How Does The Power Struggle Between Grose And The Governess?

The social hierarchy during the Victorian era was very distinct; particularly within an upper class household, everyone who lived or worked inside the home knew to keep to “their station”. However the head of the home (the master) was not around and “not to be contacted”, this meant he was unable to exercise his authority and role fully, leaving a monstrous gap in the pecking order in Bly, which undoubtedly needed to be filled. As a result it caused a power struggle to take place within Bly especially between Mrs Grose and the Governess.
From the offset of the Governesses arrival we see her already claiming Flora as her “little girl”. This implies that the Governess knew her status in Bly and was determined to maintain it by filling in the master role, also to give her the true final say concerning the children and Bly. However the Governess seeking information about the past incidents and about the “old governess” only leaves her vulnerable to Mrs Grose, the one providing her with information, manipulating events. This suggests that while the Governess feels she is gaining more knowledge, giving her the upper hand in Bly. She is actually in fact yielding power to Mrs Grose
This could possibly suggest that from her assumption of Mrs Grose, she has let her guard down against Mrs Grose because she did not view her as a threat. Furthermore servants would not be able to read or have literacy skills in the Victorian period. This is what defined the classes and also the social hierarchy, so where there was a power struggle over who can read the Governess would again assume that she had the upper hand, although we do not know for sure whether Mrs Grose could read or not. She may have wanted to seem simple and uneducated in the eyes of the Governess so Mrs Grose could easily control Bly without being