The Role Of Discretion In The Turn Of The Screw By Henry James

In Henry James’s novel, The Turn of the Screw, the governess takes the motherly role of trying to protect Miles and Flora from the “devilish” ghosts that she encounters at Bly. She takes this stance of protecting the children to gain favor with the uncle. “It was a pleasure at these moments to feel myself tranquil and justified; doubtless, perhaps, also to reflect that by my discretion, my quiet good sense and general high propriety, I was giving pleasure – if he ever thought of it! – to the person to whose pressure I had responded. What I was doing was what he had earnestly hoped and directly asked of me, and that I could, after all, do it proved even a greater joy than I had expected. I daresay I fancied myself, in short, a remarkable