Candlelight In 'The Turn Of The Screw'

Within the novella, “The Turn of the Screw,” light is mentioned constantly, what does light symbolize?

Throughout the novella, there are constant mentions of light. Candlelight suggests safety in the governess’s narrative, while twilight suggests danger. Candlelight gives off heat as well as light, making it practical for humans who need to stay warm when the heating rays of the sun go down. Additionally, up until the invention of electricity candles were how people got around safely after dark. Twilight, on the other hand, is what makes candles a necessity. Twilight is the time between day and night when the sun is going down and it is time to bring out candles. The word twilight means "half-light" and the half-light of morning or evening

At the top of the stairs, her candle goes out “under a bold flourish”(67) at the exact moment she sees Quint. She views him in “cold, faint twilight”(67). The governess views candlelight as a beacon of safety in an unfamiliar world. A week or two later, the governess wakes up to find her candle extinguished and Miles on the lawn in bright moonlight. Her view of him in that light suggests danger and, in a way, prefigures his imminent death. Later in the novella, Miles blows out the governess’s candle, plunging the two into darkness. In response to the darkness, the governess cries “Why, the candle’s out”(95)! Miles responds with “It was I who blew it, dear”(95)! The governess’s response shows how surprised she is by the boy blowing out the candle. While Miles’s response shows how calm he is despite the darkness and that he has the upper hand in the situation. The blowing out of the candle indicates a loss of the governess’s protection and power. Additionally, the darkness is made more extreme because there is a lack of moonlight implying an absence of the supernatural, which seems to be even scarier than being in the same room as a