Study
Questions and Essay Topics
Study Questions
1. Is the governess
the heroine or the villain of The Turn of the Screw?
We can interpret the governess and narrator
of The Turn of the Screw as both heroine and villain
of the tale. If we take the ghosts to be real and the governess
sane, then the governess seems to be a successful heroine who protects
her charges at all costs and rids Miles of his demon, thus ending
the demon’s evil work. If we take the ghosts to be imaginary and
the governess increasingly insane, then the governess seems to be
the true villain of the story, concocting imaginary ghosts and terrifying
one of her students into a fever and the other into death. With
deliberate ambiguity, James allows for and encourages both interpretations
of the governess. He has constructed a two-sided character who will
be of one nature for one group of readers and of another nature for
a second group of readers. These two groups of readers are established
in the prologue, when Douglas introduces the governess and singles
out the anonymous narrator by telling him “you will easily judge”
her character. In this way, James alerts his readers that they will
have to judge the nature of the governess for themselves.
2. How does the
phrase “the turn of the screw” apply to the governess’s tale?
By titling his work The Turn of the
Screw, James suggests that the phrase “the turn of the
screw” is a fitting representation of the tale. The phrase works
as a metaphor that compares a tale’s effect on its recipients to
a screw boring into a hole. With each turn of the screw, the story’s
point is driven home, and its recipients are pierced further and
on a deeper level. James turns the screw a number of times to amplify
his novella’s ability to penetrate. He preambles the tale with an
intriguing but ambiguous prologue that foreshadows “delicious” dread.
James turns the screw when Douglas does, with the introduction of
a story involving not one but two children falling prey to supernatural
events. The screw turns again when we understand that the children
of the governess’s tale are not merely victims but participants
in the realm of ghosts and may even be plotting deceits and evil
deeds themselves. With the suggestion that the governess is insane
and that she, not her imaginary ghost world, is the villain, the
plot thickens even more.
Suggested Essay Topics
1. How does James imply that
the governess resembles a ghost?
2. The governess’s letter to
her employer is very important to Mrs. Grose and so important to
Miles that he steals it. Yet the governess is hesitant to write
this letter. Why is this letter so significant?
3. Before his heart stops, Miles
shouts out, “Peter Quint—you devil!” Who is being named the devil?
4. Give two different interpretations
of the scene in which the governess and Mrs. Grose find Flora by
the lake and argue for one interpretation over the other.
5. Give two significant examples
of James’s use of deliberate ambiguity and offer two different interpretations of
each example.
Become a fan on Facebook
Follow us on Twitter
