Inspired by
Allie's post on
Daisy Miller and
Audrey's post on
The American, I decided it was high time to re-read Henry James's
The Turn of the Screw. I am certainly no stranger to this novella, having read it and re-read it countless times over the last few years. In my opinion, the strongest aspect of this novella is its opening, which oddly enough never manages to make it into its film adaptations. James structured
The Turn of the Screw as a frame story with the main story of the governess being introduced by another narrator. We are first introduced to Douglas who promises his rapt audience a sorely needed mystery to engage their imaginations. Douglas reads from a journal containing the horrific story of his old governess's experiences at a quiet country house called Bly.
Like the new Mrs. de Winter in Daphne du Maurier's
Rebecca, James's protagonist is given no name. The governess, as she is called throughout the novella, accepts a position caring for the nephew and niece of a thoroughly charming bachelor whom she, of course, finds attractive. The children, Miles and Flora, are absolute cherubs, and their governess initially finds no fault with them. The children and Bly transform in the governess's eyes, however, when she sees a mysterious man on one of the towers. He is not a servant in the house or a man from the village. The housekeeper, Mrs. Grose, identifies him by the governess's description as former valet Peter Quint. To the governess's horror, Quint is dead. In attempting to rationalize this, she believes that she has seen Quint's ghost. Her visions of Quint are then joined by the ghost of her dead predecessor, Miss Jessel.
The governess believes that these ghosts have returned to take control of little Miles and Flora. Under the influence of these ghosts, she sees her charges growing more distant from her daily. She decides that the only way to rid Bly and the children of the ghosts of Quint and Jessel is to confront the children and force them to admit the ghosts are present and renounce their power over them.
The Turn of the Screw has had numerous film adaptations. My two personal favorites are the 1961 Jack Clayton film
The Innocents and the 1999
The Turn of the Screw. Clayton's version is more liberal in its adaptation but perhaps captures the thrills of the novella even better. Truman Capote even worked on the screenplay. The 1999 version adaption is almost word-for-word, but how can that be bad when the book is so good? Deborah Kerr's performance captures the hysterical side of the governess very well. Jodhi May's governess evokes much more of the psychological horror of the novella. Of the two, I prefer Jodhi May's performance as it allows for the interpretation that the governess is initially relatively sane and then descends into madness. This heightens the horror of James's story. If the governess isn't mad, then she may truly be seeing ghosts bent on possessing children.
- Rose
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