Insanity Of A Governess In The Turn Of The Screw By Henry James

The Insanity of a Governess Insanity is a tragic problem that many people suffer from and is especially apparent in Henry James’s novel, The Turn of the Screw. Insanity is described as, “a mental illness of such a severe nature that a person cannot distinguish fantasy from reality, cannot conduct her/his affairs due to psychosis, or is subject to uncontrollable impulsive behavior”(Law.com). People who are insane lose the ability to act rationally and this causes fear of the insane people, and as a result the children fear the governess. The governess’s insanity is confirmed by her uncontrolled imagination, unjustified paranoia, and her interactions with other characters as a part of her job. A false sense of reality demonstrates

For example, she is suspicious that the children are sneaking out with the ghosts and when asking Flora about Miss Jessel, the governess says that she “absolutely believed that [Flora] lied”(James 41). Her suspicion is caused by something that she has no proof of, nor has she ever witnessed and it proves her insanity. Paranoia causes her to not trust the eight year old and her paranoia proves that her delusions are impairing her judgment, and her ability to perform her job as the governess. The governess even admits to “putting things at the worst, at all events, as [she] so often did”(James 37). This proves that the governess even knows that her paranoia causes her problems, but she is so delusional that she doesn’t try to fix things. Instead she chooses to act insanely, seeing the children in the worst possible way when they aren’t actually bad.This shows her insanity because she accepts this fact and still makes certain decisions, and if she wasn’t as paranoid the children wouldn’t fear her. As she is watching the children, she is hoping that her suspicions come true and this shows her insanity since she had been doing this for several days to no avail. These actions prove the insanity is caused, in part, by her unjustified

People who support her sanity may say that Flora and Miles also saw the ghosts so therefore the ghost would be real and her sanity would be proven. But, in reality, the children never admit to seeing the ghosts, refuting this fact because there is no evidence of it or proof. The children’s denial about having relationships with the ghost disproves this because even if it were true, the insanity and paranoia this causes the governess proves that she is insane. When the governess asks if she saw anyone, Flora plainly responds with ”ah no”(James 41) which