The Turn of the Screw Summary
Henry James

The Turn of the Screw by Henry James Henry James was born in New York City, the second son of well-to-do, liberal parents. He spent much of his youth traveling in the United States and Europe, an e... Read more

Biography EssayThe first important fact in the life of Henry James is the wealth of his paternal grandfather, the Irish immigrant William James (1771-1832), who, when he died in Albany, New York, left... Read more

The first important fact in the life of Henry James is the wealth of his paternal grandfather, the Irish immigrant William James (1771-1832), who, when he died in Albany, New York, left a fortune of $... Read more

Henry James was one of the most prolific of major American writers, having written more than four million words of fiction and about the same amount of nonfiction; in addition, about fifteen thousand ... Read more

In the following essay, Petry claims that with The Turn of the Screw James wrote a parody of the popular novel Jane Eyre, portraying his own narrator (the unnamed governess) as an almost exact parody ... Read more

In the following essay, Aswell argues that The Turn of the Screw is a non-supernatural tale revolving around the narrator's inability to confront and acknowledge her dark side. The governess in... Read more

In the following essay, originally published in 1934, Wilson presents a psychoanalytical interpretation of The Turn of the Screw in which he regards the ghosts of the story as illusions seen only by t... Read more

In the following essay, Miall offers a reading of The Turn of the Screw based on Sigmund Freud's “The Uncanny.” Henry James's tale of the supernatural has been the subject ... Read more

In the following essay, Mansell analyzes James's utilization of language in The Turn of the Screw. 1 A word cannot be meaningless; to be a word it must have meaning.1 So-called syncategorematic... Read more

In the following essay, Whelan explores the governess's profound moral and spiritual crisis, maintaining that the ghosts of Peter Quint and Miss Jessel mirror the evil tendencies within the chi... Read more

In the following essay, Fleming perceives “both the governess's reactions and the ghosts, whether real or imagined, as related halves of a particular world-view or perceptual paradigm&#x... Read more

In the following essay, Heller utilizes the device of the implied reader to explore the ambiguity of the ending of James's novella and explores the roles of meaning and ideology in the narrativ... Read more

In the following excerpt, Pecora places The Turn of the Screw within its literary and cultural context. Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he does not become a monster. And w... Read more

In the following essay, Mahbobah addresses recent feminist perspectives on The Turn of the Screw. The Politics of Oppositional Reversal Recently, a number of Henry James's feminist critics have... Read more

In the following essay, Levy investigates the relationship between James's play Guy Domville and his novella The Turn of the Screw. Though few Jamesian texts have been the subject of a more int... Read more

In the following essay, Cranfill and Clark examine James's portrayal of the social power structure in the late nineteenth century. Henry James took a lively interest in the English caste system... Read more

In the following essay, McMaster discusses the significance of James's ironic use of image and perception in his novella. When the governess in The Turn of the Screw has just been terrified by ... Read more

In the following essay, Cook and Corrigan investigate how the narrative structure functions in the novella, concluding that it allows for multiple interpretations of the story. As the subject of a cri... Read more

Freud has been a psychoanalyst to be said that shaped the view of people in the twentieth century. Nearly everyone has heard of him and his opinions on the holistic ideas of how everyone acts, should... Read more

Was The Turn of the Screw a ghost story, or was it really a story about sexual frustrations? There have been many debates on this subject, including anywhere from 300 to 400 books and references on th... Read more

Henry James wrote The Turn of the Screw while witnessing the sexual repression and seclusion of true feelings during the Victorian Era. This hypocrite and elitist society followed the belief that a re... Read more

In the governess's insane pseudo-reality and through her chilling behavior, she managed to bring downfall to Flora and Miles, the children of Bly. With compulsively obsessive actions, irrational... Read more

Every screw has both a groove and thread, two sides complimenting each other and with each turn securing and driving towards the same ultimate goal. All good stories are like screws in this way, inte... Read more

Mystery or Insight: The Role of Windows in The Turn of the Screw The Turn of the Screw is a classic work of the Gothic genre. Mystery, fear, old buildings, character's inner thoughts, and ghosts ab... Read more

Over the years, Henry James' short story, "The Turn of the Screw," has provokes great discussion and debate, as it concerns the ongoing question of the existence of the supernatural. "The Turn of... Read more

In order to understand the effects that ideas of femininity have on literary texts, we must first acknowledge what the term means. Clearly both terms derive from the original sex of the being, whethe... Read more

Henry James', The Turn of the Screw, can be referred as a ghost story or psychological novella. The governess, narrator and protagonist of the story, is seen as an ambiguous character in James' short ... Read more