Beyond A Conventional Ghost Story

The Turn of the Screw by Henry James is admired as one of the most artistic works in literature. Due to its highly polished yet ambiguous text, it has inspired a variety of critical interpretations since its publication in 1898. The novella is generally regarded as a conventional though extremely horrifying ghost story. This thesis argues that The Turn of the Screw presents a tragedy of the governess that is inevitable in the Victorian Age.The thesis is composed of four parts. Chapter One introduces the life of Henry James, the background information of The Turn of the Screw and the critical history since its publication. In Chapter Two, a thematic analysis is given to The Turn of the Screw: this novella is a conventional ghost story on surface; in essence, however, it is a tragedy of the governess, who occupies an inferior social and economic position in Victorian age. In addition, sexual suppression is one of the fundamental elements of her consciousness. Chapter Three presents an analysis of the techniques employed in The Turn of the Screw. It explores the methods by which James extends and intensifies his meaning and strikes more deeply into the reader's consciousness. The first technique is James' use of conventions of ghost story and fairy tale. He employs supernatural story-telling situation of ghost tales; the highly vulnerable victims of horror legends; fairy-tale settings, plots, and characters. The second technique is the use of ambiguity. Henry James adopts unreliable narrator and information gap to achieve ambiguity, and in this way the readers are indicated to detect the vital meaning beneath the surface of a simple ghost story. The last Chapter concludes that the significance of The Turn of the Screw is beyond that of a conventional ghost story. As a major realist writer in English literature, Henry James artistically expresses his social and moral concern in The Turn of the Screw. The work transcends the mere horror and achieves a greater significance.