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The Turn of the Screw by Henry James

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When an intelligent, strong-willed, protective governess comes in conflict with two unobtainable supernatural beings in a situation where her sanity is up for debate, the results where maybe she is either the solution or the problem. The Turn of the Screw, by Henry James, written in the Victorian Era. The Victorian era was limited in the way they could speak and how they could speak it. Ghosts were not a subject to be brought up in front of a child. The governess’s delusional or eccentric behavior consists of many interactions with spirits that may be interpreted as judged reasonable although the madness of her behavior affects the significance of the work.

The governess’s delusional or eccentric behavior consists of many actions that are obsessive, irrational, and could be hallucinations. The governess perceived the ghosts, Miss Jessel and Peter Quint, intentions to corrupt and destroy the children. The governess seemed to take control of the children’s lives as soon as she arrived upon Bly; she moved Flora’s bed from Mrs. Grose’s room to her own. The governess also had a strange obsession with the children, with their appearances and their character. After Miles had got expelled from school, the governess was unpleased with the boy, but after her first glance at him after reading, she cast away all those thoughts. After she had received the letter of his expulsion, she refused to allow the school an authority over the Miles because in her mind the governess believed she knew what was best for him. As the governess encounters the ghosts, she conceives they are haunting the children but wants to stay at Bly and insists on fighting them and protecting the kids instead of moving them away. The governess then becomes paranoid about the children and their interaction with the ghosts. She believes Miles distracted her with his piano playing so Flora could talk to Miss Jessel but the lake. She scared Flora to the point of no return by the way she screamed at her to tell her that she had seen Miss Jessel. In her last attempt to protect and protect the children, the governess sends Mrs. Grose away with the sick child, Flora, but keeps Miles at Bly. When trying to save Miles, she sees Peter Quint and Miles takes his last breaths in her arms inevitably. Although it did seem the governess had good intentions of helping the children her behaviors are consistent of delusions; as no one else can see the ghosts.

The governess’s acts are to protect the children at any cost, and if the ghosts are indeed real, and not just her hallucinations, then her behavior is within reasonable judgment. If looked at this way then the governess is the protector of the children who in the end ultimately falls victim to Peter Quint and Miss Jessel in an attempt to save the children. There is nothing to suggest the governess inquired the characteristic of Peter Quint’s appearance from another source in the novella. On her walk, she sees him

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