The Turn of the Screw · Chapter
XXII explained
The governess is left alone with Miles after Mrs.
What happens
The governess is left alone with Miles after Mrs. Grose and Flora depart. She struggles with her fears and the burden of confronting the supernatural elements alone. Miles behaves with unsettling composure, and they share a tense meal where the governess attempts to maintain control while avoiding direct discussion of the recent events.
Themes in this chapter
Isolation and Entrapment
The governess is now completely alone with Miles, feeling trapped by her circumstances and the supernatural threat.
Power and Control
The governess attempts to assert control over the situation and over Miles, but his intelligence and composure challenge her authority.
Characters to notice
- The Governess
Left alone with Miles, she feels the weight of her ordeal and tries to maintain a facade of firmness and control.
- Miles
Shows unusual composure and intelligence, testing the governess's authority with subtle defiance.
- Mrs. Grose
Departed with Flora, leaving the governess alone with Miles.
- Flora
Has been taken away by Mrs. Grose due to illness, presumably caused by the events at Bly.
Key passages
“Yet it was when she had got off—and I missed her on the spot—that the great pinch really came.”
The moment Mrs. Grose left, I immediately felt the full weight of my predicament.
The governess realizes the severity of her situation now that she is alone with Miles.
“I welcomed the consciousness that I was charged with much to do, and I caused it to be known as well that, left thus to myself, I was quite remarkably firm.”
I embraced the responsibility and made sure everyone saw how resolute I was.
The governess tries to project strength and control despite her inner turmoil.
“What he would not permit this office to consist of was yet to be settled: there was a queer relief, at all events—I mean for myself in especial—in the renouncement of one pretension.”
It was unclear what role I would now play, but I felt a strange relief in giving up the pretense of teaching him.
The governess acknowledges that her role as teacher is no longer tenable.
“How could I put even a little of that article into a suppression of reference to what had occurred? How, on the other hand, could I make reference without a new plunge into the hideous obscure?”
I couldn't ignore what had happened, but bringing it up would force me back into the terrifying unknown.
The governess struggles with whether to address the supernatural events directly.
“Well—so we’re alone!”
Well, now it's just the two of us.
Miles acknowledges their new solitude with a tone that suggests both awareness and challenge.