Corruption

A prevailing theme in The Turn of the Screw is the corruption of innocence. This is displayed on multiple occasions, especially through Miles and the words he shares with his classmates.

It is interesting to compare this theme to the corruption of imagination displayed in Lois the Witch. Although I have not yet finished the story, this theme seems as if it will carry on throughout. It is first presented as Captain Holdernesse speaks in regard to pirates: "...they land, and plunder, and ravage, and burn, and destroy. Folk get affrighted of the real dangers, and in their fright imagine, perchance, dangers that are not. But who knows?" (Gaskell 149). The power of imagination, first depicted here, is reenforced as rumors concerning the power of Satan spread: "He or she...felt a desire for some unusual kind of food - some unusual motion or rest - her hand twitched, her foot was asleep or her leg had the cramp; and the dreadful question immediately suggested itself, 'Is any one possessing an evil power over me, by the help of Satan?" (185).

In class today we discussed Hannah Benson's narrative on page 146. It was concluded that the initial threat (thought to be eliminated as the trees surrounding the house were cut down) was the inability to see any potential threat. Is it the corruption of imagination that leads characters to fear what they cannot see?