Modern Language Studies

The Governess, Mrs. Grose and "The Poison of an Influence" in "The Turn of the Screw" Author(s): Helen Killoran Reviewed work(s): Source: Modern Language Studies, Vol. 23, No. 2 (Spring, 1993), pp. 13-24 Published by: Modern Language Studies Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3195031 . Accessed: 13/11/2011 06:11
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The Governess,Mrs.Grose and "the Poison of an Influence"in The Turn the Screw of
Helen Killoran

In a well-known essay, Eric Solomon argues convincingly that Mrs.Grose,so often interpretedas the "solid,kindly, housekeeper,"' is actuallyan evil influence who deliberatelyencouragesthe governess's nervousimpressions apparitions. motive is to drive the governess of Her from Bly and regainher positionas guardianof the children,especially how Victorian readerswould Flora.2 Otherrevealingessaysdemonstrate in haveunderstood the storythe "conventional wisdom"thatpromiscuous sexual behavior of all varieties was commonplace among Victorian servants: "themotivesof [James's] servant-ghosts overlapswith a general Victorianblank, the 'open secret'that connected servantsto the sexual initiation theirmaster's of while "servants were children."3 Paradoxically, a corruptersof children,"4 governess,also a servantthough a high one, was expected to standin loco parentis--delegateof the parentsto protect the childrenfrom such corruptinfluences.In fact, that the childrenare susceptible to evil influences from servants like Peter Quint (and, of ironically,governesseslike MissJessel) is one of the assumptions the governess behind her own attempt to protect the children from the demon-ghosts. In complementto these arguments, essay shows that the evil this is not ghostly, but human, emanating from the rivalry between the servants,a condition that, as WalterHoughtonhas explained, aroused in Victorian readers an "unmistakablenote of horror and fear" of unrestrained sexuality.As James wrote to F. W. Myers,"the thing ... I most wanted not to fail of doing ... was to give the impressionof the most infernalimaginableevil and danger-the condition,on theirpart, of being as exposed as we can humanly conceive children to be"5 [emphasis mine]. Houghton has written that the Victorian fear of unrestrained sexualitystemmedfrom a belief thatsexualmisconductcan the destroysociety.6Furthermore, subtleintricacyof the rivalrybetween the governessand Mrs.Grosefor controlof the childrenis compounded that by bisexualattractions resultin disastrous consequences.Unnoticed by criticsas far as I have been able to learn,misbehavior resultingfrom bisexual rivalry among servants reinforces the non-apparitionist of interpretation The Turnof the Screw based on the sexualrepression of the governess. Those who accept the non-apparitionist of interpretation the story agree in generalthat the governessdisplacesher passionfor the master in such a way that it emerges as a vision of Peter Quint, and that she laterswitchesthat passionateattraction Miles.'Nothing of thatneeds to to be repeated or refuted. Everythinghere is in addition, but slightly refined, to suggest that even though each ghost's appearance is explained as "comingfor" the child of the same gender, the male ghost
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is also a projectionof the governess's to attractions the masterand Miles, and the female ghost a reflectionof her attractionto, and competition with, Mrs.Grose. According to Freud's definition of the "uncanny,"repressed psychologicalmaterialcan emerge in one or any numberof apparently unrelated ways at unexpected times.8 Interestingly,at one point the governess comments, "I cropped up in another place" (12), and immediately in the frame Douglas gives his word that the story is dreadfulfor "general "uncanny"-especially uncannyuglinessandhorror and pain."'Justhow uncannythe storyis, Douglasdeliberatelydoes not say, refusingto revealwith whom the governesswas in love, aboutwhom she was repressed: "Thestorywon'ttell,"he says,"notin anyliteralvulgar way" (3). Since James'slanguage does not exclude the possibility of it sequentialor even multipleattractions, need not be assumedthat the sexual oddities already identified in the tale represent the whole."' Consider,for instance,the possibilityof bisexualityin Mrs.Grose. The attributionof solid wholesomeness to Mrs. Grose is the reinforcedin perceptiononly of the governess,an unreliablenarrator, the frame by the admiringDouglas. Victorianservantslike Mrs.Grose usually entered service (often in the kitchen) while still children, age fifteen. Mrs.Grose may have been even younger since the point made of her illiteracyshows that no time was spent educatingher. She had workedup the servanthierarchy personalmaid to the master's to mother, but the masterat Harley Street is described as still a "youngman"(6). So in spite of her now responsiblepositionin the Bly household,"Mrs. Grose might be as young as thirty,even though many readers assume her to be a much older woman. Thus, like Douglas and the governess, and like the governessand Miles, the two women are about ten years apartin age, and Mrs.Groseprobablynot much older thanthe master, certainlywithinten years of him. The young master is described as "pleasant, offhand and ways with women" and a "house gay ... ," but he also has "charming filled with the . . . trophiesof the chase"(4, emphasismine).'2Hence, the implicationis that the masteris bisexual.Moreover,as an observer of the master,Mrs. Grose would have been aware of the young man's bisexuality.Mrs.Grose'sobservationof, and possible victimizationby, the master's is bisexuality suggestedwhen she respondsto the governess's comment,"He seems to like us young and pretty,"that "itwas the way he liked every one" (14, italics mine). The comment can include both genders. If she had been his sexual victim, as servantsoften were, she would have been corruptedby him. By Victorianlogic, that"corruption" consistedof an introduction an evil pleasureso attractive its victim to that would be compelled to continueits practice.'3 Added to the Victorianconventionthat associatesservantswith sexual evil, is James's choice of the housekeeper'sname. The name "Grose" aligns the housekeeperwith the forces of evil, for one of the is of meaningsof "gross" "inconcordwith sbs [substantives] evil import and serving as an intensive of their meaning: Glaring, flagrant, monstrous."'4 is importantto recall, too, that the closeness between It
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the governess and Mrs. Grose was far from usual since governesses normallyoccupied a class above servantsbut below family, and were often isolatedand lonely as a result.'5 Douglas has furthersaid that the governesswas a woman who "wouldhavebeen worthyof any whatever," againa termthatcan include both genders (2, italicsmine). If one is willing to accept, if only for the sake of argument,the propositionof the master's bisexualityand his evil influenceon Mrs.Grosewhen she was his mother's young maid,it follows thathe could easilyinfluencethe nervous,naive governess,scarcelymore thana childherself.Douglasprovidesanother aboutbisexuality hint when he tells her story in responseto a tale told about "avisitation. .. fallen on a child"by one of the few guestsidentified by name-"Griffin" (1), a mythicalcreature,half eagle, half lion. Like the griffin,the governess is "half and half"; her confused and repressed sexuality has been influencedby the masterin such a way that it can now "cropup" half of the time in attractions men, and half of the time in attractionsto to women. The master's bisexual influence can be inferred from the governess'sthoughtsabout her journeyfrom London to Bly, when she recalls a "see-saw of the right throbs and the wrong" (6), and the "swingingcoach"thatcarriedher to the master'scountryhouse. Besides "half,"all through the evidential passages cited below, James uses "climax," ambiguoussexual slang such as "queer," "straight," "spasm," various "go all the way," and "makeit out"in discussingthe governess's interactions. Therefore, James has created a cause-and-effectsituation.The masternegativelyinfluencesMrs.Grose,then the governess,places them in charge of the children,fails to clarify their responsibilities that a so rivalryresults,then completelyneglectsservantsand children.Thistype of sexual influence combined with the neglect of guardianship makes and between the governessandMrs.Grose, possibleanattraction a rivalry that can, and does, harm the children.Because of that, the atmosphere at Bly becomes permeatedby a "poisonof an influence"(63). Ironically, the governessfeels requiredto withholdthisinformation fromthe original source of that chain of influence, for there is no reason to suspect that he would either believe her or care. He has placed her "in supreme and authority" she is not to botherhim. Whenobjectingto Mrs.Grose's suggestion that she write the uncle for help, the governess replies scornfully,"by writingto him thathis house is poisoned ... ?" (49). As mentionedabove, the rivalrybetween the governessand Mrs. Grose is subtle and intricate.After a first meeting the governessjudges thatMrs.Grose"wasgladI was there!"(9). Solomonchallengesthatnaive on interpretation the groundsthat "the housekeeperwhose position is is to being usurped," "actingfor the time as superintendent the little girl, of whom, withoutchildrenof her own, she was by good luck, extremely fond"(5). Furthermore, is to be usurpedby a woman who is younger, she prettier, and has probably shared the attentionsof a man who is, as seldom noted, also Mrs.Grose'smaster.WhileSolomonfinds the housekeeper's tone threatening,it can also be read as flirtatious:"'The last governess?She was also young and pretty-almost as young and almost
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as pretty, Miss,even as you.""'16 Jameshas createdthe stage for a competitive psychologicalattraction. The competitionbetween the women begins in earnestafter the that character insinuating he was senthome by governessimpunesMiles's from school as "an injuryto the others"(11). Mrs. Grose retaliatesby attacking the governess's pose as "a lady." The governess, having to "succumbed" the "seductionexercisedby the splendid young man" and havingadmittedto Mrs.Grosethatshe had been "carried away" (6), in HarleyStreet(assheis laterto be "carried awayby the littlegentleman" in [9]) is already"corrupt" the view of Mrs.Grose.Her virtuehas been "Areyou expressedit, so she asksscornfully, compromised,as Victorians afraidhe'll [Miles] corruptyou?"(12). Then she turnsher back on the governess. Yet the self-absorbedgoverness,still flatteredby a new sense of authorityand personalattractiveness (she has just seen herselfin a fullmirror for the first time) feels it was not "a snub that could length check the growthof our mutualesteem,"and refusesto allow the housekeeperto avoid her.We met ... moreintimatelythanever on the ground of my stupefaction,my generalemotion ." (13, italics mine). At the ... end of a conversationin which, based on Miles'sangelic appearance, the governesspronounceshim not guilty, Mrs. Grose seems to forgive her, for they vow "to see it out":"Wouldyou mind, Miss,if I used the freedom-" "To kiss me? No!" I took the good creature in my afterwhichthe governessis "lifted arms ." They "embraced sisters" like .. aloft on a greatwave of infatuation" (14). She is now enamoredof both the masterand Mrs.Grose,but the scene in which she is walkingin the gardenwishing the masterwould appear,indicatesthat her attractions Thatfeelingis punctuated the firstapparition to him arestillstrongest. by of the male ghost. James'schoice of languageto describe the governess'sreaction to seeing Peter Quint on the tower for the first time shows that she is strugglingbetween two attractions.She notes that the tower is one of a pair-and "I remembertwo distinctgasps of emotion"(16). "Here was another affair; here, for many days after, it was a queer affair enough. There were hours from day to day-or at least there were moments, snatched even from clear duties-that I had to shut myself up to think"(18). "I had more pains thanone" (20). Next, James'sselecmarksthe beginningof the shiftingbalance of tion of the word "gross" the governess'spassion from one sex to the other, the master to the housekeeper.She thinks "some one had taken a liberty rather gross" of (18)17.Of course, Mrs.Grosehad taken the "liberty" kissingher, but at her own suggestion."Icall the sisterhoodto witness!--I made constant freshdiscoveries" (19)18is One of these discoverieswas made on the Sundaywhen she and Mrs. Grose had agreed to "attendtogether"a late service. She returns in for gloves she had "dropped" the dining-roomand sees Quintin the window (20). The gloves functionas a gauntlet,a challenge,which Mrs. Grose takes up. In addition, their having been "dropped" by the flirtatious handkerchief, providesanother governess,likethe traditionally
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for havingfollowed the governessback possibleexplanation Mrs.Grose's into the house. The image of the gloves has againcombinedrivalrywith sexualattraction. when the governesssees Peter Quintlooking in the So window and remarks,"I was beyond all doubt alreadyfar gone" (21), for the implication thatherinfatuation the masteris nearlyover in favor is of one for Mrs.Grosewhich would enable the governessto confrontthe male ghost. But when she gets outside Quint has vanished,and as she tests the view throughthe window, the governesssees Mrs.Grosecome in from the hall. "I thought of more things than one" (21). Then the balancetips.Mrs.Grosemeetsthe governessat the window in the garden. She Her complexionchangesfrom white to "flushed." is "outof breath," as if sexuallyaroused."I put out my hand to her and she took it; I held her harda little,likingto feel her close to me."She asksMrs.Grose,"did I look very queer?"(21-2).A few minuteslaterthe governessassociates the ghost with Mrs.Grose:"I saw him as I see you" (23), both "queer." the As Solomonpointsout, Mrs.Grose"controls whole episode"'9 deliberatelytaking command to influence the governess'simpressions. Her motive is to rid herself of her rival, to watch and control her until then, but also to get whateverpleasureshe can in the process. Even so, humanmotives are often mixed, and as Jameswas a masterof the comcannotbe ruled out. plex, a genuineattraction In the midst of her conflictingfeelings, the governessexplainsto Mrs.Grosewhat she has seen. Whatmust the housekeeperthink?Either the governesshas seen a ghost, or she is a madwoman who thinksshe has. Whicheverthe situation,Mrs.Grosemust be frightened.Neverthewho haspreviouslyinsistedthatshe"won'ttell tales" less,the housekeeper readerof Jane Eyre and (12) completely captivatesthe impressionable otherromancesby tellingthe story of Peter Quintand MissJessel.20 Disturbedby this sequence of events, the governess feels "unfit for church" "no (23),so the two women go to the schoolroom: attendance on any service but a little service to tears and vows, of prayers and promises,a climax to the series of mutual challengesand pledges that had straight-wayensued on our retreatingtogether to the schoolroom" (25). The climacticlittleserviceof vows and promisesin the schoolroom is like a marriageceremony.In this way Mrs.Grose "getspossessionof [her] hand" (67). The "mutualchallenges and pledges" combine the competitionwith the sexualattraction. Nevertheless,the governessthinksof the schoolroomas an evil place: Miles had been in "the little horrid,uncleanschool-world"(19). in Latershe feels thatby mentioningthe name of the apparition her own schoolroom,she would "violateas rarea little case of instinctivedelicacy as any schoolroom,probably, had ever known" (53). Yet it is there in an "uncleanschool-world"that the "ceremony"takes place, and the setting reinforcesthe potentialfor corruptinfluence on the children.It is in the schoolroomthat the women are in "awe-stricken tenderness," and the sense of love "hasremainedwith me as that of the sweetest of has humancharities." governess's The infatuation now switchedfrom the
master to Mrs. Grose who, after all, is available. "It took of course more than that particular passage to place us together in presence of what we 17

had now to live with as we could . .. a knowledge half consternation and half compassion"(25). The word "half"echoes bisexuality,hinted at once again as the women excitedly discuss the ghost of Peter Quint who had been not only too free with Miles,but "toofree with every one" (26). Takenliterally,"everyone"includesmen and women, Mrs.Grose and Flora.Again,the Victorianresponseto Quintwould have been less a reactionto child abuse, than to influence. The person, especially the child, who experiencesevil pleasureswill wish to engage in them again. The pointis repeated: her?"[MissJessel]. "Hedid whathe wished.""With "With them all"(33).The ironyis completewhen the governessremarks, "I was queer company enough-quite as queer as the company I received. .. ." (25). "How passionately,for a week, we came back together to the subject"... -It may be imagined whether I slept-" (27). During these passionate,exultantoccasions with Mrs. Grose, the governess'simaginationexpands to explore the idea of illicit behavior between Peter Quint and Miss Jessel and its influence on the children, while the housekeeper allowsherto think"wewere unitedin ourdanger" Grose'slarge face showed (28). But Mrs.Grose'sintuitionis sharp:"Mrs. me, at this,for the firsttime,the far-awayfaintglimmerof a consciousness more acute... ." (23). She has been alertedby the governess's possessive language("mylittlegirl"[8], "thejoy of my children" [20],and "myboy" [26])to the likelihoodthatherrivalwill extendherpassionto the children and try to hold them from her. The firstvictimis to be Flora.Likethe ghost of MissJessel,whom to the governessdescribeshaving"akind of fury of intention" "gethold of [Flora]"(32), she will try to "possess" child. So when, under the the weight of her attractionto Mrs. Grose, the governesssees Miss Jessel, the female ghost, focusing on Flora from across the lake, the serious contest for possessionof Flora begins. The next ghost will be female. The ghost of Miss Jessel is a psychological projection of the subconscious recognitionof the competitionbetween herself governess's and Mrs. Grose to "get hold of" Flora. Instinctively,she tries also to "I possess the housekeeper: got hold of Mrs.Grose as soon after this as I could . . . I fairly threw myself into her arms"(30). Describing the apparitionof Miss Jessel, the governessassociatesthe ghost with Mrs. Grosewhen she repeatsherearlierremarks aboutPeterQuint,"shemight have been as close as you!" She sees it reflected in Mrs. Grose'seyes: "Itwas as if now in my friend'sown eyes MissJesselhad againappeared. I seemed at any rate for an instantto trace their evocation of her as distinctlyas I had seen her by the pond"... (33). Angered, Mrs. Grose jibes the governess."She was a lady," she says (33,italicsmine) as if to imply a second time thatthe governesswho was compromisedin HarleyStreetand in the schoolroom,is less a lady than Miss Jessel who was compromised only by Peter Quint. The governessignoresthe insult,insteadbringingthe verbalcontestto a draw by forcingMrs.Groseto admit that the actualreasonshe criticizedMiss was Jessel,the "lady," thatthe formergovernessstooped to relateto Peter Quint,someone below her class. Of course, the double edge is that the to governessis in exactlythe same positionin her attachment Mrs.Grose.
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At that"mypower to resistbroke down" (33). They burstinto tearsand hold one another,but for differentreasons.The housekeeperfearslosing "her" children,and the governesshas decided that MissJesselhas come for Floraand that she cannotsave her. But Mrs. Grose is not about to give up. She tries to control the governess."Latethat night while the house slept, we had anothertalk ." (34)21Yet the in my room, when she went all the way with me ... governess's insatiable ego seems always to need more than one infatuation.To her attractionsto the master and Mrs. Grose, she now infatuation the children,especiallyFlora,to whom for adds an unnatural she attributes she to manyof the samequalities hadattributed Mrs.Grose. Flora "could put her little conscious hand straightupon the spot that ached."She loved in "fathomless charity" (34). As they are spendingthe night together, the governess,either thoughtlesslyor cruelly, tells Mrs. Groseabout how the childrenaffect her:"asI did there,over and over, in the smallhours," about"their on pressure one'sheartand theirfragrant faces againstone's cheek" (34). The women remaintogetherthe entire nightwith some concernaboutbeing detected by the household"before the grey dawn admonishedus to separate" (36). As Solomonsuggests,Mrs.Grosewill not endureanyone,not Miss Jessel, not Quint, not the governess, to usurp her in the children's affections, especially Flora's,and the governess'sintimate disclosures between the two women: "'Idon't above once againcool the relationship wonderyou lookedqueer,'I persisted,'whenI mentionedto you the letter from his [Miles's]school!"'Mrs.Grose angrilytauntsher, "'I doubt if I looked as queer as you!' she retortedwith homely force."They part at the evil schoolroomdoor and, as if to avoid detection,Mrs.Grosetakes "another concernabout passage,to her own place"(38). The governess's "how much I might betray"(38) now begins to have dual focus, her relationwith Mrs. Grose, and her attractionto the children:"the little in of outbreaks my sharper passionfor them ... a queerness the traceable increaseof theirown demonstrations" (38). As herattentions vacillateback and forthbetween Mrs.Groseand the children, she subconsciously realizes Mrs. Grose's manipulation: "... if my pupils practicedupon me, it was surely with the minimum of grossness." is The word "gross" furtherused to signal the upcoming of a ghost, just as it was before the governess'sattentions appearance alteredfrom the masterto the housekeeper.In a commentfull of denial, she remarks, was all in the otherquarterthat,aftera lull,the grossness "It broke out"(40). will The "other quarter" be Miles,but thereareseveralvacillations before the governess'spassion settles on him. In a typical Jamesian ambiguity,the governessreflects,"asI look back, the affairseems to me to have been all pure suffering."It is quite possible that she is feeling uncomfortable abouther homosexualaffairwith Mrs.Grose.Becauseof herambivalentfeelings,the ghostaboutto appearwill be Quint,the male ghost. She sits up readingAmelia, Fielding'snovel about the unfaithful husbandof a faithfulwife. She is about to be "unfaithful" Mrs.Grose, to first with Flora and then with Miles,as she switches back to heterosex19

uality:"I have at least reached the heart of it, and the straightestroad out is doubtlessto advance"(italicsmine) (40). She picks up her candle, a convenientphallic symbol, and leaves her room, encounteringPeter Quinton the stairs,a projectionof her wish to returnto heterosexuality. She is unafraidand the ghost disappears. But she vacillatesagain. When she turnsand realizesthat Flora is out of bed, her nearlyorgasmicreactionmust have frightened,even hurt,Flora:"I must have gripped my little girl with a spasm ..." (42). In addition,it is clearthatthe governessis now spendingnightswithFlora, not with Mrs.Grose.She describesherself"almostsittingon [Flora]for retentionof her hand"(43). She has control of the little girl and she is not aboutto lose it: "Ihad said in my talkwith Mrs.Groseon thathorrid scene of Flora'sby the lake ... thatit would from that moment distress me much more to lose my power thanto keep it" (52). The next spiritshe sees is the female ghost on the stairs.Yet the descriptionof the faceless apparition,assumed to be Miss Jessel, does not exclude the possibilityof it being a figure of Mrs. Grose, grieving aboutthe endingof her affairwith the governessand her "loss" Flora: of the Lookingdown it from the top I once recognized presenceof a woman to seatedon oneof thelowerstepswithherbackpresented me,

her body bowed and her head, in an attitude of woe, in her hands. I had been there but an instant, however, when she vanished without looking at me. (43)

The governess'sphysical position "looking down" suggests her rank above Mrs. Grose, whom we have seen once before with her back to the governess. Her fearlessconfrontationof this ghost temporarilyexorcisesit leaving the governess'sattentionfree to shift to Miles. "I had my eyes on herbrother's door ... which indescribably, producedin me a renewal of the strangeimpulsethatI latelyspoke of as my temptation" (44).Now an attractionto Miles,she sees him on the lawn with Quint's projecting figureon the tower above. After these visions, the governessseems to want to avoid being alone with Mrs.Grose.She gives the reasonsas not provokingsuspicion on the part of the servantsand children:
It was not till late next day that I spoke to Mrs. Grose;the rigourwith which I kept my pupils in sight making it often difficult to meet her privately, and the more as we each felt the importance of not provoking-on the part of the servantsquite as much as on that of the children-any suspicionof a secret flurryor of a discussionof mysteries. (45)

However, thereis a tone of disgustin the descriptionof Mrs.Grosethat follows: "I had made her a receptacle of lurid things .... She offered her mind to my disclosuresas, had I wished to mix a witch's broth ... she would have held out a large saucepan"(46). Sensingher withdrawal, Mrs. Grose accuses the governess of "changing" as if fickle or
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unsettledin hersexuality: "Lord do change!" criedmy friend."Idon't you change-I simplymake it out."Butof coursethe governessdoes nothing but change:"it was at least a change and it came with a rush"(48). In return, she taunts the housekeeper with her own possession of the children:"If on eitherof these last nightsyou had been with eitherchild the (48).Accordingly, animositybetween you'dclearlyhave understood" the women escalates. When Mrs. Grose threatens to appeal to the children'suncle to protect them (from the governess), the governess threatens end theirrelationship: you shouldso lose your to "'If arrogantly head as to appealto him for me-' She was reallyfrightened.'Yes,Miss?' 'I would leave, on the spot, both him and you"' (50). PresumablyMrs. Grosewould have mixed feelingsabout that. The appearanceof MissJesselin the schoolroomthatoccursnext is preceded by the following scene which suggeststhat the ghost is also a projectionof the governess in the process, once again, of changing sexual allegiances,this time from female to male, Mrs.Grose to Miles: in Tormented, the hall, with difficultiesand obstaclesI remember downat the foot of thestaircase-suddenly thereon sinking collapsing the loweststepandthen,witha revulsion, that recalling it was exactly of where,morethana monthbefore,in the darkness nightandjustso bowed withevil things,I hadseen the spectreof the mosthorrible of
women. At this I was able to straightenmyself; I went the rest of the

for .. wayup;I made,inmyturmoil, theschoolroom. ."(58,italics mine) miserable But when she arrivesin the schoolroomshe sees the "terrible Sheis not yet sexually woman"she takesto be her"vilepredecessor" (59). "straight." Whilethe governessfluctuates,the stalematebetween the women continues until one autumn day when together they seek Flora who, is significantly, lost.Stillfeelingthatshe hasthe upperhand,the governess continuesto play cruellywith her lover:"Mrs. Grosetook again,into the Then queer element I offered her, one of her plunges of submission." the secondlakesideappearance MissJesseloccursand the competition of reticenceof ourcommunionwas eruptsinto open warfare."Thesingular even more markedin the franklook she addressedme. "'I'llbe hanged,' it said, 'if I'll speak!"'. . . "Mrs.Grose'ssuspenseblazed at me, but it was too late now" (70). So over Mrs.Grose'sobjections,the governess decides to pump Flora about Miss Jessel, regardlessof any damaging influence on the child. She is about to exercise evil that has some of its source in bisexuality,"the poison of an influence I dared but half to between man, woman and little phrase"(63). Her vacillatingattractions of girl are reflectedby the apparition the sexuallyambiguousMissJessel whose figure"roseerect"exactly"onthe spot my friendand I had lately quitted"(71). As Mrs.Grosefinds Flora,the female ghostappearsagain: "Itwas seriousnow ... I at thatmomentenvied Mrs.Grosethe simplicity of her relation [with Flora] .... [and] she kept the child's hand"(70). But when Mrs.Grose fails to see the apparition,she "breaksthe spell," her clasps Flora to her, and "possesses" from then on. "Mrs.Grose on
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her feet, united [with Flora], in shocked opposition to me" (72). The Mrs.Grose)as having governessnow perceivesFlora(andby association turned "hideouslyhard, and ugly" (73), an immature response that suggestsif she can'thave Flora,she doesn'twant her. The conclusionhas been foreshadowedby the scene in which, "walkingto churcha certainSundaymorning,I had little Miles at my side and his sister,in advance of us and at Mrs.Grose's,well in sight" (54).Floraspendsthatnightwith the housekeeper,and the next day Mrs. Grose leaves, "mutelypossessed of the little girl"(73), but abandoning Milesto her rival."Itwas like fightingwith a demon for a humansoul" above, Mrs.Grosecan representthat (85).Giventhe definitionof "gross" demon as well as any apparition. Afterthis the otherdemon, the governess,is free to focus her full obsessive attention on Miles. Enough has been written about the But governess'spassion for Miles that it need not be belabored.22 note that the final transferof the governess'sattractionfrom one gender to another, from Mrs. Grose to the boy, is signaled once again by the wordappearanceof a male ghost and by the use of the transitionary Miles ... had relieved me of all grossnessof admonition" clue, "gross." but (81). At the sight of PeterQuintshe says, "itrepresents grosslywhat took place withinme" (85). Meanwhile,the governessis alreadyhaving an evil effect on the boy therebyaddingto anyinfluencesto whichhe mayhavebeen exposed in the past. Miles"couldplay no longerat perfect propriety...." There beat in me indeed, with the passionatethrob of this question,an equal in dumb appealas to how the deuce I should"(46). Subordinated Miles's did chidingis her most seriousoffence:"What you do, you naughty,bad thing?Why,in the world, to worryus so-and take our thoughtsoff too, don't you know?-did you desert us at the very door?" (58). The governess, who was expected to stand in loco parentisbetween the childrenand the sexualevils of servants,has taken theirthoughtsoff of innocent childhood and focused them on demon ghosts, desertingthe children before they are safely at the door of adulthood. For the of "demonstration [her]work"(88),havingseized "oncemorethe chance of possessing" Miles (65), she apparentlyfrightenshim to death.23 challengesand pledges" Neglect and the evil influenceof "mutual The governessherselfrecognizes havehad theirdisastrous consequences. the "poison of an influence" (63). "What I had to deal with was, it (80).24 Ironically, is her own influence.The revoltingly,againstnature" fight concludes in a draw-Mrs. Grose possesses Flora;the governess possessesMiles.Beginningwith the bisexualuncle, the young maid, and the "flutteredanxiousgirl"(4), these adultshave had perniciouseffects on the childrenby exposing them, overtly or otherwise,to bisexuality, but even worse, to the complicatedanimosityof sexuallyinvolvedadults of competing for the "possession" children, the ownership of human beings. For the childrenthere is very little difference in resultbetween possession.Possessionby "possession" these women and supernatural by human "demons"is in every sense as horrifyingfor their physical and moralwelfareas anyactualdemonicpossession.Milescanonly dispossess
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himself of "someinfluence operatingin his small intellect"(39), which he calls "thisqueer business of ours"(62) throughdeath. What might happento Floraunderthe influenceof Mrs.Groseand/or her uncle can only be guessed (as can the influence of an older, more sophisticated governess on Douglas and his sister). The governess tells Miles "the of (81),but the "success the tempters journeywill dissipatethe influence" is only a questionof time"(49).25 Not surprisingly, James'sstory infers social criticismon a larger theirservantsthen handingtheir scale. The upper classesare corrupting caretakers neglectedchildrenover to them and suchotherinexperienced who canrarelyreplacea parent.This as valetsand clergymen's daughters parental neglect createsan unendingcycle of immoralinfluences,"filling the [social]house with the taste of poison"(88). AlabamaStateUniversity NOTES
1. See for instance,F. W. Dupee, HenryJames,The AmericanMen of Letters Series (New York:WilliamMorrow,1974):160, and Thomas Cranfilland Robert Clark, An Anatomy of The Turn of the Screw (Austin:U Texas 2. EricSolomon,"TheReturnof the Screw,"The UniversityReview-Kansas City 30 (Spring,1964):205-11.Reprintedin HenryJames, The Turnof the Screw (New York:W. W. Norton, 1966):237-45. 3. Bruce Robbins, "ShootingOff James'sBlanks:Theory, Politics, and The Turn of the Screw," The Henry James Review 5.3 (Spring, 1984): 195-6. in 4. Elliot M. Schrero,"Exposure The Turnof the Screw,"ModernPhilology 78.3 (February,1981):261-74. Given currentgender studies, it is not my to intentionto assignnormalityor abnormality sexualvariables,but it seems necessaryto read the story from the point of view of the Victorianwriter and reader who would have done so. Additionalcitationsare in the text. 5. Henry James to F. W. H. Myers, December 19, 1898, in Percy Lubbock, ed., The Lettersof Henry James, 2 vols. (New York,1920), I: 300. 6. WalterE. Houghton,The VictorianFrameof Mind (New Haven:YaleUP, 1976):343-53. 7. Additionally, a possible homosexual attraction between the gender unidentified narratorand Douglas has been suggested by Michael J. H. Taylor in "A Note on the First Narratorof 'The Turn of the Screw,'" 53.4 (January,1982):717-22. AmericanLiterature 8. Sigmund Freud, "The Uncanny,"trans. Joan Riviere, Collected Papers, Vol. 4 (New York: Basic Books, 1959). For a discussion of James's knowledge of Freud see Cranfilland Clark,34-41. 9. Henry James, The Turn of the Screw (New York:W. W. Norton, 1966): in 2. Furthercitationswill be given parenthetically the text. 10. Like Solomon, I will refrain from the litany of articles pro and con the Freudianreading,assumingthe readeris familiarwith them. Anyone who is not might begin with A Casebook on Henry James's The Turn of the Screw, ed. GeraldWillen (New York:Thomas Y. Crowell, 1960). 11. Housekeeper is the highest rank below butler, and there is no butler at
Bly. Douglas lists the servants at Bly: ".. . there were, further, a cook, a P, 1965): 133-47.

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housemaid, a dairywoman, an old pony, an old groom and an old 12. In the nineteenthcentury the word "gay"referredto a female prostitute. It was coming into use as a term for homosexualitynear the end of the century especially among the upper classes, but it was not yet common. James's use of a word with a dual slang meaning reinforces a bisexual See interpretation. Eric Partridge,A Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English, ed. Paul Beale (London: Routledge & Kegan, 1984) and Jeffrey Weeks, Coming Out: Homosexual Politics in Britain from the Partridgeshows "queerbitch" for "an odd out-of-the-wayfellow" in use as early as 1772, while Weeks implies that it was common argot for male homosexualityduringthe Victorianperiod. 13. See Robbinsand Schrero. 14. The Compact Edition of the Oxford English Dictionary (New York: Oxford UP, 1971):1213 (446). 15. See Edmund Wilson,"TheAmbiguityof HenryJames,"in The Casebook on Henry James'sThe Turnof the Screw, ed. GeraldWillen (New York: ThomasY. Crowell, 1960):121. 16. Solomon, 238-39. 17. There are some textualvariations.The first three editions, the periodical edition, the firstEnglishedition, and the firstAmericanedition, all use the word "gross."However, the New York edition, upon which the Norton is Since the word "monstrous" edition is based, substitutes"monstrous." included in the OED definitionof "gross" quoted above, the point seems strengthened. 18. Henry James'sfriend, Edith Wharton,often referredto homosexualmen A R. as "thebrotherhood." W. B. Lewis, Edith Wharton: Biography(New York:Harperand Rowe, 1975):443. 19. Solomon, 240. 20. Alice Hall Petry, "JamesianParody, Jane Eyre, and 'The Turn of the Screw."'ModernLanguageStudies8:4 (Fall, 1983):61-78. 21. The phrase"togo all the way"as slangfor completionof sexualintercourse seems to have been in use as far back as Shakespeare.See Eric Partridge, Shakespeare's Bawdy (New York:Dutton, 1969):115. 22. Solomon averts that Mrs. Grose avenged herself on Peter Quint by murderinghim (242). 23. See, for instance,Wilson,119. 24. Those who are interestedin the cause of Miles'sdeath or whether illness was the reason for his being sent home from school, might consider "Go to Luke"(84) a command to the reader as well as to Miles. Luke 9:37-41 is the story of a child possesed by an evil spirit who is cured by Christ. The description of the biblical child's symptoms suggest epilepsy. In contrast,Thomas Cranfilland Robert Clark,An Anatomyof The Turnof the Screw (Austin:U Texas P, 1965), Chapter 16, outline the governess's "seizures." behaviorgives 25. RobertW. Hill,Jr.arguesprovocativelythatthe governess's Miles the idea that she would like him to seduce her. See Robert W. Hill, Jr., "A Counterclockwise Turn in James's 'The Turn of the Screw."' 27.1 (Spring,1981):53-71. Twentieth CenturyLiterature
Nineteenth Century to the Present (New York: Quartet, 1977): 190. gardner.. ." (5).

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