot where he stood, but again he had vanished. She looked in through the window, as he had done, and there she saw Mrs. Grose, peering out just as she herself had stood a moment before. When the housekeeper asked for an explanation, the governess told her the whole story. As she described the elusive stranger, a flash of recognition crept into Mrs. Grose's face. The man the governess had seen, she said, was Peter Quint, their employer's former valet, who had died some time before. The governess felt that Quint's hovering presence boded