The Turn of the Screw
Secrets, Consciousness, and Sentence Structure in The Figure in the Carpet, The Turn of the Screw, and The Jolly Corner College
The words of critics Todorov, Harvey, and Short gesture to various narrative aspects in Henry James’s short stories, including the existence of an essential secret, a dramatized consciousness, and a length and complexity of sentences. These aspects are present in all of James’s work, but can be traced especially through The Figure in the Carpet, The Turn of the Screw, and The Jolly Corner, which exemplify these aspects but also some of the larger themes present across James’s work. These themes include a creeping kind of dread in which it is difficult to pinpoint its exact source, as well as the relationship between a work, its author, and its readers. The three aspects mentioned by the critics – a secret, a dramatized consciousness, and a complexity of sentences – feed into one another. Sentences that are long and complex would seem as though they would reveal a great deal of information, yet the fact that these sentences are couched by narration in the form of a dramatized consciousness tends to obscure the occasional moments of seeming clarity by the very fact of its dramatization. Employing a narrator with a flair for the dramatic, such as the governess in Turn of the Screw, also works both to create and conceal Todorov’s ‘...
Join Now to View Premium Content
GradeSaver provides access to 2312 study guide PDFs and quizzes, 10989 literature essays, 2751 sample college application essays, 911 lesson plans, and ad-free surfing in this premium content, “Members Only” section of the site! Membership includes a 10% discount on all editing orders.
Already a member? Log in