Narrative Frames and Ambiguity in Henry James The Turn of The Screw Es

Narrative frames and Ambiguity in The caper of The Screw Since it was written, heat content James The Turn of The Screw has been acclaimed by numerous critics to be superstar of the most immaculate, engrossing and terrifying ghost stories ever produced. Harriet Waters Preston described it as, a sheer mortal horror, like the evil dream of a earth under the spell of a deadly drug1, and Gertrude Atherton said, it is the most horrifying ghost story ever written2 I will compete that it is the narrative frames enclosing The Turn of The Screw that are largely responsible for the reception the book has received. They serve two main purposes one, to build up an gene of suspense and tension before the governesss account actually begins, thus heightening the potential for horror and terror in the text and two, to cast uncertainty on the reliability of the narrators and hence to increase the ambiguity and scope for interpretation of the text. In fact, I will argue that these frames do n ot assist the reader in interpreting the action, but are actually used by James to deliberately confound the reader and foster an ambiguous atmosphere. At first view there appear to be three narrative frames surrounding the governess account. At the outermost level we have the voice of the narrator. The narrator tells us of a period when they were one of several(prenominal) guests staying at the abode of a character named Griffin. Whilst there, the narrator heard the governesss tale, as told by Douglas over a period of several nights. Although the narrator was not at Bly, nor did they take any part in the tale of the governess, it is the narrators retelling of this story that the reader receives. Within this is the reading by Douglas, who ... ... Macmillan, 1968). Troy, William, The Altar of Henry James in Tanner, Tony, ed., Henry James Modern Judgements (London Macmillan, 1968). Endnotes 1 Gard, Roger, ed., Henry James The Critical Heritage (London Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1968 ), pp. 333. 2 Ibid, pp. 361. 3 Sheppard, E. A., Henry James and The Turn of the Screw (Suffolk Oxford University Press, 1974), pp. 17. 4 James, Henry, The Turn of the Screw in Hampl, Patricia, ed., The Houghton Mifflin Anthology of Short Fiction (Boston Hougton Mifflin Company, 1989), pp. 617. 5 Ibid, pp 617. 6 Ibid, pp. 617. 7 Ibid, pp. 620. 8 Gard, pp. 275. 9 Hosking, Rick, lecture for English 1A ENGL 1003, Flinders University, twelfth March 1996. 10 Tanner, Tony, ed., Henry James Modern Judgements (London Macmillan, 1968), pp. 33. 11 Sheppard, pp. 15. 12 Ibid, pp. 15.