The Turn of the Screw

As the governess utters the name that has always remained unspoken, Mrs. Grose cries out and Flora’s face tightens into a glare. The governess herself then gasps and points across the pond, where Miss Jessel’s apparition has materialized. She turns to Flora triumphantly, relieved at this visible proof of her allegations, but the girl only looks at her with dismay. Determined to elicit Flora’s acknowledgement, the governess cries to her, “She’s there, you little unhappy thing—there, there, there, and you know it as well as you know me!” (84). Flora stares coldly at the governess, who next appeals to Mrs. Grose for confirmation. When the housekeeper looks blankly toward the opposite shore, indicating she sees nothing of consequence, the governess realizes her own hopeless position.

Even as the apparition continues “as big as a blazing fire” (84) to the governess’s eyes, Mrs. Grose reassures Flora that “it’s all a mere mistake and a worry and a joke” (85). Flora, who suddenly appears “almost ugly” (85), calls the governess cruel and begs Mrs. Grose to take her away. Shaking her head, the governess surmises she has lost Flora because she tried to interfere with the demon’s designs on the girl. She tells them to go, and as they disappear, she sinks to the ground in despair. Night is falling when the governess finally stands and returns to Bly. She secludes herself in the schoolroom until eight o’clock, when Miles appears. He sits with her in silence for the next two hours.

Mrs. Grose wakes the governess before sunrise. Flora stayed the night with the housekeeper, and after hours of fitful dreams, the girl is now feverish. Upon hearing that Flora raves obsessively about her and wishes never to see her again, the governess tells Mrs. Grose to take Flora away to her uncle’s house. The governess has “a new hope” (89) following the silent companionship of her older charge the previous evening. She believes Miles wants to tell her everything—and was close to doing so last night—but needs more time. She tells Mrs. Grose that a couple days alone with Miles should be sufficient, and “he’ll then be on my side” (89).

Mrs. Grose agrees with the governess’s plan and then admits Flora ranted about the governess throughout the night, using foul language “beyond everything, for a lady” (91). Because Flora could only have learned such appalling words from demons themselves, the housekeeper fully believes that evil forces are preying on the children. Momentarily relieved to have an ally, the governess then remembers with chagrin the letter she sent to London. Mrs. Grose tells her the letter disappeared, and she suspects Miles stole it. This news only strengthens the governess’s determination to be alone with Miles, and she urges Mrs. Grose to quickly depart with Flora.

After Mrs. Grose leaves with Flora, the governess experiences a moment of anxiety, fearful of facing her situation alone. Miles has dropped the pretense that he is her pupil and left the house “for a stroll” (93) following breakfast with his sister and Mrs. Grose. He doesn’t return until dinner, at which time he joins the governess in the dining room, as she has decided to dispense with the practice of eating in the schoolroom. His first words are about Flora and her apparent poor health. After the governess remarks that the girl’s illness is not extreme, but “might have become so if she had stayed” (95), the pair finish their meal in silence.

When the table is cleared and the servants have left the dining room, Miles rises to peer out the window—the very window through which the governess saw Peter Quint peering in. Miles seems to search for something he cannot see, and the governess realizes “with a throb of hope” (96) that he has lost the power to perceive “the others,” the apparitions. Turning back to the governess, Miles says he enjoyed his long walk but worries the governess may have been lonely. She assures Miles she remains at Bly to help him in whatever way she can. Abandoning caution, she says he can help her, too, by telling her everything. When Miles reacts with a pained expression, the governess experiences “a perverse horror of what [she] was doing […], for what did it consist of but the obtrusion of the idea of grossness and guilt on a small helpless creature […]?” (98). Miles agrees to disclose everything later. Before he escapes the dining room, however, the governess asks if he stole her letter.

While the governess’s question still hangs in the air, the face of Peter Quint appears in the window. The governess leaps up and clasps Miles in her arms to prevent him from turning and seeing that “face of damnation” (99). With a faraway voice, Miles admits he took the letter. Overjoyed that the boy trusted her with this confession, the governess holds him tighter and stares defiantly at the apparition outside the window. She is positive Miles can no longer see or communicate with Quint, albeit “he knew that he was in presence, but knew not of what, and knew still less that” (100) the governess did know. She feels a flush of triumph when Quint’s face vanishes.

Emboldened by her success, the governess asks if Miles was expelled from school for stealing. The boy expresses weary surprise, then says the school dismissed him for things he said to several other boys. After he allows that these things were “too bad” for the schoolmaster to write in his letter, the governess cries, “What were these things?” (102). Her demand seemingly summons the infernal specter of Quint, whose face reappears in the window. The governess pulls Miles to her again and shouts “No more!” (102) at the phantom, thereby betraying the fiend’s presence. Bewildered, Miles wonders if “it’s he” (103) and then, white with rage, exclaims, “Peter Quint—you devil!” (103). As the governess assures Miles he is free from Quint’s influence forever, the boy utters a hideous cry. The spectral figure is gone, leaving the governess alone with Miles, whose “little heart, dispossessed, had stopped” (103).