Henry James’ novella the Turn of the Screw is a highly ambiguous piece of fiction. Set in Edwardian England, a very naïve woman is left in charge of two young children. The beautiful Bly however appears to be hiding a few dark secrets. The appearance of two ghosts plays on the governess’ mind, she comes to the conclusion the children are in danger and being possessed by these two horrors. Throughout the novella James successfully creates a mystical atmosphere, his ambiguous style forces us to think twice about what is written and decide for ourselves whether or not this is purely a ghost story or something far more sinister.
The chilling and eerie novel known as The Turn of the Screw, by Henry James; bring about questionable doubts with its main character. The Governess, plays “The Protector” for Miles and Flora, but often seems to need a little protection when it comes to her own self. The Governess claims ghosts have infiltrated the children throughout the story, yet can never seem to fully prove it. Giving leadway to the harsh reality that the Governess is an unreliable narrator throughout her tail through instances that she fully admits to not remembering time past, her wild over emotion that she lets control her, and through her growing obsession to be a “Hero” for the children. Throughout this story, the Governess often goes off to clear her head or for
Trapped in her own home and mind, she is haunted by something other than ghosts and demons, and that, is more terrifying than could even be imagined. Watching the narrator lose her sanity can be more terrifying for the readers than simply looking for an otherworldly being or a logical explanation. In “The Yellow Wallpaper” she is aware of her revulsion to the wallpaper, and yet, is unaware of the haunting consequence it has on her mind. “He thought I was asleep first, but I wasn’t, and lay there for hours trying to decide whether that front pattern and the back pattern really did move together or separately” (Gilman). Most stories try to terrify in a predictable, more traditional manner, “The Red Room” by H.G.
The ghosts were hallucinations, and like many mental disorders, her condition escalated with every hallucination she saw. She began telling Mrs. Grose, her only friend and confidante at Bly manor, but a few discrepancies appeared. As the governess narrated her visions of the ghosts, she gave very few visual details, only location, body language, and what she felt as she saw them. Details of their appearance came when she told Mrs. Grose, who then filled in her own descriptions of the ex-coworkers Peter Quint and Miss Jessel. This only fueled the governess and allowed her to draw her own crazed conclusions.
Henry James’ the Turn of the Screw, written in the Victoria era, tells a ghost story of a governess’s experience with two children in the house. By presenting the story in a symbolic way, the ambiguous narrative of the ghost story suggests an inner conflict of immorality and innocence in the governess. It also seems to imply a loss of insanity and a tragedy as a result of the oppression of desire. This paper will argue that chapter 23 is the most crucial part of the story, because it is the first moment the Governess found the weakness of the ghosts and has a real confrontation with the ghost indirectly through Miles. Miles’ suggestion of going out drives her to the wall, which leads to the tragic end that the only way for governess to protect Miles is to hold him in her, even it is too tight to kill him.
Throughout the Turn of the Screw, by Henry James, ambiguity is used purposely in respect to the reality of the ghosts. Without certainty the reader must guess and assume in order to determine if the ghosts are real or if they are conjured in the governess's mind. In this book there is more proof for the imagination of the ghosts. One source of evidence is the preparedness of the governess. At the beginning of the book the governess is being thrown into a situation that she is unprepared for.
The outside pattern, I mean, and the women behind it is as plain as she can be”, (197). The reader may infer the narrator is feeling more frantic t by the (!) mark she uses in the sentence. And she is becoming more agitated about being alone in her room and the part of the quote, “it becomes bars”, implies she feels like a prisoner. In addition, the quote’s second sentence is more evidence of her illness getting worse; since she now sees a person trapped in the yellow wallpaper who she identifies with.
The second camp considers subtleties in the text and structure of the story and comes to the conclusion that the governess is not a reliable narrator. Instead, she hallucinates the ghosts. As critics bat these two different readings back and forth some have come to the conclusion that Henry James wrote with the intention that the story could have two simultaneous readings. According to Cook and Corrigan, “The governess-narrator uses language to confirm the reality of what she thinks she sees, and thus she makes her suspicions “real” not only to herself but to the rest of her audience” (56). The text is what the reader (and the other characters in the novel) rely on in order to make sense of the tale.
This psychotic disorder primarily affects a human’s brain. A person living with this mental illness experiences several symptoms as well as signs. Therefore an individual relies on a relative or someone he/she is comfortable with in order to watch him/her. People who are suffering from Schizophrenia are usually referred to as Schizophrenics. Many individuals have a difficult time accepting that either he or she has been diagnosed with Schizophrenia.
Definition of Paranoid Schizophrenia Description and Definition Schizophrenia causes its victims to lose touch with reality. They often begin to hear, see, or feel things that aren't really there or become convinced of things that simply aren't true. In the paranoid form of this disorder, they develop the delusion that everything and everyone is out to get them. The first signs of paranoid schizophrenia usually surface between the ages of 15 and 34. There is no cure, but the disorder can be controlled with medications.