ipl-logo

Turn Of The Screw The Governess Character Analysis

1317 Words6 Pages

Within the Bly household as read in The Turn of the Screw, where the governess is the only person able to see ghosts, everything seems as it is falling apart. As the governess starts working at Bly, everything seems picture perfect, but is quite the opposite as the story progresses. As everything unfolds at Bly the governess seems to become progressively mentally incapacitated. As days pass by the governess believes she begins to see the ghosts on a daily basis, and she becomes so frustrated she accuses the children, Miles and Flora, of meeting with the ghosts. The children never admit to her accusations, which upsets the governess to sure a high degree that she even starts to blame the children of conspiring against her. All of the governess mental episodes is all just a lead up to prove that she is mentally insane. The governess believes she can see people that have passed away, and she views them as very dark and evil. There have been past caretakers involved with the uncle and children that were at the house frequently before her, and some have even passed away. The governess then had claimed to see some of the past workers, that have passed away. One of the people that had passed that had been mentioned Peter Quint, and the governess mentioned ¨a third encounter with Quint¨ (James 39). The governess claimed to have …show more content…

The governess progressively believes in things around her that are pseudo and assumed. Nobody else at Bly can see the ghosts that she claims even when the children tried to believe her, they just could not see the ghosts she could see. Things slowly but surely fell apart at Bly, and it seemed to start right when the governess made assumptions about the ghosts she had met. The governess had done many things at Bly, but proving her insanity is something she could not

Show More
Related

  • The Role Of Power In The Crucible

    879 Words  | 4 Pages

    Despite their deeply religious values, the members of the Puritan Society in Arthur Miller’s The Crucible are equally as sinful as the rest of the world. The Puritans, known for turning to God when given any matter at hand, lay blame on the Devil, regardless of their contradictory values. By blaming on him for their wrongdoings, the Devil earns power through the Puritans restoring to involve him whenever any one thing goes wrong. Power is defined by one’s reputation, status, wealth, gender, and age; although the natural deciding factor of one’s power in the Puritan society is land, the Devil himself holds ultimate power. Despite the fact that he does not appear as a human figure, he controls the thoughts and actions of the Puritan society, serving as the ultimate threat.

    Read More

  • Gary Schmidt's Trouble Character Analysis

    1222 Words  | 5 Pages

    Imagine having a perfect life without trouble and then all of the sudden your whole life shatters in one freak accident. This is how Henry Smith felt in the book Trouble. Henry’s father always said “If you build your house far away from trouble, trouble will never find you.” Everything was working in his life he went to a great school, had some good friends, had a good relationship with his family, and had a nice house. That was until one night when Henry’s older brother Franklin got hit by a car on his usual 5 mile run.

    Read More

  • The Ghost Of Greylock Chapter Summary

    751 Words  | 4 Pages

    They soon find out that the weird things were from a ghost Rebecca Smith, the Ghost of Graylock, which leads to who had killed Rebecca? The kids go on the search to find out who that was. Rebecca can’t talk to them so she find out a way to help them through clues and images. The resolution in the story is when Bree finds a yearbook and the first letters in a poem spell “Daddy Did It”. Rebecca lead the kids to who she was and who the real murderer was, then when they went to Andy’s house they knew Andy was Rebecca’s

    Read More

  • Social Class In The Turn Of The Screw

    766 Words  | 4 Pages

    Thesis: Amongst the library of supernatural fiction and ghost stories written within the late 1800s, The Turn Of The Screw offers a direct commentary on the suppressed social fears of class change through the embodiment of ghosts. Introduction: Written in 1889, during the rise of supernatural psychical research and supernatural fiction, The Turn Of The Screw by Henry James tells the tale of a governess driven to insanity. The governess claims to have seen ghosts of the late governess, Miss Jessel, and the deceased valet, Peter Quint, on the grounds of castle Bly. The ghosts that she sees throughout the novella are not real and were created by the governess, due to the social pressures that she faced working at Bly. Her repressed desire to belong to a higher social class and her fears of trying to elevate her status were

    Read More

  • Social Work System In The Glass Castle

    849 Words  | 4 Pages

    During the book, a social worker does show up to their house in Welch at one point. The family is gone and Jeannette answers the door. The social worker says that a follow up visit will come so the family attempts to clean the house but the visit never comes. I believe this shows how sometimes families and children can slip through the cracks of the social work system. This is still a

    Read More

  • Character Analysis: Lynne Rossiter

    281 Words  | 2 Pages

    Lynne Rossiter is a positive, caring, young woman who works as a social worker for Denver Human Services. She loves life and people and finds humour in most situations. She doesn’t believe in the paranormal. She thinks that she is human. She is wrong.

    Read More

  • Essay On The Governess In The Turn Of The Screw

    1165 Words  | 5 Pages

    The governess is insane because she is the only person at Bly to witness the ghosts of Peter Quint and Miss Jessel. During her employment, the Governess claims to experience several ghostly interactions, however no one else could relate to her sightings. For example, after claiming to see two ghosts, the Governess confides in Mrs. Grose and later says “she herself had seen nothing, not the shadow of a shadow, and nobody in the house but the governess was in the governess’s plight,” (James 24). Mrs. Grose is eliminated as a witness and cannot argue if the paranormal activity at Bly was real. Since no one can support the governess’s claims, then presumably, they were hallucinated by

    Read More

  • Abigail Williams Quotes

    465 Words  | 2 Pages

    Who is Abigail Williams and what is this static of characters goal? The Crucible written by Arthur Miller is it about the witch trials. in the first and second at the girls are caught dancing in the forest and are accused of being witches and in the second act, The Witch Trials begin in the accusations start. Abigail Williams is a very static character who is motivated by her lust and jealousy causing the Witch Hunt with her smart lies and devious ways. this can be shown through various quotes found in The Crucible written by Arthur Miller.

    Read More

  • Prompts In 'Turn Of The Screw'

    258 Words  | 2 Pages

    She feels that if she tells him about the crazy events in a document, she will labeled as delusional, and never be able to deny the events she has endured. She has managed to persuade Mrs. Grose that her ghostly encounters are true, but convincing someone through the written

    Read More

  • Hypocrisy In A Good Man Is Hard To Find

    897 Words  | 4 Pages

    “A Good Man is Hard to find”, was one of Ms. Flannery O’Connor’s well known story that shows what she is known for in her writing : violence, well thought characters with humor, and shows her Roman Catholic faith. Throughout the story, there are certain details that make the story what it seems to be than what Ms. O’Connor had to portray. Although it would be seen as a shocking violent murder plot all in one, there can be another side to the story as well. In the story of A Good Man is Hard to Find shows that people would think O’Connor was mocking religion, in actuality she was not. The characters in the story are used to expose the idea between good and evil and hypocrisy.

    Read More

  • Turn Of The Screw The Governess Insane

    1383 Words  | 6 Pages

    At first, Mrs. Grose goes along with the idea of ghost sightings, but soon after, she says that “she herself has seen nothing, not the shadow of a shadow, and nobody in the house

    Read More

  • The Governess's Insanity In Henry James Turn Of The Screw

    1049 Words  | 5 Pages

    The governess understands her place in the household. She knows what her job is and does not fail to carry out her duties in terms of protecting the children. A sane person is one who can carry out their regular duties without being affected by their mental state. Because of the governess fits this description, it is obvious that she can only be classified as sane because she not only feels compassion for the children, but fulfills her duties by putting their needs before her own.

    Read More

  • Theme Of Madness And Insanity In Henry James The Turn Of The Screw

    1021 Words  | 5 Pages

    After spending a few days taking care of and teaching Miles and Flora, the governess has visual hallucinations and claims to see the apparitions of Peter Quint and Miss Jessel. She keeps trying to convince Mrs. Grose (her companion) that “They want to get them” (James 47). At this point, the governess senses that the ghosts

    Read More

  • Black-Eyed Woman Analysis

    1080 Words  | 5 Pages

    The purpose of a ghost story is to leave the reader feeling frightened and unaware of what the truth of reality is. Nguyen's Black-Eyed Women flips all our perceptions of what a ghost is and why they visit the living. The ghost stories told in this story affect the narrator by forcing her to confront the discomfort of her reality. The narrator realizes she has been ignoring discomfort about her brother dying for her, and s the guilt and that she lived. She loses her identify, and sense of security, however her brother's ghost arrives to mend this disconnect.

    Read More

  • One For The Money Character Analysis Essay

    713 Words  | 3 Pages

    Stephanie Plum, Morelli, and Ranger are three main characters in the book, One for the Money, by Janet Evanovich. Stephanie is a young woman struggling to get by in the city of Trenton, New Jersey. After losing her job, she goes against her family’s request and gets the dangerous job of a bounty hunter. She gets assigned Joe Morelli, who was accused of murder and who happened to be a childhood enemy. Stephanie is very inexperienced and receives help from a professional bounty hunter, Ranger.

    Read More

More about Turn Of The Screw The Governess Character Analysis

Open Document