“‘He took no notice of her; he looked at me’: Subjectivities and Sexualities of The Turn of the Screw”
by Priscilla L. Walton
Summarized by Ashleigh Ray
Priscilla Walton explores the sexuality and gender roles present in Henry James’s The Turn of the Screw. She focuses mainly on the governess and seeks to further explain how she and Henry James’s other characters demonstrate the different social norms of the Victorian Era. During that era, different sexual boundaries were being explored, but the extent to which people experimented led to the eventual criminalization of homosexuality in 1885. Furthermore, women began establishing themselves as spectators rather than spectacles through suffrage, asserting themselves into positions of authority and independence. Whether intentionally or unintentionally, James includes these complex themes in his novella.
Walton scrutinizes the relationship dynamic between the narrator and the storyteller, Douglas, of the prologue to begin explaining the examples of Victorian sexuality in the text. In the novella, the two seem to have somewhat of a romantic bond. However, the narrator’s gender is not specified. Walton considers that the narrator could be male and explains how this relationship exemplifies homosexuality in the Victorian Era. The narrator and Douglas do not clearly state that they have any sort of romantic relationship, but the actions and words spoken between the two insinuate otherwise. Walton contends that this scene depicts the Victorian attitude of men having to hide the fact that they’re homosexuals in order to keep society from humiliating them and the law from imprisoning them.
In the majority of her criticism, Walton examines multiple pieces of text where it appears that the governess is attempting to usurp the male role from the ghost of Peter Quint. The appearance of Miss Jessel’s ghost becomes relevant here because, as Walton argues, the ghosts could be a materialization of the governess’s battle with sexuality. She has three models of sexuality to look to, the whorish figure of Miss Jessel, the nonsexual maternal figure of Mrs. Grose, and the classic patriarchal male in Quint. Through her examination, Walton discovers that the governess “attempts to define herself against the sexualized whore figure Miss Jessel, while trying to supplant the male authority figure in Peter Quint” (355). As she mimics more and more of the masculine identity, she struggles to “create a place for herself apart from the asexual mother role played by Mrs. Grose and the sexual whore role played by Miss Jessel” (356). After looking at the information together, Walton argues that James included the present Victorian idea of women adopting a sense of “masculinity” to his story.
Works Cited
Walton, Priscilla L. “‘He took no notice of her; he looked at me’: Subjectivities and Sexualities of ‘The Turn of the Screw’.” Case Studies in Contemporary Criticism: The Turn of the Screw. 3rd ed. (2010): 348 – 359. Print.
Walton scrutinizes the relationship dynamic between the narrator and the storyteller, Douglas, of the prologue to begin explaining the examples of Victorian sexuality in the text. In the novella, the two seem to have somewhat of a romantic bond. However, the narrator’s gender is not specified. Walton considers that the narrator could be male and explains how this relationship exemplifies homosexuality in the Victorian Era. The narrator and Douglas do not clearly state that they have any sort of romantic relationship, but the actions and words spoken between the two insinuate otherwise. Walton contends that this scene depicts the Victorian attitude of men having to hide the fact that they’re homosexuals in order to keep society from humiliating them and the law from imprisoning them.
In the majority of her criticism, Walton examines multiple pieces of text where it appears that the governess is attempting to usurp the male role from the ghost of Peter Quint. The appearance of Miss Jessel’s ghost becomes relevant here because, as Walton argues, the ghosts could be a materialization of the governess’s battle with sexuality. She has three models of sexuality to look to, the whorish figure of Miss Jessel, the nonsexual maternal figure of Mrs. Grose, and the classic patriarchal male in Quint. Through her examination, Walton discovers that the governess “attempts to define herself against the sexualized whore figure Miss Jessel, while trying to supplant the male authority figure in Peter Quint” (355). As she mimics more and more of the masculine identity, she struggles to “create a place for herself apart from the asexual mother role played by Mrs. Grose and the sexual whore role played by Miss Jessel” (356). After looking at the information together, Walton argues that James included the present Victorian idea of women adopting a sense of “masculinity” to his story.
Works Cited
Walton, Priscilla L. “‘He took no notice of her; he looked at me’: Subjectivities and Sexualities of ‘The Turn of the Screw’.” Case Studies in Contemporary Criticism: The Turn of the Screw. 3rd ed. (2010): 348 – 359. Print.
