In The Turn of the Screw, there are many references to the connection of physical appearance and morality. Originally the idea of beauty was connected to pureness-Angels and Princesses- while ugliness was connected with the evil- witches and devils. Though, during the 19th century there was a switch, creating an attraction to the idea that the beautiful ones weren 't always as good as they looked. Henry James uses the original idea, that beauty is equal to innocence, and contradicts it with the governesses excitement of the idea that Flora and Miles aren 't perfect anymore. When The Governess first meets Flora, she describes the child as “a creature so charming as to make it a great fortune to have to do with her. She was the most beautiful …show more content…
She does not see them as innocent anymore. Beautiful still, which makes it all the more interesting for her. That these beautiful children left in her charge are much more then they seem. After first seeing Mrs. Jessel, the Governess talks about looking at Flora. “To gaze into the depths of blue of the child 's eyes and pronounce their loveliness a trick of premature cunning was to be guilty of cynicism in preference to which I naturally preferred to abjure my judgement.” She talks about premature cunning in Flora, which the children have. They 're both much older than their years, having to endure so much in their life, constant changes. But she does not wish to see this in the children, she wishes to not have her idea be placed as they can 't be true, that such beauty can see the ghosts, such evil. The governess wanted to shield the children, “I was a screen—I was to stand before them. The more I saw, the less they would” Though she realizes that the children aren 't to be saved as it is too late “they 're lost!" The Governess is afraid that the children are lost to the apparitions, to the evil …show more content…
She questions them, trying to get them to tell her the ‘truth’, that they can see the ghosts, even though she fully believes they do. She questions Flora about it one time she saw the child looking out the window. Flora replied ‘“Ah, NO!" she returned, almost with the full privilege of childish inconsequence, resentfully, though with a long sweetness in her little drawl of the negative. At that moment, in the state of my nerves, I absolutely believed she lied…’ The governess believes that Flora is trying to hide her lie behind her innocence and beauty. The child 's sweetness, such loved before, was now an escape from trouble in the Governesses. The children continue to do this to the governess, saying such things but with such sweetness as for what Miles did, talking to her. “Think me—for a change—bad!" I shall never forget the sweetness and gaiety with which he brought out the word” Miles hid his words behind his sweetness and happiness, that the child still is innocent seeming. The children are beginning to act as how the governess believes them to act, bad yet
She knew that those innocent people she was looking at would change, and be the reason that her childhood was not an easy one. She wanted to change it all and make them stop. She wanted to go up to them and tell them, “you are going to do things you cannot imagine you would ever do, / you are going to do bad things to children, / you are going to suffer in ways you never heard of, / you are going to want to die” (Olds 848, 15-19). This shows that her parents betrayed her by just being together and no longer being innocent. They changed from who they seemed to be right in front of her; into the people that she had known her whole life.
The main character, the Governess, is the perfect example of a morally ambiguous character. It is impossible to label her as purely good or evil, and much debate of this novel is on the trustworthiness of her narration. The Governess is a twenty year old daughter of a country parson who accepted the job of caretaker of two children. She's something of a romantic, being swept off her feet by her employer and viewing her job as a kind of calling. However, behind the innocent young woman, there are two ways of viewing her character. Some defend her as a sane heroine, while others claim she is an insane anti-hero...
...eives nothing from the children. It should be obvious to the reader at this point that the children are obviously in no way doing any wrong and are telling the truth to the best of their knowledge. The continual obsession of the governess over maintaining the protection and innocence of the children gets so severe that it causes Flora to come down with a serious fever and Miles grows seemingly weaker and sicker without his sister there with her.
The governess sees a woman on the other side of the lake and jumps to the conclusion that Flora has seen her and is choosing to act like she didn’t. The child was playing with a boat and had her back turned to the lake. Why would she think that she had to have seen her? There is no proof and does not even ask the child if she saw anything. She automatically assumes it’s Miss Jessel, the previous governess who died and that she is after Flora. She tells her story to Mrs. Grose drawing her in more deeply into believing her crazy hallucinations and Mrs. Grose asks her if she is sure its Miss Jessel and the governess replies “Then ask Flora—she’s sure!” and then immediately comes back to say “no, for God’s sake don’t! She’ll say she isn’t—she’ll lie” ((James 30). She comes to the conclusion that the child will lie about it when there is no reason to suspect that she would. Again, this is her jumping to conclusions, because there is not any proof to say that the children have seen or know anything about the ghost’s. “Thus a very odd relationship develops between the governess and the children, for the more she loves them and pities them and desires to save them, the more she begins to suspect them of treachery, until at last she is convinced that they, in league with the ghosts, are ingeniously tormenting her’ (Bontly 726). “The ghosts appear, thus, when the governess is both aware of the corruption which threatens the children and convinced of her own power to preserve them untainted” (Aswell 53). It’s the governess fabricating all this up in her mind again so she can play the part of
In the famous novel, The Turn of the Screw, Henry James tells a story of a governess who
The purpose of tone is to express the author’s attitude toward elements of a story, such as characters, setting, or a situation. This literary device sets the mood of the story for the reader. Henry James uses tone effectively in the novel, The Turn of the Screw. The mood of the story shifts three times as the story progresses. It begins by being cheerful, then hostile and ends being depressing. The tone shifts due to the changes in the attitude and actions by the governess.
Illusion’s purpose is questioned in this fact-based world we call reality. Blanche, Stella’s sister, is used to represent illusion. Her whole life, from her diamond tiara made of rhinestones, to her spurious façade, is literally and metaphorically an illusion. The concept of illusions is further developed through the light motif in the play, with Blanche displaying “moth” like characteristics, avoiding “strong light”(pg.3) and “naked light bulb[s]”(pg.54). The light motif also represents a time of innocence, before Blanche’s husband’s death, when there was “blinding light” in her life, but after her husbands suicide, there hasn’t been“ any light that's stronger than this--kitchen—candle” (pg.103). Stanley is an advocate for reality, as shown by his constant struggle to uncover Blanches illusions about her past. Williams suggests that illusion’s serve as an essential part of society. Whether it was Blanches husband’s suicide or Stella’s husband’s participation in rape, illusions are shown throughout the play to help people deal with harsh realities. They help ‘victims’ of reality see “what ought to be truth”(pg.127) through illusions, alleviating unwanted pain.
...d in the governess's eyes. After feeling she had lost Flora to the ghost, when in reality the governess had scared the child to death, Miles still shown to be a ray of hope for the demented governess. She refused to leave him alone and began to become angry and suspicious of his corruption when he would ask of his desire for schooling.
In his 1948 essay, Robert Heilman explores the suggestion that The Turn of the Screw is a symbolic representation of the conflict between good and evil. Heilman interprets the apparitions of Peter Quint and Miss Jessel as evil forces. He explains that the ghosts only appear to the governess because evil lurks in subtlety before it strikes. It is the duty of the governess to "detect and ward off evil." She must protect the children from the awful ghosts. The governess describes Miles and Flora as beautiful little cherubs whose only fault is their gentleness (James, 18-19). Heilman views the children's beauty as a "symbol of the spiritual perfection of which man is capable." Heilman explains the ghosts' attempts to reach the children by explaining that evil forces will always try to conquer and possess the human soul. Heilman continues to draw from the descriptions of Miles and Flora to support his theories. He points out that the two children are described as having an "angelic beauty" and a "positive fragrance of purity" (James 9, 13). The governess describes them as if they are perfect and beautiful in every way. This repeated vision of beauty, radiance, and innocence parallels the image of Eden. The house at Bly also resembles this image, "I remember the lawn and the bright flowers..." (James 7). The governess makes mention of the "golden sky" and of Flora's "hair of gold," which Heilman believes connects Bly and Flora with these images of golden hues (James 7, 9).
Chapter Six is an important section of The Turn of the Screw, as it involves many of the themes of the story, as well as reflecting its general narrative structure. James' novel is phenomenally complex; it has an incredible ambiguity to it, which allows for some very outlandish and far-fetched ideas to be formulated. A 'theme' can almost be drawn from almost every other sentence, if one so desires. It is deciding which issues have a little more to them than there may seem at first and which are what they appear, nothing more, which is difficult. As with many books of its ilk, over-analysing is a serious essay writing hazard.
The governess only hardly indicates that she is scared the ghosts will physically destroy or kill the children. In fact, Miles’s death comes as a surprise to us as readers. This is because we are unrehearsed in the book to think of the ghosts as a physical threat. Till she sends Flora away, the governess does not seem to consider removing the children from the ghosts. She even does not try to scare away the ghost from the house. Instead, the governess’s abilities focus on the ‘corruption’ of the children by the ghost. Before she could realize about quint, the governess thinks that Miles has been corrupting other kids. Although the word corruption is an understatement that permits the governess to remain unclear about what she means. The clear meaning of corruption in this text means exposure to information of sex. According to governess, the children’s exposure to knowledge of sex is a far more dangerous aspect than confronting the living dead or being killed. Therefore, her attempt to save the children is to find out what they know, to make them admit rather than to forecast what might happen to them in the future. Her fear of innoce...
...and her attitude to her father and his work began to change. So while the killing was underway her and her brother were picking up sticks to make a teepee out of. Suddenly there was a lot of commotion and Flora was running free. Her father told her to shut the gate. She ran to the gate and just had just enough time to close it. Instead of closing the gate she opened it wide and let the horse run free. Laird got there just in time to see her do it. When her father and Henry showed up they thought that she didn’t get there in time. They simply got the gun and the knives they used and jumped in the truck. On the way out they stopped and picked up Laird who was begging to go.
The next unclear situation is when the Governess learns of Miles’ expulsion. This is one of the main mysteries within this story. The question, “What does it mean? The child’s dismissed his school,” is the only question that the reader has throughout the conversation between the Governess and Mrs. Grose (165). Even though their conversation does inform the reader that the school has “absolutely decline[d]” Miles, it doesn’t clarify what exactly he has done to be expelled (165). The Governess comments, “That he’s an injury to the others” and “to corrupt” are her own opinions as to why Miles was expelled (165, 166). Nevertheless, her comment does not help the reader in any way because the remark in and of itself is unclear. Her first comment suggests that Miles might be causing physical harm to other students but her second ...
Throughout history, beauty has been seen as a value to humans. Beauty practices start as far back as foot binding and continues up to today with cosmetic surgeries such as liposuction. On every billboard, magazine, and commercial citizens are reminded that they are not as physically attractive as they could be and there is a solutions to their problem. In his analysis of beauty, Kant states that beauty is morality. Despite the fact physical beauty is highly valued in society, it is not the driving factor when it comes to determining morality and making ethical judgments. To support this, I will be introducing Aristotle’s virtue ethics and David Hume’s A Treatise of Human Nature to demonstrate that beauty is independent of virtue and does not influence morality as it is not considered when discussing morality.
...e ability to achieve anything in life. Hopefully, readers would learn from this novel that beauty is not the most important aspect in life. Society today emphasizes the beauty of one's outer facade. The external appearance of a person is the first thing that is noticed. People should look for a person's inner beauty and love the person for the beauty inside. Beauty, a powerful aspect of life, can draw attention but at the same time it can hide things that one does not want disclosed. Beauty can be used in a variety of ways to affect one's status in culture, politics, and society. Beauty most certainly should not be used to excuse punishment for bad deeds. Beauty is associated with goodness, but that it is not always the case. This story describes how the external attractiveness of a person can influence people's behavior and can corrupt their inner beauty.