turn of the screw is an allego

The Turn of the Screw Henry James’ The Turn of the Screw is an incredibly complicated and hard to understand story; it hints at much, but explains little. The fact that the story is open to so many interpretations is, in some ways, the point of the story. The Turn of the Screw is a classic example of the Gothic novel, which depends on a sound concept of evil. The Turn of the Screw can …

…and evil with goodness finally winning, but only begins to scratch the surface. The most notable difference between this story and other allegorical tales exploring the same subject is James’ willingness to unite good and evil instead of keeping them exclusive opposites. Because of its complexity, simply classifying The Turn of the Screw as an allegorical morality tale does not do justice to the book. In the book’s simplest form, that classification is correct.