Poquette holds a bachelor's degree in English and specializes in writing about literature. In the following essay, Poquette discusses how the absent employer sets off a chain reaction that triggers the governess's hallucinations in James's novel.

It is very difficult to make an argument about most aspects of The Turn of the Screw without first announcing whether one belongs to the group that views the tale as a ghost story or to the group that feels the governess's ghosts are really hallucinations. This essay will take the latter view as a starting point and discuss the reasons behind the governess's hallucinations. It is her master's curiously absent status, coupled with the governess's unrequited love for him, that drives the young woman to her hallucinations.

When the governess applies for the job at Bly, her employer tells her that there is one binding condition that no other woman...