Critical Textual Analysis - The Turn of the Screw by Henry James - Essay Example

Name of Customer] [Name of Instructor] [Course Name] [Date of Submission] Critical Textual Analysis INTRODUCTION Creativity is a rooted aspect within literature and it characterizes the uniqueness with which every artist brings out various aspects of their expertise. Post modernism has significantly changed the way of thinking of both artists and their audiences creating an environment where everything is possible with art and art has virtually no limits. There has been a significant paradigm shift with regard to how art is perceived. Written literature which is a form of art has significantly created a platform in which literal artists can evoke debate from the readers with each reader having the freedom to argue and support their perceptions. The short story “The Turn of the Screw” by Henry James provides a good example of a meta-narrative that ingeniously generates debate of what is and what is not, what is real and what seems real and what is known and what is not known. Although the story was written in the modernism era, it manages to create suspense in the post-modernism style. The debate generated by the short story even manages to question the extent to which the author is aware and conscious of the ideas and the texts, as discovered during an analysis by the reader. In the preface of the story James outlines that the reader is at ease to perceive the story as a “ghost story” but the extent to which the ghosts are real is debatable depending on the understanding and perception of the reader. James disappoints the conventional expectation of the reader by giving weak characters rather stronger roles, and in turn justifies the lack of drama by the characters in bringing out the roles. James outlines that he intentionally used these aspects to create a mirage for the reader that the reader can feel and experience but has no substance. The paper seeks to analyze whether the texts provide any evidence in the real existence of ghosts, and the extent of which the texts reveal the author’s knowledge and intention with regard to what is realized in the short story. The Ghosts. Ghosts are being that are evident in mythologies of almost all traditional societies. The evidence in the existence of ghosts is not conclusive but the extent to which people believe in ghost outlines that they dominate significant aspect of the lives of many people and communities. Literal art is one way in which the existence of ghosts have been addressed and the perceptions of communities with regard to apparitions have mostly been demonstrated through written literature. However, the analysis in no way seeks to provide prove or disapprove the existence of ghosts but seeks to establish whether the ghosts in the story really exist or not. The first evidence of a ghost the author introduces is the revelations by Douglas. The story had been passed to Douglas by the governess of his sister. Douglas’s sister had died some years back and the governess of Douglas’ sister had sent Douglas a letter about the encounter with the ghost. The first mentioning of the ghost by the author fails to generate any excitement due to the subtlety and the passiveness with which James uses the characters to refer to the ghost. The conversations between Douglas and the persona reveal that other aspects rather than the ghost are central to their discussions. Although in the beginning the author reveals that they had gathering around the fire was necessitated by the story of a ghost that had appeared to a child. The gathering was waiting for clarifications concerning the story of the ghost from Douglas. Apparently, Douglas did not also have answers as he told them to wait so that he can consult the letter in which his sister’s governess has sent him which contains the account of the ghost story. A slight debate within the text questions the authenticity of the story being that the person bringing into attention the story never experienced anything that was outlined in the story and was therefore not in a good position to corroborate (James 5). Douglas outlines that he will have to get the letters in which the story was written first. The conversation by the fire quickly shifts to the relationship between Douglas and his sister’s governess. An analysis of the character of the governess by (Edmond) reveals that the governess cannot be considered a credible source for any information because she constantly lies. For instance, she does not say the truth with regard to what she wrote on the letter she sent to Douglas and she also lies about seeing the ghost in certain instances. In the introduction James manages to belittle the ghost aspect by creating the possibility of non-existence due to lack of first-hand information. The quick shift from the ghost story to the romantic relationship between Douglas and the governess implies that the ghost aspect less significant in this perspective. A reader does not fail to suspect that Douglas is avoiding the ghost story by introducing the romantic story perhaps because he has doubts too with regard to the authenticity of the story. The character of Douglas in this perspective would have been used to outline whether the ghost talked about by his lover were real or not. However, before Douglas can reveal anything relevant thing about the ghost the author quickly kills Douglas implying that the only evidence remaining of the ghost story is the letter with nobody to provide clarity. The only thing that the death of Douglas’s death caused is arouse more curiosity as revealed by the following text; “But that only made his little final auditory more compact and select, keep it, round the hearth, subject of common thrill” (James 8). As the story of the governess’s encounter with the ghost unfolds one realizes that it is inferential. The governess sees a person by the window and describes the person to Mrs. Grose who quickly declares that the person by the window was actually the ghost of a dead servant called Quint. The governess had no idea of what Quint looked like but surprisingly on describing the person he saw leads Mrs. Grose to conclude that the person the governess saw was actually Quint. A general realization is that there is a possibility that in the psyche of Mrs. Groses the strange person that the governess has seen can only be Quint. On the other hand there is the possibility that the strange person by the window is not real but only exists in the subconscious of the governess. Through their own perceptions the two women complement each other’s imaginations thereby bringing the respective imaginations closer to reality. According to Mrs. Grose Quint was an evil man and that he had a negative influence on the little boy Miles. We realize this when Mrs. Grose says that “It was Quint’s own fancy. To play with him, I mean spoil him” (James 44). Therefore, it is notable that Mrs. Grose had a strong disliking for Quint. The governess on the other hand strikes as a lonely person in need for some excitement and drama in her life. The implication is that the governess’s loneliness led to her to imagine a companion. The companion she has created in her subconscious is made more real by the fact that Mrs. Grose can put a name on the strange person. At this point it does not matter to the governess the reality of the stranger because the whole issues has generated enough excitement. The excitement is revealed in the governess sureity that she could see the ghost of Quint once again. Instead of the convetional ghost that evokes fear it has provided Mrs. Grose with someone to blame for the bad behavior observed in Miles and creating a need for subsequent meetings by the governess. The tone of Mrs. Grose implies that the fact that Quint spent a lot of time with Miles bothered Mrs. Grose greatly (Chinitz 268). The author reveals that “she had ventured to criticize the propriety, to hint at the incongruity of so close an alliance and even to go so far on the subject as a frank overture to Miss Jessel” (James 60). Miss Jessel to some extent thought that Mrs. Grose was overreacted and actually told her to “mind her business” (James 60). There is only one emotion that can drive a person to hate the relationhsip between two people without enough proof and the emotion is jealousy. For some reason Mrs. Grose might have been jealous of the relationship between Miles and Quint. These revelations imply that wo people who could have provided further proof with regard to existence of the ghost might also have created the ghost in their subconscious for their own personal reasons. The Intentional and Unintentional Meaning of the Texts. Exploring of the meanings of the texts in important in identifying whether the author intended for the story to be interpreted in a particular way, or some of the interpretations are purely circumstantial and contextual and not as a direct intent of the author. The organizations of words by the author play an important role in understanding the meaning of a story. However, in some instances where the author fails to give organization priority certain unintentional meanings can be realized. As much as the author outlines that the story is actually ghost story, the way the author reveals the ghosts to the reader lacks the suspense, the thrill, the anxiety and surprise with which ghosts are conventionally revealed in literature. The reader’s first encounter with a ghost is through a second hand story told by Douglas from a letter he received from his dead sister’s governess. The realization creates doubt in the reader as to whether the ghost story is the main focus of the writer or the writer has used the ghost story to bring out some important themes in the story. There is a strong indication that the author uses the ghost story as a secondary aspect to bring out some characteristics of the characters and consequently themes and to help in building the plot in the story (Chinitz 273). Ambiguity is one aspect that the author manages to portray deliberately to the reader as revealed by analysis of the texts. The only person who actually sees the ghosts is the governess. The association of the ghosts with evil and good with regard to Quint and Miss Jessel implies that the author might have actually intended them to be real. However, further analysis of the circumstances in which the ghosts were seen implies that they could have been a conception of the mind of the governess. This is because the evil the ghost of Quint represents does not actually create any harm and good the ghost of Miss Jessel represents does not actually intervene against evil or offer any supernatural protection. In essence the ghosts just appear and disappear and they do so for only one person. The roles of the children in the story have not also been clearly defined by the author. In one perspective the children appear to be victims of the ghosts that seem to interfere with their lives. For instance, there is the implication that Miles could have been declared dangerous in school because of the negative influence that Quint had on him (James 61). Therefore, Miles could not be totally blamed for his behavior because he was just a victim of the negative influence by Quint. On the other hand Miles and Flora can also be considered as culprits because of their decision to deliberately scare the governess. The author ends the story without clearly outlining to the reader whether the children were heroes or they were villains. Eventually the author kills the character of Miles leaving the reader in doubt of whether the boy was actually guilty of the crimes he is purported to have committed or to outline the unfairness with which the society addressed such issues. An analysis of the story reveals that the author’s main intention was to generate ambiguity. However, the intentionally use of ambiguity also implies that some aspects within the text will not remain ambiguous after reading because have to be defined in order to generate meaning in the whole text. For instance, even if the author intentionally aimed at creating ambiguity with respect to the role played by the children in the story, the children still play an important role with regard to the theme of good against evil. Apparently, the children were the center of attention in the story and all the activities and incidences seemed connected to them. Eventually, the ambiguity intended by the author becomes ambiguous as the author is forced to choose between building of themes and the plot, and totally remaining ambiguous (Meyer 148). The author is forced to kill the character of Miles to strengthen the plot of good against evil thereby failing to ensure that the roles of the children remain ambiguous. The death of Miles implies that governess has not succeeded in freeing Miles of the influence of Quint. The story is frightening and the end is even more frightening. The text reveals an important aspect of the relationship between the children and the adults. In conventional circumstances the children are supposed to operate under the guidelines of the adults around them. However, in the text it seems as if in some instances the author mixes up traditional roles between children and adults. Flora and Miles take it upon themselves to intentionally frighten the governess (James 48). In this instance the children seem to be more in control. There is a possibility that the children knew that the governess was afraid of ghosts and so they decided to scare her. The author outlines that in some instances the children had become wittier than their guardians. Mrs. Grose laments that she could not have thought that a boy as young as Miles could miss school let alone being expelled (James 83). The guardians are not able to understand the children and they sometimes behave as children. The essence of displaying the guardians in such a way is to demonstrate some aspect of chaos which helps in building of theme of good versus evil. The author aims at demonstrating that evil is always lurking around looking for young souls to poison with negative mindsets. The influence of Quint can be seen in the behavior and arrogance of Miles. The texts reveal that Miles was an evil man who mistreated Miss Jessel and that probably he died by hitting his head hard on the ground while drunk. Since Miles spent most of his time with Quint he must have picked some negative habits from Quint thereby leading to his expulsion from school. Miles has also had an effect on Flora because he managed to convince Flora to join him in scaring the governess. Flora says that “I made her turn Pale” (James 54). All these happened under the watchful eye of the guardians implying that the guardians had not played their part well in upbringing the children. The extent to which Miles manipulates the governess to write a letter to their Uncle and in the processing breaking a long term promise implies that the children are in control. When the guardians are busy discussing encounters with the ghosts, evil takes over the children. Flora fall ill and begins to say fearful things while at the same time Miles pretends to have burned the letter intended for their Uncle so that he can get a chance to read the contents of the letter (James 60). The importance of using such situations in the text is to allow for the intrusion of evil in the lives of the children especially Miles. The author also aims at outlining that such situations can only create chaos within a given environment. Even though the governess attempts to rescue the soul of Miles, it seems as if the influence has reached threshold and Miles must die because he cannot survive in a life where Quint does not exist. In essence when Quint ceases to exist, Miles also ceases to exist. The Extent of the Author’s Knowledge about His Texts. The knowledge of an author about his texts is important in ensuring that the author knows how and what the texts communicates to readers. However, it is not obvious that all authors will have knowledge of their respective texts when engaging in literal art. Literal expressions are rich and diverse and an author might use some aspects in texts totally unaware of the eventual perception by the reader. In the beginning of the story the author managed to introduce the aspect of ghosts well but along the way removed the focus from the ghosts to the romantic relationship between the governess and Douglas. The fact that James revised the story three times reveals that he does not really know the texts and what they imply (Edmond 5). The story is supposed to be frightening but when in the beginning the author puts romance and fear alongside one another, there is a general perception that the story will involve a bad concoction of the two. Inter-personal relationships and horror or fear can exist within a particular text because they are all emotions common to human beings. The mixing of the two so close to one another without creating an objective relationship removes the seriousness in the story. The continuous presence of ghosts implies that the author intended to evoke some aspect of fear but the way the fear exist so close to romance is rather chaotic. The use of ghosts by the author creates a perfect opportunity for the author to incorporate aspects such as fear and evil. However, the ghosts remain trophies all through the text because the author fails to use them to create a feeling of fear and evil. Quint’s ghost represents evil and the ghost of Miss Jessel represents good. However, there is not a single instance where the ghost of Quint has sparked evil of the ghost of Miss Jessel promote good directly. It is understandable that Quint committed evil when he was still alive but by incorporating ghosts the reader expects the author to use the ghosts. Despite the fact that the basis of the story is to ingeniously create ambiguity, there is a general realization that the ghosts become redundant whether they are real or not. The author outlines in the preface that the reader is right by considering the story to be ghost story which is not actually true. After reading the whole story one realizes the insignificance of the ghosts with regard to the emphasis the author puts in the ghost aspect and how the author uses or fails to use the ghosts effectively. CONCLUSION The “Turn of the Screw” is a short story that has generated a lot of debate significantly due to the author’s determination in remaining ambiguous. The debate about the reality of the ghosts in the texts is perhaps central to the ambiguity because the story ends without any clarification. However, the argument in this essay has outlined various reasons acting to support the postulation that the ghosts are not real. The author avoids using first-hand information with regard to the existence of the ghosts and the only evidence the author provides is a letter left by the governess. The governess is also presented as an unreliable source since she lies several times and evidence points towards the idea that the ghosts are a conception of her troubled and lonely mind. An analysis into the meaning of the texts reveals that a significant portion is purely circumstantial and not as a result of the direct intent of the author and the realization seems to add to the ambiguity. The fact that the author revised the story three times reveals that the author realized some aspects of the story after finishing the texts hence the need to revise. The revisions put into question the complete knowledge of the author of the texts. Works Cited Chinitz, Lisa G. "Fairy Tale Turned Ghost Story: James's The Turn of the Screw." The Henry James Review (2010): 264-285. Print. Edmond, Elizabeth Suzanne. Tracing the Thread: A Textual Analysis of the Turn of the Screw. Ontario, June 1986. Print. James, Henry. The Turn of the Screw. 1999. Print Meyer, Michael J. Literature and Musical Adaptation. New York: Rodopi, 2002. Print. Read More