Miles and Flora in ‘The Turn of the Screw’ Essay Example for Free

Miles and Flora in The Turn of the Screw EssayThe children in the novella are very distinctive in a manner of how the reader can perceive them. They can be seen by many as good children or incompetent children. In prudish times the majority of children were actually brought up in the lower course of study and the middle class, Miles and Flora were not, they were lucky enough to be in the upper class but they had to follow the ideals of their mother or father. They didnt pass on a mother or father thitherfore the governess was the but option of a virtuoso to have and confide in, this was seen as morally wrong in the society since many Victorians believed that their shouldnt be friendships between different classes, they believed in a unappeasable social hierarchy. The children can be seen as innocent in the novella by the governess outset views of them. On her prime(prenominal) sighting of Miles, the governess describes him as being sweet-smelling, this can be seen as qu ite confusing to the reader since she has that just met him, it is a very powerful word to use on first impressions. But principally it has religious connotations, it conveys a very strong image of Miles being this perfect smaller child, and sets him up as an innocent character end-to-end the entire novella. Also the governess is carried away by Miles as well as the Master this suggests that the governess is always in awe of strangers making her seem very vulnerable.Miles is incessantly referred to as piffling by the governess throughout the novella. She calls him a little fairy prince which shows how highly she speaks of Miles, this suggests how little he is in physical appearance but mainly the innocence of him, small amours are usually very vulnerable and innocent and need comfort and support from somebody bigger than them. The use of prince not only shows how pristine he is but also correlates with his Victorian upper class smear in society. This perception of Miles stay s the same flush until the end when his little give awayt, dispossessed had stopped. Since there has been many sides to Miles in the novella, the end sentence conveys how innocent he rightfully he is. He is only a little boy and thats what the reader needs to remember.Flora is also spoken very highly of by the governess. Generally there is more of a cuddlesome connection between the two because they are female, and the daughter looks up to both of her parents as role models but to the mother most of all. The governess thinks that Flora is the most beautiful child she has ever seen this is kind of inferred in the quotation but also has a very loveable element to it and an innocence one too. The governess doesnt really experience any problems with Flora in the novella she pauperizations to protect her all the time from the ghosts that she believes are terrorizing her. Floras position in society as being upper class is also linked to by the use of her hair of gold, gold symbolizin g money but also makes her take over out in the crowd, the author has made her out to be like a little prodigy.Another perception of the childrens innocence comes with the idea if there are actually ghosts corrupting them, which the governess thinks is happening. The fact that they are only children conveys the general idea that children tend to be scared of ghosts and dont want to hear anything or so them. The children may be getting scared by the governess dramatic reactions to her so called sightings of pentad and Jessel. When Flora is awake in the middle of the night looking at out the window, the governess, straight away, believes that she is contacting ghosts and so her suspicions about ghosts are increased but they are only children and it turns out they were only having a joke. Children can still have fun even though they are of noble birth but the governess doesnt seem to realize this. Maria Edgeworth commented on the grave dangers of leaving unripe children in the sup ervision of servants, in this case the governess is actually a servant in social hierarchy legal injury but the master in terms of profession terms.The children however can be seen as being bad. The quote in the title itself tells how Miles could be being sinister. When the governess wakes up to see why Flora is standing up at the window, she immediately believes that she is contacting either Quint or Jessel because she is extremely paranoid. But when she sees Miles on the grounds of Bly she panics because not only is he all alone without anyone supervising him, he is also looking above the window Flora is looking out so the governess believes he is contacting Quint.When talking to Mrs.Grose about what happened the previous night, she watches Miles and Flora walking the grounds and believes that theyre talking horrors, this could have several implications, one could be that they are plotting and scheming against the governess to maybe overthrow her position and get their uncle back to them and another could be that they are talking to the horrors and in this case the horrors could be Quint and Jessel since the word horror is often associated with ghosts and the supernatural.One thing that could suggest that the children are deceiving the governess and manipulating her is the fact that the employer who is the childrens uncle is nowhere to be seen at Bly. Since being employed the governess is told strictly not to contact him about anything whatsoever, not even about his own nephew and niece.This surely arouses suspicion and could possibly make the reader think that maybe the children are actually bad. Perhaps the past between Miles and Quint had made the Master resort to madness like the governess possibly has as well. It could in fact possibly be that Quint corrupted Miles before the governess was at Bly which leads to the reason why he was expelled from his school which the governess believes is a massive concern. Are the children the cause of their uncles be havior? And maybe, what have they done to make him not want to stay at Bly? The governess has all these sorts of questions but knows that they she cannot contact him for the sake of her job, which drives her mad because she thinks she is being corrupted.The descriptions of the children actually change as the reader progresses through the novella. On first impressions the children are compared to being like angels and royalty which is all well and good but she has yet to meet their true personalities. She describes Flora as an old, old cleaning lady which is honestly the most ridiculous thing that a child can be called. This obviously cannot be a description of her physical appearance since she is only 8 years old but possibly how the governess believes that she is corrupted by Miss Jessel. Perhaps every time Jessel is around, Floras soul seems to be aging or it could actually be that she is becoming smarter with every appearance of Jessel so she is scheming more. This could suggest a loss of innocence in Flora, she utilize to be the most beautiful child and now she is an old, old woman.To conclude I believe that the children are actually innocent. They are only children so how in any way can they actually be sinister and possibly evil? Yes there is strong evidence that the children could be being bad and corrupting the governess but being evil is too much of an extent. Therefore I believe in the innocence of the children.