Mother of All Fears: Zealous Matrophobia in the Turn of the Screw

Abstract

While many scholars of The Turn of the Screw label the governess as one who suffers from some type of sexual hysteria, I seek, alternatively, to explore the much overlooked psychological impact of the governess' new maternal role, focusing on the pressures induced by the strict culture of parenting at the turn of the century and the accompanying theological obligations of childrearing. Reading The Turn of the Screw in the context of Protestant theology and matrophobic theory, I question how the governess' spiritual orientation influences the anxious maternal identity that I argue leads to her psychological break. My investigation is thus primarily concerned with the following guiding questions: First, how do gothic novels in general reflect the maternal anxieties of the nineteenth century? Second, how do the religious metaphors embedded throughout the governess' narrative reveal her own maternal anxieties in The Turn of the Screw? And finally, in what ways do childrearing expectations, theological obligations, and the governess' psychology intersect in the formation of the ghostly apparitions at Bly? These questions invoke the current discourse in Henry James scholarship while also incorporating archival research to situate James' novella in the historical context of nineteenth century motherhood. Specifically, I argue that the governess "possesses" the children with projections of her maternal anxieties, distorting Miles and Flora into the evil beings the governess needs them to be in order to relieve herself of the impossible theological duty of shielding their innocence.