"The Turn of the Screw"

Paper Summary:

This paper examines how a psycho-analytical approach to "The Turn of the Screw", together with the theory of repressed emotions, portrays the apparitions to be a product of the Governess' irrational and unstable mind. It looks at how the children are innocent victims of the Governess' internal conflict and how the Governess herself is portrayed as an emotionally weak woman rather than a heroine or savior.

From the Paper:

"The Governess' reaction to the uninformative letter, is to immediately accuses a boy who she has never met before, of being 'an injury to others', suggesting that he is a dangerous and corrupt individual. Merely a day after her rash judgement and accusation, her viewpoint has changed completely based on a single meeting with Miles. The Governess is so moved by his seemingly perfect nature and his incredible beauty that she decides to drop the case all together; proclaiming 'I was incisive' (p.161), which highlights her irrational nature as she truly believes she has done the right thing when, a sensible, rational governess would write to the school, get to the bottom of the problem and inform the Master of the predicament - no matter how impressed they were by the child's behaviour."

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