Winner of the 2019 Alice Wingo Essay Contest
Henry James’ 1898 novel, The Turn of the Screw, describes the plight of a young governess faced with ghostly encounters and instructions never to seek help from her master. Since the novel’s publication, debate has arisen over the governess’ sanity—are these ghosts real, or are they simply hallucinations, manifestations of her own anxieties and desires? The young governess has been called mad, insane and hysterical. Although many believe James intended the ghosts to be real, many readers still dismiss them as the visions of a mad woman. However, whether the ghosts are real or not, they can act as projections of the governess’s anxiety. The ghosts fall into the gothic literary tradition of the doppelganger—a motif seen in numerous novels, including another famous “governess novel,” Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre. In utilizing these doppelgangers, both novels contribute to a literary discussion of women, desire, and perceived hysteria in the 19th century,
Today, hysteria is defined as “a psychoneurosis marked by emotional excitability and disturbances of the psychogenic, sensory, vasomotor, and visceral functions” or “behavior exhibiting overwhelming or unmanageable fear or emotional excess” (Merriam-Webster). However, “hysteria” has been used to refer to various illnesses for thousands of years. The word has its origins in ancient Greek; it is derived from the word hystera, meaning “womb” (Merriam-Webster). The Greeks believed that it was a condition unique to women and caused by complications with the uterus (King 13). These ideas were the standard until the 17th century, when French physician Charles Lepois suggested that the source of the condition “was not in the womb but in the brain, and that it must be considered a nervous disease” (Ellis 602). Though today we share a similar definition for the word, the idea that hysteria was a woman’s disease persisted into the 19th century. Havelock Ellis writes that “two gynaecologists of high position in different parts of the world…attributed hysteria…largely to unsatisfied sexual desires.” Symptoms of hysteria are varied, as it was often named as a diagnosis when physicians couldn’t identify the true illness. The simplest definition Merriam-Webster provides for “hysteria” is probably the most common understanding of the word: “a state in which your emotions (such as fear) are so strong that you behave in an uncontrolled way.” French psychology professor Pierre Janet discusses the more serious, medical side of hysteria in a series of lectures he delivered at Harvard in 1907. In the first, he addresses symptoms of hysteria such as having visions or hallucinations, having sleep disturbances and loss of appetite, and holding unusual beliefs, among other things. He then says that “all these phenomena…are the usual symptoms of hysteria” (Janet 9). His definition describes what many people typically associate with “madness” or “insanity.” In either case, the unnamed governess in James’ The Turn of the Screw fits the definition.
Though the novel is ambiguous as to the extent of the governess’s madness, she clearly presents many of the listed symptoms. It is likely most obvious that she fits the first definition of hysteria; her emotions throughout the novel are heightened and she often behaves erratically. The governess often describes her distress, nerves, anxiety, and fears. Her behavior terrifies those around her. She frightens Mrs. Grose when staring into the house from a window. She scares Flora with her repeated questions about Miss Jessel. Some claim that her behavior “literally frightened [Miles] to death” (Wilson qtd in Beidler 251). The governess also fits many of Janet’s symptoms. She reports multiple “sleepless night[s]” in the novel (Ch. II, 33). She is the only person to see the ghosts of either Quint or Jessel, and she believes these spirits are corrupting Miles and Flora. The governess also fits the belief that hysteria comes from repressed sexual desire, as she harbors unreciprocated feelings for her enigmatic master. She meets her employer only twice, during the interview process, and following her acceptance of the position, she is not allowed to see him or communicate with him. Still, despite this, she “succumbed to… the seduction exercised by the splendid young man.” (Prologue, 28). It is actually upon wishing for his presence that she encounters the first ghost, Peter Quint. He is both an object of her desire and an authority figure that rejects her desire. In this way, the master becomes both her objet petit a and “establishes for her Lacan’s ‘big Other’” (Zacharias 322). This conflict between the master’s role in the governess’s life may cause her frustration and ultimate hysteria.
The second ghost is presumed to be Miss Jessel. Jessel was the former governess for Miles and Flora until her mysterious death. As such, she would have had similar goals to the new governess. Both desired to protect and care for the children in such a way that would please the master. They were also similar in another way: both had sexual desires that were considered socially unacceptable. While the new governess lusts after a man well above her social status, Jessel’s attraction was for a man “so dreadfully below” her status—servant Peter Quint (Ch. VII, 58). Unlike the new governess, Miss Jessel gave in to her desires, and the two carried on a transgressive relationship. Though it is never stated what exactly caused Jessel to leave or how she died, it is clear that she left amid a scandal. Mrs. Grose explains, “she couldn’t have stayed. Fancy it here—for a governess! And afterward I imagined—and I still imagine. And what I imagine is dreadful” (Ch. VII, 59). Her death is also described as awkward and dishonorable in the prologue: “She was a most respectable person—till her death, the great awkwardness of which had, precisely, left no alternative but the school for little Miles” (28). However Miss Jessel died, it was scandalous enough to strip her of the honor she had in life. Thus, she becomes the fallen woman, the “sexually fraught whore figure” of the novel (Walton 354).
Considering the lack of detail readers get surrounding Miss Jessel, it would be easy to assume that she is the less important of the two ghostly figures. Peter Quint is described in great detail, including his hair and clothes. Mrs. Grose is able to identify him from only the governess’s account. However, Jessel is only described as “a woman in black, pale and dreadful” (Ch. VII, 56) Mrs. Grose never positively identifies the ghostly figure as Miss Jessel—the identification comes from the governess. The governess insists that the figure she saw was “[her] predecessor—the one who died” (Ch. VII, 56). When Mrs. Grose questions how she knows this, the governess responds only with “Know? By seeing her! By the way she looked” (Ch. VII, 57). However, these vague details do not make Miss Jessel less important, but rather more important. The governess’s apparent hysteria casts doubt on her reliability as a narrator, and many wonder if the ghosts are even ghosts at all. Considering that Quint is first seen when she wishes for a man to appear, scholars like Edmund Wilson have come to the conclusion that “the governess…is a neurotic case of sex repression and the ghosts are not real ghosts but hallucinations.” In this theory, Quint is merely a projection of the governess’s desires for the master.
However, as Beidler notes, “one of the most telling pieces of evidence against Wilson’s theory is the scene in which the governess describes Peter Quint in such detail that Mrs. Grose can positively identify him” (242). And this is true—Quint is described in enough detail to be a perfectly believable ghost. Why then, one may wonder, could the governess not describe Miss Jessel as clearly? Why did she have to insist on an identification herself? Miss Jessel more reasonably fits Wilson’s theory. If Quint was a projection of the governess’s desires, Jessel is a projection of her fear of what may come. Jessel and the governess shared similarities in life, and Jessel has become a warning of what may happen if the governess gives in to her transgressive desires. She acts as a foil for the governess, a dark reflection of her inner desires and fears.
This trope is not uncommon, particularly in gothic literature. The doppelganger “has both symbolic and psychoanalytical implications” (Hughes 86). This motif is seen in classic works such as Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, Oscar Wilde’s Picture of Dorian Gray, Robert Louis Stevenson’s Jekyll and Hyde, and even Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre. As in the case of Miss Jessel and Jane Eyre’s Bertha Rochester, “the doppelganger may become… a figure that enacts taboo desires” (Hughes 86). Bertha is a representation of Jane’s repressed emotions and fears, a personification of the Freudian id. At Thornfield, nearly every time that Jane herself feels anxious or upset about a situation, Bertha lashes out. Jane finds herself strongly disliking Mr. Mason upon first meeting him. She remarks that “for a handsome and not an unamiable-looking man, he repelled me exceedingly” (Ch. 18, 178) and days later, Bertha attacks him. When Jane feels anxious about her impending wedding to Mr. Rochester, Bertha comes to her room and tears the veil in two (Ch. 25, 270). Jane has been taught to tame the “fire” within herself and subdue her emotional outbreaks, making use of the superego that internalizes society’s rules for behavior. As a child, she was also locked in an upstairs room for shouting at and defending herself against John. Though he attacked her first, Mrs. Reed responds with “What a fury to fly at Master John! … Take her away to the red-room, and lock her in there.” (Ch. 1, 5) Bertha, though physically restrained by the attic she is locked in, is not restrained by the superego and can act out in anger or fear. Her “madness” manifests in her uncontrolled emotions. Just as Bertha has to die for Jane to be able to marry Mr. Rochester, so Jane must also repress her violent emotions.
However, the doppelganger is more than a common literary trope; it acts as a statement on society’s perceptions of emotion and desire. It is necessary for the author to project the protagonist’s darker emotions onto another character—usually one seen as villainous. In doing so, the protagonist’s emotions are indirectly expressed and also condemned. In projecting Jane’s anger onto Bertha, Jane becomes more likable. Bronte makes it clear that Jane experiences these violent emotions through her outbursts at Gateshead and Lowood and her decision to leave Thornfield. In doing so, she creates a character that contrasted the patriarchal beliefs that women were meant to be passive and reserved. However, the condemnation of Bertha’s extreme emotions as “madness” makes Jane seem tame by comparison. In contrast, the governess’s own emotions have led many readers to find Jessel as the comparatively tame one. The brief statement as to her character being “most charming… most agreeable” given in the prologue is not enough to prevent readers from condemning her, too, as mad and cruel.
Jane Eyre, the governess, and their doppelgangers are born out of and contribute to 19th century attitudes towards women. Both Jane and the governess reject the patriarchal standards of passivity, yet their same emotions and desires are condemned through Jessel and Bertha. The doppelgangers act as a way of filtering out the id, separating it into a new body. It was not yet socially acceptable for protagonists to have so much violent emotion. Though protagonists are gaining more free range of their emotions, the trend still persists today, in the form of evil alter-egos, evil twins, and the devil on the shoulder. These doppelgangers in many ways show the inability to accept the entirety of what it means to be a person. The ego and superego are not a whole person—the id is a necessary missing piece.
Works Cited
“Doppelganger.” Historical Dictionary of Gothic Literature, by William Hughes, Md., 2013, pp. 86–87.
Ellis, Havelock. “Hysteria in Relation to the Sexual Emotions.” Alienist and Neurologist, vol. 19, no. 4, 1 Oct. 1898, pp. 599–616.
“Hysteria.” Miriam-Webster, Miriam-Webster, 2018, www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/hysteria.
James, Henry, and Peter G. Beidler. The Turn of the Screw. Bedford / St. Martin's, 2010.
Janet, Pierre. The Major Symptoms of Hysteria. Macmillan & Co, Ltd., 1907.
Walton, Priscilla L. “A Gender Studies Perspective.” The Turn of the Screw, by Henry James and Peter G. Beidler, 3rd ed., Bedford / St. Martin's, 2010, pp. 348–359.
Zacharias, Greg W. “A Psychoanalytic Perspective.” The Turn of the Screw, by Henry James and Peter G. Beidler, 3rd ed., Bedford / St. Martin's, 2010, pp. 320–332.
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