Psychosexual Problem of Governess in “the Turn of the Screw”¬¬¬

Psychosexual problem of governess in “The Turn of the Screw”¬¬¬ The Turn of the screw by Henry James is regarded as one of the most fascinating psychological thrillers of all time. Published in the late nineteenth century, this novella sets up a narrative story of a young lady who appears to have seen the ghost of the former dead employers of the place where she was working. In this novella Henry James combined drama, suspense, and mystery to make it one of the most preferred stories among the readers of all generations. The Turn of the Screw raises many questions, however: Is the governess going crazy? Is she really seeing the phantoms of those dead former state workers? Is she innocent? Is she the villain or the heroine of this story? Or is it her sexual hysteria that leads to the hallucination of the ghost of the people whom she has never seen in her life? These sorts of questions arise among its readers and critics, setting up a platform to approach the novella’s themes in different ways. “The governess who sees the ghost, is neurotic and sexually repressed, and the ghosts were merely symptoms of her state---not real ghosts, but only hallucination”(Waldock 332) So, the actual reason behind the governess’s hallucination of the “ghosts” most reasonably involves her psychological problems and approaching it by this point of view is far more logical considering it supernaturally: her young age, her sexual regression in the Victorian era, her background, her lack of experience in the job, her affection toward her master, and even toward Miles are the reasons behind her to have this hallucinations and emerging insanity. In this novella, James tried to show the “dramatization of the woman’s psychosexual problem” (Renner 175). He pictures various scenes in the story which showed the governess sexual frustrations. The reason why it’s called a “psychosexual problem” might be the interrelationship between her sexual frustrations and its impact