Turn of the Screw: The Source of Evil

Asking whether the ghosts in The Turn of the Screw exist is not a rich enough question. Throughout the novella, there are many hints as to whether the ghosts exist. There is one indisputable fact though. The governess, within the confines of the novella, could have no notion of what Peter Quint looked like unless she saw him herself. According to Mrs. Grose, the person the governess had seen with “red hair, very red, close-curling, …

…the governess saw Quint, it seemed to her that “he had come for someone else” (169). He had come for Miles and Mrs. Jessel had come for Flora. The corrupting couple was back to take what was theirs. The governess, on the other hand, saved the children from this fate. She is, in no way, the evil in the novella. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ **Bibliography** James, Henery. The Aspern Papers and The Turn of the Screw. London: Penguin Books, 1984.