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  • Essay / Interpreting the Plot of Henry James's Novel The Turn of the Screw

    Henry James's novel, The Turn of the Screw, presents a plot that can be interpreted in several different ways depending on how the reader wishes to read it. 'interpret. Many readers believe that the governess actually sees the ghosts of Peter Quint and his mistress as well as the former governess, Mrs. Jessel. However, another group of readers and critics believe that the governess is obsessed with the children and their former governess and is driving her to mental insanity, leading her to hallucinations. In my opinion, I think the governess may have seen the ghosts of Peter Quint and Mrs. Jessel, but the circumstances may not have been as extreme as she made them out to be. Given that the Governess had never met Quint and Jessel while they were alive, it is almost impossible that she could have seen their ghosts without knowing what they looked like. However, I believe that seeing the apparitions slowly drove the new governess to madness, her mind consumed by theories that the ghosts were trying to corrupt the children and perhaps even herself. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an original essay As the new governess began her job working with two children, Flora and Miles, she seemed to be in a healthy state of mind, eager to begin work at the Bly estate. Nevertheless, during the first days that the governess worked with Flora, she experienced events that most people would consider strange. She began seeing a ghost-like man, who she later discovered was the ghost of Peter Quint, a former valet at Bly. The governess discovers that Flora's brother, Miles, has been permanently expelled from school for unknown reasons. She tried to make sense of the situation, as everyone at the Bly estate thought Miles was a well-behaved and well-behaved young man. As time passed, the housekeeper also began to see the ghost of the previous housekeeper, Mrs. Jessel. She began to believe that her children communicated with ghosts, almost as a sort of possession. When Flora suddenly becomes ill she speaks to Mrs. Grose, a servant in Bly, she uses language that shocks Mrs. Grose as she has no idea where she may have learned this language. “'Of this child - horrors! There!' she sighed in tragic relief. “On my honor, mademoiselle, she says things…! But at this mention she fell; she fell with a sudden cry onto my sofa” (109). Considering the amount of time Mrs. Grose has spent with the children, which is much longer than the governess's, she still considers it extremely unusual for Flora to act this way. This shows that there is something causing the children to act this way, undermining the governess's theory that the children are conspiring with ghosts. The other interpretation of the story's plot is that the governess is mentally ill, which is the belief I have come to accept. When the Governess first arrives in Bly, she shows no signs of instability as her stability seems to progress in a downward spiral throughout her time there. As she begins to learn more about the former governess, Mrs. Jessel, and her lover, Peter Quint, she begins to become obsessed with their story. The more she thought about it, the more she developed her theory that the children were conspiring with the two ghosts. “But even if they pretend to be lost in their fairy tale, they are imbued with their vision of the dead who have been returned to them.”... “they speak..