The ghosts in Henry James’ The Turn of the Screw are not real because the governess is the only person who sees the ghosts, the governess is immature and delusional, and her affection with the Uncle is indicative of false judgement. The biggest argument one can have against the existence of ghosts in the novel is that no one can see these supposed ghosts except for the Governess herself. Though the Governess suspects that the children can in fact see and can even communicate with these spectral visitors, no one ever admits to seeing them and at times, they outwardly deny it. During the climax of the novel, the Governess again sees an apparition of Miss Jessel. Mrs. Grose denies seeing the woman, and even insists towards Flora that the Governess is just playing around. Flora even goes as far as to say, “I don’t know what you mean. I see nobody. I see nothing. I never have.” (James 71) …show more content…
The Governess easily makes friends with Mrs. Grose who is aging, caring, and simply wants the Governess not to end up like her predecessor. This attitude coupled with the governess’ charming innocence and sweet demeanor convinces Mrs. Grose that the Governess, is definitively trustworthy, explaining why Mrs. Grose is in on the idea of ghosts. This is demonstrated when, “[Mrs. Grose] faltered but a second. “Quint!” she cried” to go along with the Governess’ views, whether that be genuine or simply to please her (James
The governess saw this as a threat and thought that Miss Jessel might do harm towards Flora and her natural innocence as a child. The governess decided that she has to take action to protect Flora when she goes missing one afternoon. After discussing where Flora could have been with Mrs. Grose, they decided that she has run off with Miss Jessel. “She’s with her?
(Page 50). This passage showed how James felt inspired and safe with god because of how they would impact his mother, he saw how it was one of the few things that could bring her joy, one of the few things she may listen to and reason with, and even as a child if he didn’t understand his mother's
Despite this, the opposing side fails to realize that Flora wanted the governess to stop pestering her after their encounter by the lake. When she finds out that Flora is leaving Bly to live with her uncle, she tells Mrs. Grose, “What Flora wants, of course, is to get rid of me” (James 74). The governess’ words and actions eventually terrify Flora as a result of her insanity. It is certainly evident that the children are scared for her abnormal concern for them and want her out of the house. Others may also argue that the reason of Miles’ death was because he sees Peter Quint, but they do not understand that Miles dies because of how the governess handles him.
In the movie, "A Christmas Carol," 3 ghosts visited Ebenezer Scrooge on Christmas Eve and tried to change him to like Christmas. I think that the ghost of the future showed him the most value able lesson because it showed him when he was going to die if he did not change and it showed people selling the stuff from his house. The future ghost looked like the grim reaper, but without the sharp sword thing the grim reaper carries. The future ghost took Ebenezer to his grave and it showed him when he was going to die. He was going to die soon if he did not change and that is what really caught his attention.
An Analysis of Comparative Histories Everyone, whether one realizes it or not, goes through different stages throughout his or her life. In other words, life does not stay the same; it is ever changing and typically cannot be reversed to a previous stage. Often a problem arises when one cannot let go of the past, and therefore is unable to move on. In “The Ghosts We Love” by Brock Clarke, the narrator is very much aware of the past and present stages of his life, however he has trouble overcoming the past and embracing the future. The narrator’s obsession with history, both well-known historical events and his own personal history, cause him to dwell on the past and possess an unhealthy attitude about the present and future.
In the movie, Flora Baumbach’s actions and her personality was kind of mixed into other characters that did participate in the movie. Sydelle Pulaski was the only person to cry an Westing’s funeral in the movie when it was really Flora who
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
The Governess was beginning to figure out that she is the only one that can see the ghosts and starts to question her sanity more than before. Her sanity slowly starts to crumble. This was the proof she needed. She needed to know if Miss Grose sees the ghosts too and it turns out that she
To my surprise, people living in the time when the book first was published, were fascinated by ghost stories (Beidler 184). With many ghost cases recorded during that time, I believe that James merely produced The Turn of the Screw as another fictitious testimony of the trending topic of ghost phenomena that was roaming around town. In the edited version of the book, James biographical background is discussed which states that he struggled financially because “his books were not selling well” (Beidler 13). For this reason, I made a possible connection concerning one of the reasons James decided to write about ghosts; needless to say, his desire to make a successful book that engaged his audience. The seriousness about the belief in ghost influenced my understanding of the story because those that believed that there “is no such thing as ghosts” were looked as irrational (Beidler 195).
One 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).
Her love for the master does not make her insane, but the way she acts upon that love does. In describing the Governess’s first meeting with the master, Douglas says that “he struck her, inevitably, as gallant and splendid, but what took her most of all and gave her the courage she afterward showed was that he put the whole thing to her as a favor” (James 4). This shows that the Governess is at once infatuated with the master. She thinks he is perfect and describes him as angelic, which proves she is in fact in love with him. Her obsession with his beauty stop her from reasoning rationally where he is concerned, and this translates to her behavior around Miles and Flora, who are his niece and nephew.
These ghosts haunt Maxine and affect her living her “American-normal” (Kingston
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
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