Return of the Repressed: A Gothic Reading of Henry James's The Turn of the Screw

Abstract

Henry James'sThe Turn of the Screw(1898) is a psycho-gothic study in the context of high Victorian culture of imperial domination and subordination of women. The young governess in the novella becomes the victim of the oppression of patriarchal ideologyof that time, which makes her sexually repressed. Her sexual desires traumatize her and she frequently sees the ghosts of her employer's valet. Thus, the study highlights the 19 th century conception of identity of women. The abuse of power that enabled domination in imperial and gender relations were paid for at a terrible cost.The Turn of the Screwseems to be about the return of the oppressed as well as the repressed.