Description
“The Ambiguity of Henry James” is an excerpt of a longer critical
review about the literary works of Henry James. It was written by Edmond Wilson
under the same title and first published in Hound & Horn Magazine
in 1934 at Harvard University. Wilson then revised the essay and it was
republished with other papers in a collection of his essays, titled The
Triple Thinkers in 1948. The copyright of the work was renewed in 1975 by Elena
Wilson, but in 1999 its copyright was reserved to W.W. Norton & Company,
Inc. This excerpt is published along with Henry James’s novella The
Turn of the Screw in the second edition of Norton Critical Edition book which
is edited by Deborah Esch and Jonathan Warren.
Summary
In this excerpt, Wilson begins to claim that in The Turn of the Screw, there is no sign that the ghost has been observed by any other character except the Governess. Wilson suggests a Freudian reading of The Turn of the Screw. Therefore, the writer mentions three facts in the story: the little girl is playing with the small stick to penetrate into a hole, the male ghost initially appears on the top of a tower, and the female ghost firstly appears inside a lake. The writer posits that “the ghosts are hallucinations of the governess” (p. 171), and that her insistence on her own delusions not only causes the two kids to dislike her but it also leads Miles to be killed by her; “[s]he has literally frightened him to death” (p. 172).Wilson writes that the governess has a disturbed personality. It is stated that she cannot acknowledge “her sexual impulses” (p. 172); this shows that The Turn of the Screw is not a ghost story but “a study in morbid psychology” (p. 172). Wilson argues that only through this way of reading we can observe a consistency among Henry James’s literary works around his acquainted theme of “frustrated Anglo-Saxon spinster” (p. 173). Wilson admits that even if the vagueness in relations to governess’s hallucination was sorted out, the ambiguity of the text will still remain.
Evaluation
Wilson’s essay is profoundly significant and original in delivering a completely new reading of The Turn of the Screw, in which the governess is revealed to have a disturbance originated from her sexual repression. Before Wilson’s interpretation, the story was mostly considered as a gothic work by earlier readers but the essay posits that the ambiguity of the story is not bounded to its gothic qualities, and through this way it is relevant to the topic. Wilson’s analysis of The Turn of the Screw is well founded on the symbols in the story such as the tower and the lake as opposite sexual signs. Wilson applies a Freudian reading upon which the male ghost appears on a tower and the female in a lake is being interpreted as the governess’s sexual repression in her imagination of the ghosts. However, Wilson’s admittance that “the ambiguity will still remain” (p. 173) is an original response to the text because he suggests that his breakthrough will further perpetuate the ambiguity in The Turn of the Screw.
In this excerpt, Wilson begins to claim that in The Turn of the Screw, there is no sign that the ghost has been observed by any other character except the Governess. Wilson suggests a Freudian reading of The Turn of the Screw. Therefore, the writer mentions three facts in the story: the little girl is playing with the small stick to penetrate into a hole, the male ghost initially appears on the top of a tower, and the female ghost firstly appears inside a lake. The writer posits that “the ghosts are hallucinations of the governess” (p. 171), and that her insistence on her own delusions not only causes the two kids to dislike her but it also leads Miles to be killed by her; “[s]he has literally frightened him to death” (p. 172).Wilson writes that the governess has a disturbed personality. It is stated that she cannot acknowledge “her sexual impulses” (p. 172); this shows that The Turn of the Screw is not a ghost story but “a study in morbid psychology” (p. 172). Wilson argues that only through this way of reading we can observe a consistency among Henry James’s literary works around his acquainted theme of “frustrated Anglo-Saxon spinster” (p. 173). Wilson admits that even if the vagueness in relations to governess’s hallucination was sorted out, the ambiguity of the text will still remain.
Evaluation
Wilson’s essay is profoundly significant and original in delivering a completely new reading of The Turn of the Screw, in which the governess is revealed to have a disturbance originated from her sexual repression. Before Wilson’s interpretation, the story was mostly considered as a gothic work by earlier readers but the essay posits that the ambiguity of the story is not bounded to its gothic qualities, and through this way it is relevant to the topic. Wilson’s analysis of The Turn of the Screw is well founded on the symbols in the story such as the tower and the lake as opposite sexual signs. Wilson applies a Freudian reading upon which the male ghost appears on a tower and the female in a lake is being interpreted as the governess’s sexual repression in her imagination of the ghosts. However, Wilson’s admittance that “the ambiguity will still remain” (p. 173) is an original response to the text because he suggests that his breakthrough will further perpetuate the ambiguity in The Turn of the Screw.
Reference
Wilson, Edmund. “The Ambiguity of Henry James.” In The Turn of the Screw: Authoritative Text, Contexts, Criticism, edited by Esch, Deborah. Warren, Jonathan, 170-173. 2nd ed. New York: Norton Critical Edition. 1999.
Wilson, Edmund. “The Ambiguity of Henry James.” In The Turn of the Screw: Authoritative Text, Contexts, Criticism, edited by Esch, Deborah. Warren, Jonathan, 170-173. 2nd ed. New York: Norton Critical Edition. 1999.