Psychoanalytical Criticism Of Turn Of The Screw By Henry James
Psychoanalytical Criticism of Turn of the Screw- The Governess’ Descent Into Madness
When one looks at Freud, they can see that he was primarily concerned with the unconscious, as well as the conscious mind. He sought out the answers to the unconscious motives that drove people then, and still manage to drive us today. In Henry James’ “The Turn of the Screw”, we see an unnamed governess and those around her act strangely. These predominant questions arise - Did the governess actually see the apparitions of the governess and servant before her? What would motivate her to see them, or to even create them in her mind?
In Turn of the Screw, Henry James focusses on the Freudian notion that unconscious desires control the thoughts and actions
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Murfin compares Freud’s levels of the mind, based around structure or purpose, to an iceberg. It consists of three parts - the id, the ego and the superego. “The id, the part of the iceberg completely submerged in the unconscious, is driven by one’s libido and consists of the inherited components of one’s personality, including one’s sexual instinct. The second part of the iceberg, the ego, found in both the unconscious and conscious mind, can gain purpose from fulfilling the desires of the id. However, the ego–because it wavers between the unconscious and conscious only fulfills the desires of the id in ways that are socially acceptable. The last part of Freud’s iceberg, the superego, also found in both the unconscious and conscious mind, ensures that the one’s conscious actions are in tune with social standards and norms.” (Murfin). In Turn of the Screw, it seems as though the governess’ conscious and unconscious mind are a little off-kilter. The governess had a desire to fix the family; to swoop in and be the mothering figure that she thought the children didn’t have, yet needed. This isn’t even taking the evident Electra Complex (comparable to Oedipus Complex) from the governess towards the homeowner into consideration. The governess’ need to be the woman of the house and compete with the others for the affections of the uncle, combined with the loneliness could have driven her to madness. The uncle left …show more content…
When one looks to Ever Scarier: On The Turn of the Screw by Brad Leithouser one thing is made clear: “If the ghosts are mere illusions, then she is suffering a bout of insanity, in which her “revelations” about the children’s unearthly communications, and her perception of them as allied to unspeakable evil, must reflect her deeply suppressed aggressions and hostility.” This could speak on behalf of her aggression for things not going the rosy way she had intended them to. Miles wasn’t the good boy she had hoped he would be, with his being expelled from school and odd personality. Flora tried to suck up to the governess, then, in the governess’ delusioned mind, turned her nose up toward her by “communicating” with the deceased Ms. Jessel. As for Mrs. Grose, she wanted to see what the governess saw, but couldn’t, thus making the governess feel like she wasn’t validated in her new home. The governess felt oddly alone in all aspects that truly mattered besides one - her
In Cold Blood Language Analysis
1506 Words | 7 PagesDepending on how the story has been analyzed, the governesses’ intentions vary from interpretation to interpretation. While some readers will vehemently insist that the governess is in fact seeing these apparitions, others stress that her odd infatuation with the master of the house, whom she had seen “only twice” is what causes this reaction to occur because she seeks to impress him by “saving” her charges from “possession.” It can even be inferred that the apparitions are merely a reflection of her imagination and that she has simply gone insane. Whatever her intentions are, the mere fact that the reader is beginning to question her observations shows that her credibility has been seriously compromised. It’s important to note that these interpretations are all well founded on evidence that James has hinted at throughout the novel.
How Does Jennings Burch Change In They Cage The Animals At Night
1157 Words | 5 PagesBurch is a mentally ill and estranged women who no longer understands the needs of her children which causes the children to mature and develop in different ways like the city-states of Greece. Since Jennings’s mother performs such thoughtless or witless actions, Jennings is the one to pay for her deeds. “ ‘I couldn’t dear. I was sick’ “ (62) Jennings has just escaped from the terrors of The Home of the Angels, and Mrs. Burch thought that the usual excuse would cut it. However, this act would forever ensure Jennings that his mother will not be there for him when he needs her most.
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1017 Words | 5 PagesThe defining moment in David’s inevitable demise is not when he steals the $100 his mother refuses to lend him, but the “altercation, noisy and bitter between this mother and son” as David’s predicament is a clear representation of his mother’s “mismanagement”, though she never takes responsibility for being the source of sin for her children (84). As the altercation continues, Mrs. Wilson’s focus remains on Martha’s death and her not being chosen or saved by Christ, but David becomes quite hostile voices his plans behind his mother’s back to obtain the funds she refused to provide. While one could expect that David would meet his punishment for stealing, but as seen with Elvira, Jane is once again the scapegoat for the children’s crimes despite her insistence that she had nothing to do with the latest scandal within the Wilson household. When it comes to this event, Mrs. Wilson’s behavior is very hostile towards Jane and I believe that this was an overcompensation for the grief she felt at the realization of her child’s sinful behavior, his corruption. It becomes evident that Mrs. Wilson’s egocentric behavior only worsens near the novel’s end, when David finally succumbs to
Turn Of The Screw Summary
580 Words | 3 PagesWilliams’ definition of a crisis apparition, “appears to a witness at a time when the person whose apparition is seen experiencing a state of crisis” (Williams 2), provides context to the theory that The Governess saw Peter Quint because of high levels of anxiety that she didn’t know how to control. Williams quotes from The Gift, a book written by Dr. Sally Rhine Feather and Michael Schmicker, and tells the story of a woman had undergone the hardship of moving halfway across the country with her daughter and leaving her father behind when he was extremely ill. The Governess was experiencing a similar stress level as the woman in the article. The Governess had received “disturbing letters from home, where things were not going well” (James 33). The mood in this
Love In The Screwtape Letters By C. S. Lewis
1409 Words | 6 PagesThe Screwtape Letters was a book written by C. S. Lewis in 1942. The book contains thirty-one letters written from Screwtape, a fallen angel, to his nephew Wormwood. The letters explain how Wormwood should conduct his business with the human, which he has been assigned. Wormwood is to pull his “patient”, a young British male, away from his faith in God. Throughout the book Lewis uses various letters to communicate with the reader about love.
The Governess In The Turn Of The Screw By Henry James
1238 Words | 5 PagesThey claim that she is mixing reality with fiction. They also believe that all the ghosts are merely hallucinations resulting from the governess’ stress rendering her from simply watching over the children. However, the governess is actually in a healthy mental state since she is able to keep her composure and fulfil her responsibilities throughout the novella. Even at the very end, she “presses [Miles] against [her]” in her last attempt to protect him from Peter Quint (James 86).
Turn Of The Screw Controversy
2116 Words | 9 PagesJames' book is a novella, which means long story, shorter than an ordinary novel yet concentrating on activities with a more noteworthy lens than a short story. James distributed the novel fresh in 1908, rolling out a couple of minor improvements and one noteworthy change. In the 1898 production, Flora is six years of age: in the 1908, she is eight. James acknowledged after his first distribution that Flora talks and acts like she is a couple of years more established then six. The Turn of the Screw was composed in a period when apparitions and spirits were predominant in England and even more so in America.
Examples Of Ambiguity In The Turn Of The Screw By Henry James
709 Words | 3 PagesOne significant moment of such, is shown in this quote, “She’s not alone, and at such times she’s not a child; she’s an old, old woman” (77). This quote may seem like its being directed towards Flora and Flora only, but instead portrays a sense of ambiguity that suggests that Flora is working with an old woman, perhaps Miss Jessel, the currently departed former governess. However within the context of that quote, there seems not to be a logical explanation as to why Flora had suddenly decided to sail a boat across the river, it’s infallible, to the point where all reasonable explanations are replaced with theories that only the supernatural could have caused it. With the governess assuming that Flora is in league with the ghost of Miss Jessel, it causes the governess to assume that the ghost of Peter Quint is associated with Miles, as seen in her description of the scene, “Peter Quint had come into view like a sentinel before a prison” (97).
Turn Of The Screw
1591 Words | 7 PagesDue to the life-like characteristics of the apparition, the governess was not only fearful, but befuddled as well. The life-like “spectator” seemed to stare at the governess, creeping her out in the first place. The reader is able to visualize as well as understand the governess’ feelings because of the described characteristics of the
Turn Of The Screw Literary Analysis
1109 Words | 5 PagesShe demands that Miles sees Peter Quint as she did with flora, Miles claims he doesn't see anything. The governess spirals out of control and definitely slips into insanity. She tries to touch Miles, Miles then gets worked up over all the stress she put on him and decides to hug him but he has a heart attack and dies or smothered him to death it's unclear how Miles really dies. The governess claimed she had dispossessed his heart of the evil, but really she had killed him with her obsession with the uncle and her
Binaries In The Turn Of The Screw
1203 Words | 5 PagesThe way that Henry James opposes several binaries in his work The Turn Of The Screw is intriguing and riveting. James’ novel opposes several binaries throughout the story. These binaries are used to serve as a form of normalcy in most books, but in this novel it is used to confuse the reader and also lay a solid foundation of the setting in this book. There are several The first of these binaries to oppose each other is the master to servant binary.
Theme Of Oppression In The Great Gatsby
1384 Words | 6 PagesMoney, power, and success have blinded people into thinking they are in love and it has led to these women being oppressed. Tom and Gatsby in this book are what is called the patriarchy. According to Revise Sociology, the patriarchy is “The systematic domination of women by men in some or all of society’s spheres and institutions.” In Tom and Daisy’s marriage; they are both having an affair, Tom wasn’t at his child’s birth, and he oppresses Daisy physically, maybe by accident, and socially, by not allowing her to go wherever she wants to go. In Tom and Myrtle’s affair; they are both married, yet they have this affair, she is dependent on him because he oppresses her economically and psychologically, and he also oppresses her physically when he broke her nose.
Theme Of Madness And Insanity In Henry James The Turn Of The Screw
1021 Words | 5 PagesIn Henry James’s novella, The Turn of the Screw, the topics of sanity and insanity are commonly argued among the readers. Insanity is the state of madness or being irrational while sanity is reasonable behavior. It is up to the audience to decide on whether the author intended for the governess to be sane or insane. Despite this dissension, the governess is insane throughout the whole story because she possesses all the symptoms of a paranoid schizophrenic, has an obsessive personality, and is the only one who claims she sees the apparitions.
Ghosts In The Turn Of The Screw By Henry James
443 Words | 2 PagesIn Henry James’s novella The Turn of the Screw, the Governess purportedly sees the ghosts of her predecessor and her lover. Critics have been debating whether the Governess was really seeing the ghosts or if they were visual hallucinations ever since the publication of the work. On one side, some argue that it is a simple ghost story and can be easily over-analyzed. The more prevailing opinion is that the “ghosts” are figments of a sexually repressed woman’s imagination. This implication of this is far more sinister than just ghosts.
Turn Of The Screw The Governess Character Analysis
1317 Words | 6 PagesAll 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.
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