The Children’s Alleged Corruption

The Turn of the Screw

This flow traces the Governess’s changing belief that the children’s charm conceals the influence of the dead.

increasing

Bearing strength in each event

decreasing

The School’s Judgment The School’s Judgment from "The Turn of the Screw". An Unexplained Charge Expulsion Miles is sent home from school, and the Headmaster refuses to keep him, but no offense is specified.

The School’s Judgment from "The Turn of the Screw". An Unexplained Charge Expulsion Miles is sent home from school, and the Headmaster refuses to keep him, but no offense is specified.

An Unexplained Charge Expulsion Miles is sent home from school, and the Headmaster refuses to keep him, but no offense is specified. A Question of Danger The Governess wonders whether the boy has harmed or corrupted other children. The missing explanation opens a conflict between institutional judgment and her immediate affection for him.

Goodness as Evidence Goodness as Evidence from "The Turn of the Screw". The Angelic Image A Reassuring Boy Miles behaves with such sweetness that the Governess treats his manner as evidence against the school’s accusation.

Goodness as Evidence from "The Turn of the Screw". The Angelic Image A Reassuring Boy Miles behaves with such sweetness that the Governess treats his manner as evidence against the school’s accusation.

The Angelic Image A Reassuring Boy Miles behaves with such sweetness that the Governess treats his manner as evidence against the school’s accusation. A Convenient Conclusion She imagines that his superiority offended lesser people and avoids asking what actually happened. Affection temporarily defeats suspicion, but the original conflict remains unresolved.

A Different Account of Innocence

Hidden Conduct Suspected The Children’s Silence The Governess notices that Miles and Flora never speak about Quint or Miss Jessel. A New Interpretation She begins to see their good manners and affection as a policy that conceals a separate life. The same qualities once taken as proof of innocence now become, in her account, evidence of artifice.

Corruption Made Visible Corruption Made Visible from "The Turn of the Screw". A Theory of Influence The Four Figures The Governess decides that the children are in communication with the two dead adults.

Corruption Made Visible from "The Turn of the Screw". A Theory of Influence The Four Figures The Governess decides that the children are in communication with the two dead adults.

A Theory of Influence The Four Figures The Governess decides that the children are in communication with the two dead adults. A Predicted Danger She fears the ghosts will destroy the children by drawing them toward dangerous places and actions. Her theory gives the silence a dramatic purpose but remains dependent on her readings of behavior.

The Last Attempt to Save Miles

Innocence and Intervention A Confession Miles acknowledges taking the letter and recalls saying things to schoolmates, without fully explaining the scandal. An Irreversible Result The Governess presses him to recognize Peter Quint, and Miles dies after looking into the room. The possibility that she is saving an innocent child and the possibility that she is harming him remain painfully entangled.

Before Miles returns to Bly

The first weeks after Miles arrives

After the Governess questions Mrs. Grose

After the night on the lawn

At the ending