Possession In Henry James The Turn Of The Screw

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One thing I’ve noticed, in the Turn of the Screw, is that the number three comes up a lot. At first, I thought this might be coincidence, but the more I looked, the more I became convinced this was not and I think I might have an answer to this: possession. Possession, according to tradition, especially the Catholic tradition, has THREE states: 1. Infestation, 2. Oppression, and 3. Possession. This begs the question: does James use the number three to indicate possession? My believe is yes and, furthermore, my believe is that the governess herself is possessed. Evidence for this can be seen through her background, she is the third caretaker of the children (after Mrs. Jessel and then Mr. Quint) and she also goes to Trinity College (Trinity means three: Father, Son, and the Holy Ghost). My thought is that James sets this up, in the frame of the story, to indicate that she is the main object off possession. After the frame of the story, there is still yet more evidence for possession and this evidence is, with every sighting of a ghost, the number three, hidden in the text, with the except for one, which I believe is missing to…show more content…
Jessel on the stairs, three is not there, but this is the only sighting of a ghost in-which their face is not visible and in-which the governess is not given any feelings or any truths. This may be a device, by the author, to show the importance of the number three or to show that Mrs. Jessel is not trying to posses the governess to the full extent that Quint is. Also, it should be noted that Quint, in his life, often used women to get what he wanted; he was described as a “Hound,” so it’s not too far of a connecter to assume that he does this in death as well. The only question here is why Quint would want the governess to kill Miles. It could be, detainee for Miles rejecting him, jealousy, or a repetition of the murder of his own child, or something completely

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