When reading the Turn of the Screw I cannot help but notice the calmness of Mrs. Grose and the governess. The governess is constantly asking the housekeeper about the figures she is seeing but doesn’t run away or freak out in horror. “There was an alien object in view—a figure whose right of presence I instantly and passionately questioned” (35). The governess then proceeded to start staring at Flora and watch her reaction. Why? Most people when they see a ghost or mysterious object don’t study someone else but try to figure out what it is or run screaming elsewhere for help. Then to make matters stranger she tells Mrs. Grose about it and she also acts as if it is normal. She questions the governess but never really doubts that she saw anything because unknowing to the governess, Mrs. Grose saw it too. And not only does she see and know about the figures, but she knows who they are. If I were the governess I would be getting suspicious about Mrs. Grose’s knowledge and the fact that the two figures had previously worked at the house. It is hard to decide which of the two is acting stranger. Mrs. Grose doesn’t seem like a regular person because she knows so much. She too isn’t scared of the ghosts but doesn’t question their appearance like the governess does, but only questions the governess about her seeing them. It makes it seem like she knows more than she is leading on to which the governess has already started to question.
The other strange aspect of this story is the governess’s need to watch the children. I understand it is her job, but it seems more like she is stalking them. She starts but exclaiming how beautiful they are, “But it was a comfort that there could be no uneasiness in a connexion with anything so beatific as the radiant image of my little girl” (10). In the following chapters she just goes on about their actions and even calls them naïve and not smart enough to figure things out. When she is on the beach with Flora, Flora doesn’t see the ghost or she too isn’t scared by it. My guess is that she doesn’t see it, but hopefully the story will play out to make this clearer as to why no one is afraid of the ghosts. The last thing that really troubled me was the employer’s need to emphasize that the governess is to ask him nothing and figure everything out by herself. If I were to take up this offer I would be suspicious right away but the governess acted as if it meant nothing and took the job. Hopefully this too will be better explained later or it already has with the employer not wanting questions about the ghosts.
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You make an interesting point near the of this post about what you would do if you were in the governess's shoes, and I have a much better idea of what i would do: stop being a governess. Why, you ask? Because even if by some crazy turn of events I ended taking care of the two "charges" as she calls them, by the time I started seeing ghosts and suspecting children, it wouldn't be a governess job. Actually, to make a really bad parallel, at this moment in the story where the governess is so paranoid it's more like "Sherlock Holmes" than "Turn of the Screw". Anyway, getting back to the main point, if I were in her shoes I would probably go see a doctor or a psychiatrist because, as of yet, the governess hasn't actually confirmed that anyone else is really seeing the ghosts. On the other hand, you did say that Mrs. Grose saw the ghost, but how exactly do you know this? If Mrs. Grose didn't seem surprised it could be because she believes that the governess is (off her rocker) simply having trouble getting over her loneliness (not seeing the master, wanting to write to him, etc.) and Mrs. Grose is simply playing along by identifying the ghosts even through the vague descriptions given by the governess. Perhaps, the real theme of this book is that a person needs companionship to maintain their own life and prosperity, but I don't think this is a very decisive argument at this point (before the end of the book). What do you think?
ReplyDeleteI agree that the governess' and mrs. grose's reactions are not what could be considered "normal", but it could be that they are in shock. If i were in that position i would be so afraid that all i would be able to do would be to analyze the situation. not run away screaming, although that would be a good option too. I also think that the governess could be making sure that she isnt crazy by staying calm. if she were to freak out on mrs. grose she might have gotten shipped to an insane asylum and POOF there goes the rest of the book. Its just my opinion though, it may not be what Henry James intended
ReplyDeleteYou bring up a good point about Mrs.Grose's knowledge of the ghosts. I do think that the children as well as Mrs. Grose are able to see the children. It seems as if Mrs. Grose alludes to her knowledge of the ghosts and leads the governess on by giving her the names of the ghosts after the governess tell her the description. When the governess encounters Quint for the second time and she is talking to Mrs. Grose, the governess narrates, "Mrs.Grose's large face showed me, at this, for the first time, the faraway faint glimmer of a consciousness more acute: I somehow made out in it the delayed down of an idea I myself had not given her and that was as yet quite obscure to me." (James 319). It seems at this point Mrs.Grose is thinking of Peter Quint and playing along as if the ghosts are Bly are a completely new experience for her. Assuming that the ghosts are real, who else would be hanging around Bly with the two children unless it was Quint and Miss Jessel? I mean, if I was a ghost, Bly doesn't exactly sound like my first pick of a place to go to haunt people. So I think that the ghosts must have some sort of affiliation with the children and the logical answer to who the ghosts are would be Quint and Miss Jessel. Mrs. Grose claims that she doesn't know how Quint and Miss Jessel died, but I think that she might be hiding the causes of their deaths from the governess.
ReplyDeleteI noticed that Mrs. Grose had no fear in the ghost too. She had no reaction when the governess is talking about the ghosts to her. I do think that Mrs. Grose was able to see the ghosts so therefore when the governess talked about them it just didn't surprise her at all. And as for the governess always watching the children i think she does it because she is so caught up in thinking if she really sees the ghosts and if the children see the ghosts. She gets really paranoid about who can see them and she just focuses all her attention on the children and the ghosts. Plus she does notice that the children are acting strange when she starts to see the ghosts and she just wants to figure everything out but she cannot trust what the children say.
ReplyDeleteI think that the governess' calmness and near obsession with the children has more to do with her fantasies about her future with the master than anything else. When the governess took the job, she did it with the intention of being the hero of the children in the masters eyes and eventually taking his love. Although this doesn't really work out, it does explain her behavior.
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