Insanity In The Governess

The Governess suffers with other components of anxiety, resulting in a breakdown of her defenses and further evidence of her deluded perception of reality. Tyson reveals, “Our defenses momentarily break down, and this is when we experience anxiety….Fear of betrayal- the nagging feeling that our friends and loved one can’t be trusted” (16). In essence, people are more lost when their defense mechanisms falter, effectively changing the way they think. Feeling the effects of anxiety, people grow less inclined to trust others, which is parallel to the Governess, who envisions ghosts at the peak of her insanity. So focused on Miles, she notes, “I had only done something much worse - I had forgotten. Where all this time was Flora?...She’s with [Miss
When she does finally find Flora outside, she marches up to her in hostility and asserts, “Tell me-’ I heard myself say, then heard the tremor in which it broke...Mrs. Grose’s suspense blazed at me, but it was too late now, and I brought the thing out handsomely. ‘Where, my pet, is Miss Jessel?’”(James 101). Clearly, this exemplifies that her unconscious mind drives her throughout the scene, particularly in the way she phrases her sentences. When she says “I heard myself say” and “it was too late now” under such circumstances, the Governess appears as if she floats outside her body as a bystander to her own actions, rather than being in control. Moreover, her deranged impression where she perceives Flora as a betraying medium instead of an innocent girl is so preposterous. The fact she would have the audacity to unwisely bring it up to discussion verifies that her anxiety overwhelms the Governess’s common sense and consumes her actions. Without a doubt, the narrator’s ridiculous ideas and delusions are a clear consequence of the anxiety and breakdown of defenses she must clash