Home > The Turn of the Screw Summary & Study Guide > The Turn of the Screw Group > Question and Answer

Question:

Answers:

1. 
   parkerlee Teacher
   

   eNotes Editor

   Best answer as selected by question asker.

   To make you ask this question! The difficulty to decipher human behaviour is the main subject of this story. To complicate matters further, James chooses as his dubious character a child, and in doing so puts into questions some universal beliefs such as the natural "innocence" of childhood. It also interrogates  upon the nature of one's own subjectivity when making a character judgement of another person. Upon what criteria can one base such a judgement, and isn't it rather a question of opinion rather than fact? The credibility of the narrator is never explicitly questioned, but the doubt upon her veracity is nevertheless cast. Her visions or hallucinations of a phantom presence vouch for her own instability, and suggest even the onset of  hysteria.

   This book is more of a psychological study than a ghost story thriller, but it gave me real goosebumps just the same. In all this uncertainty, the thing we can be sure of is that creating a feeling of doubt, ambiguity and even fear is just what James was after!

   Sources:

   http://www.enotes.com/turn-screw/ambiguity-innocence-turn...

   http://www.enotes.com/turn-screw/themes

   http://www.enotes.com/turn-screw/turn-screw-recherche-de-l

   Rate answer:

   • Flag as inappropriate

   Posted by parkerlee on Sunday June 14, 2009 at 5:32 AM