Narrative "frames" and Ambiguity in The Turn of The Screw
Since it was written, Henry James' The Turn of The Screw has been acclaimed by numerous critics to be one of the most immaculate, engrossing and terrifying ghost stories ever produced. Harriet Waters Preston described it as, "a sheer mortal horror, like the evil dream of a man under the spell of a deadly drug"1, and Gertrude Atherton said, "[it] is the most horrifying ghost story ever written!"2
I will argue that it is the narrative frames enclosing The Turn of The Screw that are largely responsible for the reception the book has received. They serve two main purposes; one, to build up an element of suspense and tension before the governess's account actually begins, thus heightening the potential for horror and terror in the text; and two, to cast uncertainty on the reliability of the narrators and hence to increase the ambiguity and scope for interpretation of the text. In fact, I will argue that these frames do not assist the reader in interpreting the action, but are actually used by James to deliberately confound the reader and foster an ambiguous atmosphere.
At first glance there appear to be three narrative frames surrounding the governess' account. At the outermost level we have the voice of the narrator. The narrator tells us of a time when they were one of several guests staying at the abode of a character named "Griffin". Whilst there, the narrator heard the governess's tale, as told by Douglas over a period of several nights. Although the narrator was not at Bly, nor did they take any part in the tale of the governess, it is the narrator's retelling of this story that the reader receives.
Within this is the reading by Douglas, who ...
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...: Macmillan, 1968).
Troy, William, "The Altar of Henry James" in Tanner, Tony, ed., Henry James Modern Judgements (London: Macmillan, 1968).
Endnotes
1 Gard, Roger, ed., Henry James The Critical Heritage (London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1968), pp. 333.
2 Ibid, pp. 361.
3 Sheppard, E. A., Henry James and The Turn of the Screw (Suffolk: Oxford University Press, 1974), pp. 17.
4 James, Henry, "The Turn of the Screw" in Hampl, Patricia, ed., The Houghton Mifflin Anthology of Short Fiction (Boston: Hougton Mifflin Company, 1989), pp. 617.
5 Ibid, pp 617.
6 Ibid, pp. 617.
7 Ibid, pp. 620.
8 Gard, pp. 275.
9 Hosking, Rick, lecture for English 1A: ENGL 1003, Flinders University, 12th March 1996.
10 Tanner, Tony, ed., Henry James Modern Judgements (London: Macmillan, 1968), pp. 33.
11 Sheppard, pp. 15.
12 Ibid, pp. 15.
3Brophy, L. (1959). The Chemical Warfare Service (1st ed.). Washington: Office of the Chief of
B”Heller, C.E (1984). Leavenworth papers No 10. Chemical warfare in world war I. Combat studies institute”.
From the creation of the Army’s Technical Escort Unit, there has always been one mission that has never changed; the removal, transportation and disposal of chemical weapons. “The U.S. Army Technical Escort Unit was formed in 1944 and is the longest, continuously active, military chemical unit in existence... The unit was formed as a group of specialist to escort chemical weapons”(Cashman, 2000, p. 104). Although this mission type has not faded, the overall mission of these units has expanded to a larger arena.
The purpose of this essay is to deal with the fact that chemical warfare should be brought back to modern warfare strategies. As Warren Rudman said, “And they will tell you unequivocally that if we have a chemical or biological attack or a nuclear attack anywhere in this country, they are unprepared to deal with it today, and that is of high urgency.” Rudman’s words are true in what they say and that we should do everything to counter-act his statement. Biological weapons are a key to outstanding success in war and therefore, I strongly suggest that chemical warfare is an effective and producible weapon tactic that can be used on today’s battlefield.
Fries, A. A., & West, C. J. (1921). Chemical warfare,. New York [etc.: McGraw-Hill book company, inc..
The Turn of the Screw by Henry James has been the cause of many debates about whether or not the ghosts are real, or if this is a case of a woman with psychological disturbances causing her to fabricate the ghosts. The story is told in the first person narrative by the governess and is told only through her thoughts and perceptions, which makes it difficult to be certain that anything she says or sees is reliable. It starts out to be a simple ghost story, but as the story unfolds it becomes obvious that the governess has jumps to conclusions and makes wild assumptions without proof and that the supposed ghosts are products of her mental instability which was brought on by her love of her employer
This will benefit me, because I want to understand the abortion procedure and what the fetus is going through, if anything. As for my readers, maybe this will give them more information that they already have on the subject. I want them to take the information I’m
Han, J., Zhang, Z. F., & Liu, J. N. (2008). A preliminary note on the dispersal of the Cambrian Burgess Shale-type faunas. Gondwana Research, (1), 269-276. doi:10.1016/j.gr.2007.09.001
Most people believe that one man-made natural disaster would teach us to be better, but we have learned that history repeats itself. The Exxon Valdez oil spill (in 1989) and the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, or BP oil spill, (in 2010) were both devastating oil spills that shocked the nation. The Exxon Valdez oil spill occurred due to a tanker grounding. The BP oil spill was caused by an explosion on the Deepwater Horizon oil platform. These two oil spills were both disasters and had greater effects in certain categories. In this essay, I will be comparing the cause of both oil spills, the damage/effect of both oil spills, and the cleanup of each oil spill.
Oil spills, no matter large or small, have long been of concern to pollution control authorities in this country. Due to its destructive nature, once an area has been contaminated by oil, the whole character of the environment is changed. When it has encountered something solid to cling to, whether it be a beach, a rock, the feathers of a duck or gull, or a bather’s hair, it does not readily let go (Stanley, 1969). By its nature o...
Reeve, N. H., ed. Henry James: The Shorter Fiction. Houndsmills, England: MacMillan Press Ltd., 1997.
...yball, and have been for over a hundred years. William G. Morgan has created a game that will continue to evolve and change. He has not only created a wonderful game that everyone enjoys, but a wonderful game that everyone can enjoy together.
Other movies Type : Villain Game System : DC Heroes (Blood of Heroes S.E.) Notes : Narnia (2005 movie)." Writeups.org. N.p., n.d. Web. 22 May 2014. .
The sport of volleyball was created by a man named William G. Morgan of Holyoke, Massachusetts in 1895. Morgan was a physical education teacher at the YMCA and called it "mintonette". It was an indoor or outdoor pastime that had characteristics of both handball and tennis. The first rules were written down by Morgan himself. He wrote that the game called for a 6 foot 6 inch net and a court of 25x50 feet. A match composed of 9 innings and 3 serves for each team in each inning. In case of a serving error they got a second chance just like in tennis. If the ball it the net on a serve it was considered a foul and it caused a side out or a point was taken away. In 1896 after a demonstration at the YMCA in Springfield and the name "Mintonette" was replaced with the name "Volleyball". In 1900 the rules were modified and the height of the net went up to 7 feet 6 inches. Also a match length was set at 21 points. Also in 1900 Canada was the first foreign country to adopt the game of Volleyball. In 1906 the country of Cuba discovered volleyball thanks to Thanks to a North American army officer named Agusto York who took part in the second military intervention. In 1908 volleyball reached Japan. Hyozo Omori a graduate at Springfield college in the United States who was the first to demonstrate the rules of the game at the YMCA in Tokyo. In 1910 volleyball officially landed in China. Between 1912 and now many of the rules changed and changed again. In 1924 it was demonstrated at the Olympics in Paris under the show of American sports. In 1938 the Chzechs perfected blocking and was officially introduced to the rules. In 1942 William G. Morgan the creator of volleyball died at the age of 68. He felt no jealousy when the sport he created grew and developed. In 1945 the first volleyball postage stamp was released in Romania. In 1947 Egypt was the first Arab and African country to organize a national federation. In 1952 the first women's world championship was held in Moscow and won by the USSR.
"Why Arts Education Is Crucial, and Who's Doing It Best." Edutopia. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 May 2014.