“A Note on the Freudian Reading of "The Turn of the Screw"

Description

“A Note on the Freudian Reading of "The Turn of the Screw"” is an essay which was initially published in the Journal of American Literature in 1957. American Literature is a quarterly journal published by Duke University Press in Durham, North Carolina. The essay was written by the American academic writer John Silver. Published in that peer-reviewed journal, Silver’s essay has been recommended by various scholars and writers. The theoretical approach of this essay is to outline some clues which suggest the governess’s prior information about Quint and Jessel. The essay contributes to Wilson’s interpretation that posits there is no ghost in James’s novella but the hallucinations of the governess.

Summary

Silver begins his essay by emphasising on the reality of “controversy” (p. 207) over the ghosts in The Turn of the Screw but clarifies that between the opposed ideas of existing and non-existing of the ghosts in the story, his essay stands to support Edmond Wilson’s interpretation. Based on the Freudian reading of governess’s hallucination, Wilson had argued that the ghosts existed only as figments of the imagination of governess. However, Silver mentions the problem of Freudian reading in Wilson’s argument, that if the ghosts are governess's hallucination, how then Mrs. Grose identified Quint’s feature from the governess’s description of the first apparition (p. 209). Silver argues that there are inklings which incorporated by James into the story to make the appearance of the ghosts possible in the normal ways.

The author points out James’s “carefully dropped […] hints” (p. 210) in the novella which show that the governess had acquainted some previous information about Quint’s feature. Firstly, the conversation between the governess and Mrs. Grose gives “an ambiguous reference to a man who liked […] governesses to be "young and pretty"” (p. 210), which gives a clue to the governess that there should be a man other than the master. Furthermore, Silver outlines other hints such as the closeness of the village “allowing convenience intercourse” (p. 109) so the governess might have been there and acquired information about Quint. Lastly, Silver notes that governess explains the death of the Quint despite has not heard from Ms. Grose. The essay concludes that governess has “skilfully cloak her knowledge” to make us believe in ghost the same as Mrs. Grose. 
  

Evaluation

The essay has a convincing position that James has provided the governess to “skilfully cloak her knowledge” (p. 211) in order to create ambiguity.  Therefore, according to Silver, the story is intrinsically placed on ambiguity and through this way the essay shows a high relevance to the topic.  The essay establishes some reasonable arguments about the hints that show the governess might find out about Quint and Jessel through her interactions with Mrs. Grose and the neighbouring village (p. 211). Arguing about the possibilities that the governess may obtain information is an original response to the original text.  According to the essay, ambiguity is not bounded to merely the ghosts but through James’s techniques which has created governess to steer Mrs. Grose and readers to believe the ghosts.  

Reference

Silver, John. “A Note on the Freudian Reading of "The Turn of the Screw".” In American Literature 29, no. 2 (1957): 207-211. Accessed September 5, 2017. http://www.jstor.org.ezproxy.uws.edu.au/stable/2922108.