Topic > Mrs. Grose Haunting in The Turn of the Screw

Henry James's popular novel The Turn of the Screw is often subjected to re-examination because the writing is saturated with ambiguity that prevents the reader from deriving a definitive solution. This ghost story provides both faith and distrust in the belief of ghosts who appear to be responsible for the main events of the story. In 1840s England, an inexperienced young woman becomes governess to two orphaned children, Flora and Miles, in a country house she calls Bly. The reader is engrossed in following his story of what happens in this house. Due to the social hierarchy within the house she finds herself alone, and due to her ghost sightings she finds herself harboring the mysterious. He recruits Mrs. Grose as his ally to defeat both her loneliness and the ghosts that haunt her and the children. Mrs. Grose, a serious servant downstairs who cared for Flora and Mile's grandmother before she died and who has remained with the family ever since, gathering trust and secrets, nonverbally agrees to the request. The stress the housekeeper is under and the way she behaves is thought to stem directly from her otherworldly encounters, however, it appears that the natural ones affect her psyche even more than the supernatural ones. Mrs. Grose's relationship with the housekeeper is full of passive schemes, including gathering information and suggesting ideas that the housekeeper can fixate on, and is full of sabotage, including encouraging the housekeeper's unfavorable ways and eradicating of his sanity. Say no to plagiarism. . Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay In a central development of the narrative, Mrs. Grose perpetuates the housekeeper's belief that they are friends in order to observe her and gather information, possibly to use against her. Mrs. Grose shows no sign of enthusiasm in meeting the housekeeper, so Mrs. Grose often acts as if their meetings are meaningless unless the housekeeper says something strange or acts alarmingly. Thanks to the housekeeper's almost desperate agreement to a job that the family has struggled to fill, having been rejected numerous times by others, and thanks to the fixation of her uncle and his nephews, Mrs. Grose believes that there must be a strong sense of persuasion into the housekeeper due to her superficial motives. Like the reader, Mrs. Grose seems to decide that the housekeeper is a woman who is quick to draw outrageous conclusions using little information and much of her imagination by finishing Mrs. Grose's sentences with strange fillers such as accepting a non-existent request for a kiss: “ Would you mind, miss, if I used the liberty-” (James 13) Mrs. Grose begins only to be quickly greeted with an uncomfortable embrace; she pushes her luck and breaks the social hierarchy to meet and observe the housekeeper many times, but Mrs. Grose is not reprimanded by the housekeeper whose job is to manage and maintain the house, as well as set a good example for her two pupils. To Mrs. Grose, who is obedient to the hierarchy, these actions mean that the housekeeper has little experience and lacks common sense (Killoran 17). From the information Mrs. Grose gets from the housekeeper's actions and conversations, Mrs. Grose seems to believe that the housekeeper would be easily manageable. Additionally, Mrs. Grose uses the character traits that the governess reveals about herself to suggest ideas for the governess to dwell on. and eventually change. When the opportunity presents itself, Mrs. Grose is quick to provide the housekeeper with the missing informationwhen he is in a state of confusion. Succumbing to new surroundings, responsibilities, and people, the housekeeper allows Mrs. Grose to do the thinking for her; by providing minimal, superficial details about a man she thought she saw, she authorizes Mrs. Grose to tell her what and who he was. Clearly absorbed in her own fear, the housekeeper fails to see itMrs Grose appears to improvise Peter Quint's existence, not evident through her words but through her response as she pauses and falters in her explanations. “Still speechless, but upon meeting me, he put it all together. “He never wore a hat, but he wore… well, no waistcoats! They were both here last year”” (James 23). When the housekeeper asks how Miss Jessel died, Mrs. Grose does not tell the details, only conveys emotion, and must know that the housekeeper would make up the most absurd self-made story for Mrs. Grose's benefit. As she ponders these suggestions, the governess seems to transform as her instability increases and she begins an obsession with these tales. Mrs. Grose is often seen expounding easily misunderstood ideas for the housekeeper to extend and distort. Grose encourages the housekeeper to continue and develop strange behaviors that make her appear crazy to the children, the rest of the house, and ultimately her boss. When the governess asks her for support and advice after seeing Miss Jessel for the first time, Mrs. Grose has nothing to contribute to the conversation, but nevertheless helps and funds her to continue with her many important questions. The housekeeper is eager to answer questions and lets her memory fade as her expectations take over. The governess fears for the safety of the children, so Mrs. Grose echoes that fear by intensifying the governess's fear and urgency, and it seems that the purpose, for Mrs. Grose, of most of their conversations is to taunt and playing with the housekeeper (Killoran 19) . Mrs. Grose, aware of the governess's need to prevail, suggests that the governess reach out to the uncle for the children's sake, causing the governess to become agitated with the recognition of her impending failure. With wounded pride and feelings of betrayal, the housekeeper threatens to leave: “I would immediately leave him and you” (James 48). This response not only assures Mrs. Grose that her threats have been successful, but also suggests that the extent of the housekeeper's reckless behavior will soon be met. Through increasing the housekeeper's irrational thoughts, Mrs. Grose gives herself the ability to eradicate the housekeeper's rational thoughts. With the governess completely immersed in ghosts, betrayal, and her own head, Mrs. Grose breaks away from her falsified companion role and actively seeks to erase the governess's sanity. Mrs. Grose decides after some discussion to go with the housekeeper to retrieve Flora from the opposite side of the lake, when there Mrs. Grose runs to Flora and offers her support but, above all, an alternative to the housekeeper. Flora chooses to side with Mrs. Grose, probably because she was afraid of the housekeeper and Mrs. Grose presented herself as a security figure. This destroys the governess's ego and throws her into a frenzy that lasts several hours, so Mrs. Grose assumes the position of caretaker of the children for the night. In addition to the loss of her heroic vision of self, the governess is blamed for the illness that befalls Flora, leaving her with a resolved sense of guilt. Having to take Flora to her uncle, Mrs. Grose leaves the unstable housekeeper with Miles who has already endured strange encounters with the housekeeper. With the lady.