Hello all. Since we’ve now finished Turn of the Screw, let’s talk about the ghosts.
First of all, I still totally believe that the kids saw the ghosts. The things that happen, such as Miles and Flora seeming to be mesmerized by something outside (and then Miles all too quickly saying it was a “plan to be bad”) just feel like they’re all a little too coincidental. The governess claims to see Peter Quint’s ghost on the tower, and wouldn’t you know it – Miles just happens to be gazing at the top of the tower in the middle of the night. Now either these kids are somehow reading the governess’s mind, which would be a whole other creepy story in itself, or they’re seeing these ghosts. I understand that Miles says he’s just trying to be bad, but it really seems like he just doesn’t want the governess to find out what’s really going on… or the ghost inside him doesn’t. I might be thinking too deep into it, but I feel like if Miles and/or Flora are in fact possessed by a spirit, this spirit does not want to blow its cover to the governess, because let’s face it she’s a little bit on the “mentally unstable” side at this point. She even knows that if she confronts the kids, they’re going to lie about seeing them anyway, so it makes sense that it’s never clearly written out that they do or do not see them.
I also feel like that maybe Mrs. Grose has been through the same situation that the governess is currently going through. The impression that I get from Mrs. Grose is that she’s a little timid, almost like something had previously happened to make her that way. Encounters with entities, perhaps? Although, whenever the governess brings it up, Mrs. Grose basically just shrugs it off as no big deal, she doesn’t really seem to be afraid of talking about it or anything. But I think she refers to the children as such “angels” because she’s scared of them. Maybe because they made her seem crazy, just like they’re doing to the governess. I realize that may be a little bit broad for this story but it could happen!
Now, I do understand that a lot of people believe the kids are just nasty brats, but they ARE just little kids. I have 3 younger sisters, so I’d like to think I know a little bit about evil children – but as far as Miles and Flora go, I sincerely believe that there is something interfering with the way they are.
This particular aspect of the story obviously would be easier to elaborate on if the point of view wasn’t so limited, but it also then works in advantage of both whether the kids see the ghosts or not.
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I sit on the other side of the spectrum, I think that the governess is off her rocker insane. There is no real evidence that the children see the ghosts and throughout the story the governess's mental stability slowly slides off kilter and she becomes more and more suspicious of the children. And I wouldn't say that Mrs. Grose is timid I think that the governess never let her finish a thought completely out loud because the governess would go off on one of her tirades and Mrs. Grose would say "that's not possible...!" but the governess would cut her off and take it as a shocked agreement. But was it a shocked agreement or a surprised opposition?
ReplyDeleteI definetly agree with you lacey about Mrs. Grose. There is some part of her story that seems to be missing. It really throws me off that as the governess is explaining the ghostly figure she saw on the tower, Mrs. Grose without hesitation just throws out the it is the ghost of Peter Quint. Personally if someone explained someone who was dead and now was a ghost i would be a little freaked out. I think that Mrs. Grose has had encounters with the ghosts before or may have gone through the same situation with the governess with another person who worked with the children at the counrty home. There is something suspicious about Mrs. Grose because she seems so calm about the entire situation.
ReplyDeleteI'm more with Patty. In addition to my Bruce Willis 6th Sense Theory, I personally thought that the governess' paranoia led the kids to believe that they were seeing the ghosts. Her own insanity was pretty much the downfall of everyone around her. Maybe Mrs. Grose's reactions were just skeptical, and more like "...ok" instead of a "Oh. My. God!" I wonder...if the governess actually wrote the letter to the master what would he have said? It would be funny if he said "Oh, it's nothing to worry about. Happens all the time."
ReplyDeleteNot only does Mrs. Grose appear to jump the conclusion that the figure the governess saw was Quint, but she lets much mystery surround the situation of the former employees. All that Mrs. Grose tells the governess is that the two ghosts the governess thinks she sees in the story are involved with each other and that they both died around the same time. Mrs. Grose claims she knows nothing or at least refuses to share what she knows in relation to the death of these two people. How do you not know how two people that live on the same residence as you died?
ReplyDeleteI think that Mrs. Grose is a victim of the power of persuasion. After the governess thinks she sees the ghost, she rushes to Mrs. Grose to share about what she saw. Mrs. Grose asks numerous questions about what the governess saw, and the governess is so sure that what she saw was real, that Mrs. Grose became convinced without actually seeing anything.
ReplyDeleteI also think that the governess is making up the whole situation in her head. She is taking some of the smallest strange things that the children do and blowing them out of proportion. For all she knows the children could have seen something outside the window that had caught their eye that she is just not seeing, but she immediatly chalks the action up to them seeing the ghosts. Some kids can just be naughty but when Miles decides to take his midnight stroll out on the lawn the governess instantly interprets this as evidence that he is in league with the ghosts. I think that the governess could have taken ANYTHING that the children happened to do and turned it into evidence that they were seeing ghosts and therefor she should not be trusted as a narrator
ReplyDeleteI agree with Lacey on the Mrs. Grose situation. There has to be more to the story than what she shares with the governess, and how does she automatically know that the ghost is Peter Quint just based on a quick description from the governess. It seems a little fishy. I also agree with Jessica, in the sense that the governess is making up the whole situation. She takes little things & warps them into huge ones, and things that have nothing to do with ghosts to have everything to do with ghosts.
ReplyDeleteCadie Engelking
ReplyDeleteIt seems like there was too much assuming with the governess, which makes it harder for the readers to believe that there really are ghosts. Also, there isn't proof that the children truly saw the ghost, it was just the governess assuming once again. In the ending of the book is when it seems more apparent that the governess isn't 'all there'. I don't believe that the children honestly saw the ghosts, I think it was all in the governess' head.
I believe the kids were possessed by these spirits and the two spirits were working together. Wouldn't the two ghosts who used to work with the kids be jealous that they were easily replaced by this one lady, the governess? But the governess doesn't get off that easy. She was a crazy women. She was so adament(sp?) on not getting ahold of the master but she ends up writing a letter to him anyway. yeah, she has a right to change her mind but not since she was so adament on it in the first place.
ReplyDelete