Points to Ponder
At least three
different people could be called the “narrator” of this story—the
governess, Douglas, and the “I” who sits around the fireplace with Douglas
and records his story. Why has James, here and throughout the text, made it so
difficult to distinguish who is talking? Why
are the most important issues in the story never named directly?
Nothing is spoken of directly and explicitly in this story—and one
character, the uncle who is technically in authority over all the characters in
the story, even asks outright that no-one ever speak or write to him.
It’s also notable that Miles dies just when the governess is forcing
him to speak explicitly about the main events in the story.
What is the nature of the secret(s) in this story?
What is so dangerous in this story about seeking an explanation which
will stabilize and fix the story, and end it, as opposed to encouraging the
mystery and ambiguity which will perpetuate the need for the narrative to
continue, and to be passed along to new people?
What is the source
of the evil in the story? Some
commentators have suggested that the unspoken corruption that Quint teaches to
Miles is homosexuality, and of course the “infamy” between him and Miss
Jessel is probably a sexual liaison which resulted in pregnancy.
Is the evil here more closely related to lying and deceit, or to sins of
the body? Others have suggested
that Miles becomes a stand-in for the uncle in Harley Street to the governess,
both as an unconscious or repressed love object (note the description at the end
of Chapter XXII) and also for the male social and economic entitlement, part of
the societal forces which have placed the governess in her current isolated
situation. It’s also notable that
most of the story-tellers in this story are seduced or in love—the governess
with her employer, and Douglas with the governess.
Is there a relationship between falling in love and the desire to tell
stories?
