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Reorienting the Novel essay
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Candidate Number: 20097632009763
‘An uncanny effect is often and easily produced by effacing the
distinction between imagination and reality, such as when something that
we have hitherto regarded as imaginary appears before us in reality, or
when a symbol takes over the full functions and significance of the thing
it symbolizes, and so on.’ (Sigmund Freud) Take this quotation as a
starting point for an analysis of any one book you have studied in Block 3.
Freud’s discussion of the uncanny focuses upon the concepts of doubling,
repetition, ambiguity and also the unfamiliar being presented as
somewhat familiar. Within The Turn of The Screw by Henry James,
Freud’s explanation of the uncanny is seen as a recurring theme through
the narration of the governess. The use of pairs throughout the novel
present a doubling that renders the plot ambiguous and repetitive. Also,
the governesses recall of the apparitions appear ambiguous. Therefore,
throughout this essay I will make the case that Freud’s separate ideas of
the uncanny are central within The Turn of the Screw in identifying the
unveiling of the governess’s repression of feelings.
Freud describes doubling as child narcissism (or self-love) whereby
they create multiple projections of themselves, which later they
1
, Candidate Number: 2009763
overcome, and the child thus develops their ego.1 Within The Turn of the
Screw James presents the idea of doubling through the governess and
the master reflecting Peter Quint and Miss Jessel, the previous
governess. In the governess’s narration the reader learns that she fears
the ghosts taking the children, and whilst the governess is successful in
making the children aware of this evil, she fails in the salvation of their
souls. This identifies how subconsciously there is a doubling in
personalities of the governess and the apparitions, whereby she seeks to
engage with them but fails in her aims. As E. Duncan Aswell argues, the
‘visitations (of the apparitions) echoes or foreshadows the specific
behaviour of the governess’.2 Aswell identifies how the governess mimics
the behaviour of the ghosts; like they watch over the house, the
governess watches over the children to remain in contact with their
uncle. This is supported by the governess compares her second sighting
of Peter Quint in Chapter IV to the gothic romance novels The Mysteries
of Udolpho by Ann Radcliffe and Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte. The
governess questions ‘Was there a “secret” at Bly – a mystery of Udolpho
or an insane, an unmentionable relative kept in unsuspected
1
Boyle, Jen. "Theory In A Digital Age: Freud's Uncanny Theory." Theory in a Digital
Age: A Project of English 483 Students, Coastal Carolina University. Web. 19 Feb. 2020.
2
Aswell, E.Duncan. "Reflections Of A Governess: Image And Distortion In The Turn Of
The Screw On JSTOR." Jstor.org. N.p., 1968. Web. 19 Feb. 2020.
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