The Turn of the Screw Essay examples

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Chapter 3 is an important part of the Turn of the Screw, as it is the first time in the story where we meet Quint, the handsome ghost who plays a very important part in The Turn of the Screw. In order to make this first sighting of Quint as memorable as possible, James writes this chapter using particular words and other writing techniques in order to create a scene filled with suspense and suspicion to make the arrival of the ghost as bold as possible.
Firstly, James makes use of punctuation to describe the governess’ first sighting of the ghost in order to create suspense: “What arrested me on the spot – and with a shock much greater than any vision had allowed for – was the sense that my imagination had, in a flash, turned real”. Here, James uses hyphens in order to elongate the sentence as much as possible and to create suspense by having two pauses within the sentence, keeping the reader on the edge of their seat, wondering what will come next. In addition, James uses the word “arrested” to describe how the governess is fixed to the spot at this moment. Here, James uses imagery to convey the image of someone trapped inside a jail cell or handcuffed, meaning that they have no control whatsoever. This shows the governess’ immense shock at this moment, as she simply cannot move, she has no control.
Next, James then creates a scene of suspicion and uncertainty: “the man who met my eyes was not the person I had precipitately supposed”. Here, a sense of doubt and uncertainty is created by James, as the governess states that this ghost/person isn’t who she thought it was. Now that we have no idea who this ghost is, we, as the reader, become more interested to read on and find out more. As well as interested, we become suspicious, as we are now introduced to this complete stranger of a man who has just appeared in front of the governess, and this cues us to start asking ourselves many questions; where did he come from, how did he get here etc. The overall effect of this is that the lack of knowledge is important here, as it makes the reader hungry for more.
Following this, James creates an awfully quiet and calm scene to contrast with the spookiness of seeing the ghost: “It was as if, while I took in what I did take in, all the rest of the scene had been stricken with death”. Here, James uses pathetic fallacy in order to reflect the mood of the scene. We see here that the sighting of the ghost by the governess is so dark and gloomy, that the scene around her has just become lifeless and “stricken with death”. It is as if the scene around the governess has reacted to the ghost. This really emphasizes the immense effect the ghost has on the moment, that it freezes everything else happening and focuses purely on the ghost and the governess.
Furthermore, James takes this description of the perfectly still scene even further: “the intense hush in which the sounds of evening dropped. The rooks stopped cawing in the golden sky and the friendly hour lost for the unspeakable minute all its voice”. Here, James depicts a scene where everything has been paused whilst the governess looks at the ghost. This creates suspense, as the reader is just waiting for the moment where the “action” will happen, as at the moment the scene is utterly quiet, even though there is a ghost there, and the reader is anticipating the governess or maybe even the ghost talking, moving, making some kind of action. Also, James describes the moment of time as “unspeakable”, suggesting that the scene was so overwhelming, that the governess can simply not find the words to describe it, she is left speechless at the thought of it, showing how much of an impact it had on her.
In addition, James introduces a new feel to the chapter which, nonetheless, causes the reader to feel suspicious: “and there was a touch of the strange freedom, as
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