Who Is The Screw,Who Is Turning?Examining Britten’s The Turn Of The Screw From The Perspective Of Marginalization

Benjamin Britten is regarded as one of the greatest composers of the twentieth century,having produced many significant contributions to the history of composition during his lifetime.Britten not only inserted his internal spirit and inner feelings into his music,but also positively engaged in society and dedicated himself to reconstructing the post-war culture of England.This dissertation aims to explore the issue of marginalization in the libretto,musical features and social contexts of Britten’s chamber opera The Turn of the Screw,examining in particular the conflicts between ‘outsider’ and ‘insider’ in the society from the point of view of Miles’ s death.Marginalization is an important issue within Britten’s musical work given the composer’s queer identity.In this case,I would like to examine the relationship between Henry James’ novella and Myfanwy Piper’s libretto,in order to understand Piper and Britten’s approach to James’ text,as well as potential differences in intentions between Piper and Britten,with particular reference to the subject matter of the text and Britten’s own homosexual identity.Then,I will explain how the music and drama create a sense of marginalization,and identify the problems and conclusions that are solved and achieved by using the marginalized approach.