History

The Governess was made to believe she had supreme Authority over Bly. "she will never trouble him-but never, never: neither appeal nor complain nor write about anything; only meet all questions herself, receive all moneys from his solicitor, take the whole thing over and let him alone" (The Turn of the Screw 28). The Governess became overwhelmed by the authority she gets and does not know what to do with it. She knows she wants to keep control over Bly, this desire led to her seeing ghosts and murdering miles. Governesses were generally not considered to be "servants," though in some families they were treated like servants" (Maria Edgeworth 123). The governess in this story was not treated like a servant. For the servants Bly is just a place of work, they have a life outside of Bly. For the governess Bly was a place of life; she had no place to go after Bly, and she had to make the very best of it. If her job description was to home train and give necessary instruction to the children, she will do this no matter what it took. She was on top of them teaching them what they had to learn, she even cross their personal space. Miles and Flora still had more power than she did, she serve to them. "In the first weeks the days were long; they often, at their finest, gave me what I used to call my own hour" (The Turn of the Screw 38). It was during her "own hour" when she was free of the kids when the governess saw Quint's ghost , it was as if he came out of her imagination to give her some entertainment in her life. Quint's ghost came at a time when she was consumed by her work at Bly and when she needed time to breathe and to get away. By her lying about seeing Quint's ghost the governess though she will be able to make Miles and Flora respect her and follow her orders, they will be too scare not to do what she wants, she is the only one that can see the ghost, and the only want that can save them from the ghost, so they have to follow her orders to be save. "The position should generally be one of such suffering, that a woman who knows anything of the world would, if the choice were left to her, be anything in the world rather than be a governess" ( Anna James 130). The governess became consumed with reality. Her life was Bly and taking care of miles and Flora, but no matter what she did she will never be good enough for them or for the master. She started to see how her hard work was not paying off; things were not really getting better for her. "She hesitated-took a couple of days to consult and consider. But the salary offered much exceeded her modest, and on a second interview she faced the music, she engaged" (The Turn of the Screw 28). The governess took the occupation because of necessity, but she ended giving her life up for this occupation this was the only way she can obtain means of subsistence. But she was not going to be really successful on till the authority she had turn in to something solid, like the kids looking at her as their mother and not a governess or the master coming back to marry her and making her the official ruler of the house. The only way she can get this solid authority over Bly was by making up the story of the ghost hunting the house. "I was in these days literally able to find joy in the extraordinary flight of heroism the occasion demanded of me. I now saw that I had been asked for a service admirable and difficult; and there would be a greatness in letting it be seen-oh in the right quarter! It was an immense help to me- I confess I rather applaud myself as I look back" (The Turn of the Screw 53). "She made up the story of seeing a ghost because she wanted to be seen as a successful heroine" (Angelica Arias assignment #2). Bly became her life, a life of work and no freedom she didn't get anything out of this job. The servants at Bly didn't look at her as a person with authority and they didn't know how to react toward her. Miles and Flora still had more authority than she did; she was not able to make them do what she wanted them to do, like their mother could. And her master will never marry her because he is to involve in himself. She wanted to be seen as a heroine who protected the kids from Quint the "ghost". By helping the children, she will end the evil work of Quint and the children and everyone in the house will see her with respect and her work will not be her life. And her life will not be work. Everything went wrong and she scares Flora so much she got a really bad fever and she kills Miles. No matter what she did Miles still will have a relationship with Quint, and she will only be looked has just a servant who gave her life to do her job and got nothing in return. "The exercise of labour [should be] the worker's own life activity, manifestation of their own life, But they have to sell it to another person to obtain means of subsistence. Life activity is just a means to enable existence. Labour is not even reckoned as part of normal life, it is rather a sacrifice of their life" (Marx "Wage Labor and capital"). The occupation of governess is taken because of necessity if it was in a young lady's hand to choose her job she will not be a governess. As a governess your life is your job, other servants have their own life after they finish work, while the governess never stops working as if she sold her self to her employer. The consequence of this type of job result in the wanting of the governess to become more powerful and more respected by others she wanted to be more than a servant she wanted to be a mother to the kids a wife to the master and a master to the servants. This will never happen because the kids see her like a servant they don't fallow her orders or care for her like a mother. The master will never marry her because for him she is not someone he will like to make his wife she is just a governess. Also the master is to into himself. In the end she is just a governess a worker how gave her life up for the people she work for.