A Reading Of The Governess In The Turn Of The Screw In The Light Of Gaze Theory

Henry James is an American realistic novelist in the 19 th century, He is best known for a number of novels showing Americans encountering Europe and Europeans. His method of writing from the point of view of a character within a tale allows him to explore issues related to consciousness and perception. The Turn of the Screw, one of his Gothic novels, has been controversial since its publication. This paper, in the light of Foucault’s gaze theory, gives a new interpretation of the Governess.The main body of this paper can be divided into three chapters. Chapter One is about the Governess as the object of being gazed. It is discussed from two angles: the Governess’ s image of a female who has lost her voice; the Governess’ s image of being a fall-out goat. Instead of criticizing this kind of social unfairness, James’ s main purpose here is to make people think that why the unfairness becomes the normal, and think that does the normal means the right. Chapter Two is about the Governess’ s image as the subject of gazing. Even when the Governess is the one who gazes and watches, her gaze still has a strong color of being gazed. It is the Governess’ s complicated character that of being both negative and positive about herself that leads to her snobbishness, which is completely shown in her salvation of the two children Miles and Flora. Chapter Three is about the Governess’ s image as a counter-gazer. Though the Governess is always put on the position of being gazed and watched by people, especially by the male ones, she still has a strong sense of being watched, however, the Governess’ s awareness of the being of herself is not completely lost. Part of the subjectivity of herself has remained.This paper, from the perspective of the gazing theory, explores the Governess both as a gazing and being gazed character, finds that the governess, under the pressure of gaze, has been materialized, but part of self-awareness has still remained. The Governess’ s image reveals the complexity of the self subjectivity, and also shows James’ concern on women, as a male writer.