Informal Essay On The Turn Of The Screw Essay, Research Paper

Informal Essay on “The Turn of the Screw”

A young gentleman named Miles died yesterday. There are many mysteries surrounding his death. His sole protector and guardian, the Governess of Bly, claims that supernatural forces overtook the child. After the autopsy, I found her accusations to be nonsense. The child died of a heart attack, out of fright. He was scared to the point of death by the Governess. Despite the fact it happened by accident, The Governess is solely responsible for the death of Miles.

The Governess has gone insane. She keeps talking about a Miss Jessel and a Mister Quint. However, my records show that both have been dead for several years now. The Governess claims that Mister Quint took the soul of young Miles. I have no choice but to hold her responsible, because it is foolish to believe in ghosts. I believe that the Governess went insane, started seeing things, and forced her fears onto the children. The other child in question is Miles’ sister, Flora. Flora was taken away from the house to distance herself from the Governess. The Governess says she is the only adult to see the ghosts. That is evidence enough that it was all in her head. She is responsible for the death because there is no other rational explanation.

I wish to clarify something. While I feel that the Governess is responsible for the death, I want to make clear the fact that Miles died by accident, and the Governess did not wish to harm him. I have interviewed all the maids, and in particular, a Mrs. Grose, who is a close friend of the Governess. They have all had nothing but kind remarks for the Governess. The Governess did scare the child, but she scared herself as well. I feel that Miles’ death is very painful to the Governess, and was not meant to happen.

Notice that I said that the Governess is solely responsible. By solely, I mean that no one else had a hand in the death of Miles. Yet I have obtained evidence that Mrs. Grose and Flora knew something about the so-called “ghosts”. Allow me to clarify what I mean. Yes, Mrs. Grose and Flora may have mentioned these ghosts to Miles before, but it was only because they were persuaded to do so by the Governess. Mrs. Grose and Flora have both told me of a time by the Estate Lake, where the Governess could see the ghost of Miss Jessel and the others could not. That is evidence enough that the death happened only at the hands of the Governess. She is the only one that could see the ghosts; therefore, she is the only one that could have scared Miles with them. In addition, Mrs. Grose and Flora were out of the house at the time, which further backs my theory that the Governess acted alone. I am going to recommend a charge of involuntary manslaughter to the police.

The Governess is solely responsible for the accidental death of Miles, because there is no other rational explanation, and she was insane at the time of the death. There is also no evidence to lead me to believe that she did it intentionally, or that anyone else helped her.

By

Jason Gallagher

541 words