In "The Turn of the Screw" by Henry James, the central character, the housekeeper, feels so isolated that she will do whatever it takes to assuage that feeling. He decides the way to do that is to fall in love. Unfortunately, since it is located in Bly, this wish cannot be fulfilled. When the housekeeper realizes this, she begins to manifest her unrequited feelings in the form of ghostly apparitions. His point of view also plays an important role in how the reader views the ghosts. Subconsciously, the governess has chosen to be an unreliable narrator, seeing fantastic ghosts participating in a love relationship allows her to feel as if she herself is part of it. However, when the housekeeper gets tired of these ghosts, she turns to other characters to realize her aspiration. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay The housekeeper sees ghosts to satisfy her burning desire to fall in love. The young governess is immediately attracted to the "handsome, bold, and likeable" (p. 7) bachelor uncle of the orphaned children by whom she is employed. This overwhelming feeling was her original motivation for taking the job as a housekeeper. Introducing the reader to the governess's most basic feelings shows the reader that this is one of her primary concerns at the time in her life when the novella begins. The housekeeper's desire to be loved by a man is induced by her uncle's "charming ways with women" (p. 7). Her kindness gives her a taste of how she would like to be treated in life. When the governess leaves to take the job, she is of undeveloped age, with a background of rural poverty and only one child-related position (as a teacher) before the event in question. This results in a lack of knowledge of what he wants out of life. The gentleman uncle gives her an "ideal" to aspire to. The housekeeper is an unreliable narrator; her dreams of falling in love become so realistic to her that she actually begins to see apparitions. His first sighting occurs only a moment after he dreams how it would be "as enchanting as a fascinating story to suddenly meet someone" (p. 19). The word "story" implies an innocent, childish and fairy-tale vision of the emotion he feels; this choice of diction demonstrates his inability to deal with emotion in a mature manner. When Peter Quint appears on the tower at that point, her imagination takes over and gives her "the love" she has dreamed of since she arrived in Bly. The housekeeper's mind shows Quint as a ghost because she subconsciously knows that he is unreal and therefore unattainable, that he is a ghost is her rationalization of the situation: mental self-preservation. The housekeeper's initial sighting of the second ghost, Miss Jessel, is of the same nature as her original sighting of Quint; our narrator desires or, in the second case, "realizes that (the housekeeper) has an interested spectator" (p. 35), before seeing him, leading the reader to conclude that the ghosts are manifestations of his thoughts. He sees the ghost in his mind's eye and thanks to his imagination is then able to transfer the image into visual form. In order to have a relationship with “Peter,” the above describes the next logical step in her dream: allowing her mind to take over again and inventing a “Miss Jessel.” Miss Jessel and Peter Quint had "everything between them" (p. 39) according to Mrs. Grose, this supports the romantic relationship in which the governess conceives Quint to be involved. Miss Jessel represents what the housekeeper wants to be, a.
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