Step inside The Turn of the Screw

The film without the cuts. And the book itself.

What is seen at Bly may not be what is known.

9:41

The Cast

The Governess

Main · Bly household

A young woman arrives at Bly to protect two children and becomes the story’s most dangerous interpreter.

Locations

Bly

country_house_estate

A bright house with open windows slowly becomes a place where everyone is being watched.

Passage

One haunted child is chilling enough, but what if there were two?

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The Author’s Pen

Two Turns of the Screw

“I quite agree—in regard to Griffin’s ghost, or whatever it was—that its appearing first to the little boy, at so tender an age, adds a particular touch. But it’s not the first occurrence of its charming kind that I know to have involved a child. If the child gives the effect another turn of the screw, what do you say to _two_ children—?”

“We say, of course,” somebody exclaimed, “that they give two turns! Also that we want to hear about them.”

Reading

This is where the book gets its name, and Douglas knows exactly what he is doing by dangling it. Around a fire, one guest has just told a ghost story that owes its extra shiver to the fact that the ghost came to a young boy. Douglas quietly tops it: if one child tightens the tension, he asks, what would two do? The listener who answers has already surrendered, doing the arithmetic Douglas wanted and admitting they need to hear more. He has sold the story before telling a word of it.

World Index

The Plot

The governess arrives at Bly - and sees the stranger on the towerThe governess decides the ghosts are after the children - and seals them inFlora denies everything and rejects the governess - Mrs. Grose takes her awayMiles names Peter Quint - and dies in the governess's arms

The Cast

The GovernessMilesFloraMrs. GrosePeter QuintMiss JesselThe UncleDouglasThe Frame NarratorSchool Authorities / HeadmasterLukeGriffinMrs. GriffinFireside Listeners

Locations

BlyBly Avenue and LawnBly Grounds and GardenDouglas’s London Apartments / Locked Drawer LocationHarley StreetThe ChurchyardThe Dining Room / Window RoomThe Final RoomThe Frame House / Fireside HallThe Governess’s RoomThe Lake / PondThe SchoolroomThe Staircase / LandingThe Tower

Objects of Note

Books and LessonsCandles / Extinguished LightFlora’s Little BedMaster’s ClothesThe BoatThe Letter to the UncleThe Locked Drawer, Key, and PacketThe ManuscriptThe School LetterThe Schoolroom TableThe WindowThe Withered FernWriting Materials / Paper / Pencil / Copybook

Core Concepts

Class, authority, and forbidden intimacy disturb the householdInnocence under suspicionProtection becomes possessionSeeing is not the same as knowingStorytelling itself becomes a hauntingThe absent master creates the closed systemThe haunting may be supernatural, psychological, or bothThe violence of silence

The Author's Pen

The Locked DrawerHis One ConditionA Pleasant First ImpressionThey Absolutely DeclineTaken to My HeartThe Figure on the TowerThe Same Man AgainMrs Grose Names QuintThey Were Both InfamousMeeting Quint Without DreadThe Identity Flared UpShe’s There AgainMaster Miles Took ItWhat I Truly Held

Plot point 01

The governess arrives at Bly - and sees the stranger on the tower

A young governess accepts an isolated posting at a beautiful country house, charmed by her absent employer and enchanted by the children - then sees a strange man on the tower who shouldn't be there.

Objects of Note

The Manuscript

A story locked in a drawer for years, read aloud before anyone can question it.

The Cast

Miles

Main · Bly children

A beautiful boy returns from school under an unexplained sentence of expulsion.

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The Turn of the Screw

Henry James

The cast, locations, objects of note, core concepts, and selected passages in the Author’s Pen - at your own pace.

One of 127 classics in the Literah library

The Turn of the Screw World, as it plays on your phone

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