‘The Turn of the Screw is essentially an ambivalent text. Its narrative prompts divergent, even opposite readings, but does not reconcile them. What happens remains irrevocably uncertain’

James uses the prologue to the novel to introduce the themes with in this Novella but more importantly he encourages the readers to be active in reading between the lines , and not to accept what is said at face value , James achieves this by surrounding Douglass with a group of people who are clearly and intently open about reading into the manuscripts further , they are critical and sceptical, James also encourages the readers to search for sexual insinuations as Mrs Griffin does about the sexual history between Douglas and the governess in the …show more content…

As the novella progresses she asserts that she has insight into the nature of Quint that she could not have possibly achieved in the interactions she has had with the ghost. This creates the notion, thanks to the help of Mrs Grose who sees Mrs Grose sees the governess looking in from the place where Quint was, she feels that the governess is a terrifying and dreadful sight, that the governess is a source of fear rather than the saviour she thinks she is. Once she learns of the relationships that Quint and now Jessel had with the children, he view of the ghost’s changes. She feels that the ghosts are trying to corrupt the children and she needs to protect their innocence, as she gather information on the two ghosts from Mrs Grose we get the sense that the information is ambiguous , it can be interpreted on either extreme and it creates the ambivalence the question talks about.

The governess tries very hard to protect her charges; she feels that they are being dishonest and deceptive. She begins to build suspense for the reader and we are yet again left to fill in the blanks. There is a lot of uncertainty around her thoughts of what the children are involved in with the ghosts. She only makes assumptions and there is no clear distinct thought on what the children are up to. The governess starts to