The Turn of the Screw

The novel, The Turn of the Screw, is written by Henry James. The characters in this novel are the governess, Miles, Flora, Mrs. Grose, Quint, and Miss Jessel. The apparitions in The Turn of the Screw are real.

The first example takes place on the staircase. Quint, one of the ghosts, is sighted halfway up the stairs, the spot nearest the window. The governess is completely awake at this time. During the scene in the novel, she writes, "He knew me as well as I knew him; and so… we faced each other in our common intensity. He was absolutely, on this occasion, a living, detestable, dangerous presence (40)." This quote proves the horror is real because the governess is completely awake. She also senses Quint's presence.

The setting for this next quote is in Miles' room. The governess and Miles are having a conversation about him leaving Bly. The governess mentions that she wants to save Miles from the ghosts. She writes, "The answer to my appeal was instantaneous, but it came in the form of an extraordinary blast and chill, a gust of frozen air, and a shake of the room as great as if, in the wild wind, the casement, had crashed in (64)." The governess describes the occurrence as a gust of frozen air which would have, most likely, come from the window. But the windows were all shut tightly. Miles is not speaking the truth because the candle, which the governess

has at the time, is extinguished by a frozen gust of air and Miles says he has blown it out. This is not possible because human breath is warm. Quint's arrival is at the right moment since Miles is about to confess the truth to the governess and Quint scares him in order to keep him quiet.

The setting for this last quote is in the dining room, where the governess and Miles are alone. The governess is very close to getting Miles to confess about the horrors. In order to silence Miles, Quint takes action by killing Miles. The governess says, "I caught him, yes, I held him --it may be imagined with what a passion, but at the end of the minute I began to feel what it truly was that I held. We were alone with the quiet day, and his little heart, dispossessed, had stopped (87)." When Miles looks in the direction of the governess' pointing, he screams, proving that the ghosts are real. Miles is possessed and Quint leaves him when the governess dispossesses him. After being dispossessed, Miles dies.

As the reader can see, the governess has sensed Quint's presence, the children have lied, and Quint leaves Miles when he is dispossessed. These three examples prove that the apparitions are, in fact, real.