A Horneyan Interpretation Of The Governess' S Anxiety In The Turn Of The Screw

Henry James(1843-1916)is a famous American-born British writer and he is recognized as one of the key figures of 19th-century literary realism.He was a prolific writer.The Turn of the Screw is one of Henry James' s psychological novellas.This thesis aims to analyze the reasons of the governess' s anxiety from the perspective of Horney's personality theory.Horney claims that the environment that people live in contributes to the formation of individual's personality.And she puts emphasis on the influences of social and cultural factors on personality.Horney believes that the basic anxiety and defensive strategies all account for the formation of a man's anxiety.Once a man develops anxiety,he will adopt defensive strategies to alleviate it.There are three chapters in this thesis.The first chapter mainly focuses on the anxiety in the sense of self-identity.As a child without a mother,the governess can't feel any sense of security in her childhood.In her eyes,home is not a sheltered harbor where she can feels belongingness.Her father is a pastor who treats the governess strictly.She is too weak and coward to fight against her father.As a result,she has no clear understanding of herself and can't get a clear sense of self-identity gradually.In Victorian age,patriarchy requires her to be the “angle in the house”.So she is forbidden to express any desires to men.The social environment doesn't help her to find her position either.As a governess,she finds herself in an awkward social status.All these contribute to her anxiety in self-identity.Chapter two explores the governess' s anxiety in interpersonal relations with others.She shows her strong egocentrism and morbid desire of controlling others because her egocentrism is at work.She can't get love and care from other people but gives rise to hatred and resentment from others.The morbid desire of controlling others makes her fall into contradictions.Because of the frustration in interpersonal relationships,the governess' s anxiety is intensified.Chapter three studies the failure in alleviating anxiety.By idealization andexternalization,she tries to transfer her evil and pursuit of happiness to the outside world to alleviate conflicts.The governess devotes herself in the imagination through idealization.By doing this,she alleviates inner conflicts,but she can't accept the real self.She begins to hate and despise herself.The governess transfers her evil tendencies to the outside world by externalization.Though inner conflicts are replaced with external ones,she becomes more aggressive and reproachful.What she does intensifies the contradictions with others.She does not transfer her anxiety,but makes it even worse.This thesis comes to the conclusion that the governess' s anxiety comes from the loss of self-identity,frustration of interpersonal relationships and failure in alleviating anxiety.These three aspects contribute to the governess' s anxiety and lead to her tragic fate.