Going to Church with the Governess

For my next Image, i'm going to show he Governess becoming suspicous of the children in the churyard, this is a strong scene in the book and shows her paranoia


In her mind the children are becoming more and more possesed by the ghosts

The Governess and mental Illness

I think from the reading 'the Turn of the Screw' it is most likely that the Governess has some kind of mental disorder, most likely paranoid schizophrenia. Where the subject experiences paranoid delusions accompanied by Hallucinations

The images of the ghosts could be these hallucinations and the distrust of the children fits well with this illness, she most probably was told stories about Quint and Miss Jessel by the other maids and became convinced of their existence, this idea builds up in her mind, untill she kills Miles in some kind of fit of paranoia that he is in league with these 'Ghosts'

here is a brief description of the illness

Paranoid Schizophrenia

Paranoid schizophrenia is the most common type of schizophrenia in most parts of the world. The clinical picture is dominated by relatively stable, often paranoid, delusions, usually accompanied by hallucinations, particularly of the auditory variety, and perceptual disturbances. Disturbances of affect, volition, and speech, and catatonic symptoms, are not prominent.

Examples of the most common paranoid symptoms are:

* delusions of persecution, reference, exalted birth, special mission, bodily change, or jealousy;
* hallucinatory voices that threaten the patient or give commands, or auditory hallucinations without verbal form, such as whistling, humming, or laughing;
* hallucinations of smell or taste, or of sexual or other bodily sensations; visual hallucinations may occur but are rarely predominant.

Thought disorder may be obvious in acute states, but if so it does not prevent the typical delusions or hallulcinations from being described clearly. Affect is usually less blunted than in other varieties of schizophrenia, but a minor degree of incongruity is common, as are mood disturbances such as irritability, sudden anger, fearfulness, and suspicion. "Negative" symptoms such as blunting of affect and impaired volition are often present but do not dominate the clinical picture.

The course of paranoid schizophrenia may be episodic, with partial or complete remissions, or chronic. In chronic cases, the florid symptoms persist over years and it is difficult to distinguish discrete episodes. The onset tends to be later than in the hebephrenic and catatonic forms.

Diagnostic Guidelines

The general criteria for a diagnosis of schizophrenia (see introduction to F20 above) must be satisfied. In addition, hallucinations and/or delusions must be prominent, and disturbances of affect, volition and speech, and catatonic symptoms must be relatively inconspicuous. The hallucinations will usually be of the kind described in (b) and (c) above. Delusions can be of almost any kind of delusions of control, influence, or passivity, and persecutory beliefs of various kinds are the most characteristic.

Film inspiration

For this project I watched two film versions of 'The Turn of the Screw' one BBC version from 2009 and a black and white film made in 1961, called 'The Innocents' but based very closely on the book.
The two versions were very different, the older one being more of a spooky artistic vision of the story, with the 2009 version adding more on to the original story and changing the period of the story to the 1920s, here are some stills from the two films, to compare how each film dealt with the strong visuals of the story.

The Governess in the 2009 version, shown here in an asylum after the death of Miles (added on for this film version)


The Governess in the 60s film



Some of the imagery from the different films, the modern version in its 1920s setting



and the more spooky atmosphere of the older film



Some images from the two films depicting the Ghosts
Quint on the stairs with the children(2009)



one of my favourite images from both of the films, is the 60s version of Miss jessel appearing on the lake, we'll never know weather or not Flora sees her aswell



and the children




I found the older film much more inspiring, as the atmosphere is beautiful and much more attention paid to the film as a peice of Art, also sticking closer to the book than the newer film, which I found cheesy in parts