The 19thc Ghost Story Puts Its Narratives Into the Mouths of Unreliable Narrators. Discuss Why This Might Be with Close Attention to at Least Two Stories by Different Writers.

The Turn of the Screw has received much debate since its first publication in 1898. There are two main schools of thought: first, that the ghosts seen by the governess are hallucinations; and secondly, that the ghosts do exist, and corrupt Miles and Flora. The rise of debate surrounding this is caused by James’ use of the unreliable narrator. We, as a reader, are left indecisive about the reality of events due to the questioning behind the governess’ state of sanity that evidently deteriorates after her first encounter with Peter Quint. There are countless hints of evidence for suggesting that she is unreliable, the first instance being in the early stage of the book. Whilst Douglas is telling his companions about the governess, he describes her as a ‘most charming...most agreeable woman’ (James, 1994 p. 9) giving the reader, and listeners inside the story the impression that she is trustworthy and this portrayal is reinforced by Douglas’ like for the governess. However, upon the introduction of the governess, we are immediately provided with evidence of her inability to recall events, one such incident being:

The governess is writing in hindsight which raises certain issues, for example, how accurate is her memory and are her views corrupt considering the experiences she claims to have been subjected to? The governess changes her opinion about the children quite suddenly which suggests the onset of madness. Upon her first meeting of Flora, and for a while after, she sees her as ‘the most beautiful child I have ever seen’ (Ibid p. 15) which is later contradicted with her description of Flora being ‘common and almost ugly’ (Ibid p. 101). This indecisiveness led to her having an ‘endless obsession’ (Ibid p. 87) with the thought of the children being evil leading to what could be seen as madness. Due to the governess being the only character who witnesses the supernatural occurrences, she is able to control how the reader interprets the events. This is also...