Character Analysis
(Avoiding Spoilers)
Living… at Bly, a beautiful country estate in nineteenth century England. It's the type of place a daughter of a poor parson could hardly expect to ever step foot in, much less work at– and yet, somehow, here she is.
Profession… governess to two delightful charges. Sweet, beautiful, and precocious, Flora and Miles are the ideal students for the young governess, who describes the children as bathed in "the same positive fragrance of purity."
Interests… exploring Bly's many mysteries. When she isn't taking care of her charge, the governess wanders Bly, curious about her new home and the people who formerly lived and worked there.
Relationship Status… single, as befitting a young woman of her status and station. The governess might be obviously infatuated with her employer, Miles and Flora's uncle, but that doesn't mean she's willing to succumb to base temptations. In fact, when a fellow servant, housekeeper Mrs. Grose, hints at arranging a meeting between them, the governess declares that, "If you should so lose your head as to appeal to him for me– I would leave, on the spot."
Challenge… unraveling the dark past of her new home. Strange forces are afoot at the estate– from mysterious figures appearing in windows, to ghostly women on the grounds. Bly is not idyllic as it seems, and Miles and Flora may not be as they appear.
Personality… devoted and upright, but also but deeply romantic. The governess tries to act as a loving, responsible guardian for Miles and Flora, but at twenty, she's hardly more than a child herself. As a result, it's easy to understand her romantic musing and occasionally overactive imagination. Try as she might to be mature, the governess is young, and there's only so much any young woman can do to ward off either ghosts or her own sexuality. Still, she's determined to do the best she can.
Get to Know her in...
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A chilling ghost story, wrought with tantalising ambiguity, Henry James's The Turn of the Screw is edited with an introduction and notes by David Bromwich in Penguin Classics.
In what Henry James called a 'trap for the unwary', The Turn of the Screw tells of a nameless young governess sent to a country house to take charge of two orphans, Miles and Flora. Unsettled by a dark foreboding of menace within the house, she soon comes to believe that something malevolent is stalking the children in her care. But is the threat to her young charges really a malign and ghostly presence or something else entirely? The Turn of the Screw is James's great masterpiece of haunting atmosphere and unbearable tension and has influenced subsequent ghost stories and films such as The Innocents, starring Deborah Kerr, and The Others, starring Nicole Kidman.
This Penguin Classics edition contains a chronology, further reading, notes and an introduction by David Bromwich examining the dark ambiguity of James's work and the inseparability of narrative from point-of-view.
For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators. -
An English governess is hired to take care of two adorable orphans, who turn out to be not exactly what they seem to be.
