How Psychoanalysis as a Critical Lens Demonstrated and Endorsed by the Similarities of Gothic Motifs in Turn of the Screw and Rebecca with Relation to Paranoia and Sexuality?
If one is searching for narratives that brim with atmospheres of terror and generate mental states of hysteria, then the Gothic is the immediate area to be examined. It is described throughout scholarship as a European Romantic display of fiction that holds “ingredients” of “supernatural incidents and superstitious beliefs”, all operating under the objective of constructing “a sense of sublime awe and wonder” as supported by values of “fear and elevated imaginations” [Botting, 1995].
The Gothic motifs of supernatural entities, romanticised terror and also tailored characterised women have been consistent in the genre for decades. This can be noted in Henry James’ 1898 supernatural novel ‘The Turn of the Screw’, which focuses on a young woman who becomes convinced she is being haunted by the ghosts of the past employers of her new job, and Daphne du Maurier’s 1938 alleged romantic psychological thriller ‘Rebecca’ which tells the story of a newlywed woman feeling overshadowed by her husband’s late wife. This is due to the invited critical reading of Psychoanalysis, described by Dobie as a theoretical ideology that relies on findings and hypotheses in psychology to make “efforts to explain the growth, development, and structure of the human personality” in literature [2011, Page 54]. This field of criticism serves as an essence driven fixative of the Gothic genre and thus, assists in identifying similarities between Gothic texts. One can make the argument that staples in the Gothic genre advocate Psychoanalytic elements, as proven when analysing ‘The Turn of the Screw’ and ‘Rebecca’ with the critical field as a perspective.
James and du Maurier’s texts hold mirrored elements, one of which being the past impacting the present for a vulnerable female narrator, resulting in states of paranoia and self-doubt, as an element of the Psychoanalytic perspective. The two young unnamed women being James’ Governess and du Maurier’s Narrator, both find themselves in a new house where the past violently attacks the present and thus, attacks their mental wellbeing. ‘The Gothic’ has already had its standards fulfilled, by the presence of women finding themselves victims of the past and present clashing, outlined by Wallace who comments “The Female Gothic is always going back, texts are haunted by their predecessors” [2013, Page 132], therefore placing the blending of the two timelines as a critical Gothic motif with relation to pushing women psychologically.
For the Governess, it is the phantom-like presence of Quint and Jessel, the previous valet and Governess for the children Miles and Flora. James as a writer wastes no time in taunting his female voice with unnerving sightings of the two as a strategy for enticing the category of a ghost tale for his text to be placed under. The Governess first comes into contact with these visions fairly early into her time at Bly Manor, as during one of her walks ”Someone [Quint] would appear there at the turn of a path and would stand before me and smile” [Chapter 3]. The mysterious sighting leaves the Governess “shaken” [Chapter 4] and this only progresses after she claims to see Miss. Jessel as “a figure of quite as unmistakable horror and evil: a woman in black, pale and dreadful” [Chapter 6]. Mrs Grose’s confirmation of these ghostly figures being the deceased previous workers at Bly Manor is the summoning of the bridge between the past and the present. This union is then strategically sealed within the narrative by being positioned as where terror comes to reside with regards to its influence on the Governess’ psychologically speaking, demonstrating how the Gothic as a genre relies on a“concern with history” [Wallace, 2013, Page 134].
‘Rebecca’ falls through with the labelling Wallace provides as the narrative opens with the Narrator informing readers how ”the past is still too close to us” [Chapter 2]. This statement sets a perspective that can be both specific to where the Narrator and her husband are at in their present lives and to the overall conflict that resides in the narrative. The Narrator explains this claim in outlining how during her time at Manderley, her husband’s first wife Rebecca, whose “death” he has “never been able to get over” [Chapter 2], became an issue. She reveals how she felt unable to converse with the maid Mrs Danvers about anything, as she would have received the response “‘there were never any complaints when Mrs de Winter was alive.” [Chapter 2], thus, conveying the strongest way the past still looms over the narrative as comparisons between it and the present are frequent. Whilst the Governess is plagued by physical visions of her ghosts, the Narrator finds objects and words to be where taunts of Rebecca and the past drive her to hysteria.
This is generated by the frequent mentionings of Rebecca made by Mr. de Winter’s family and workers, the frequency alluding to how this comes to be a pattern, causing the Narrator to declare “Rebecca, always Rebecca. Wherever I walked in Manderley…I met Rebecca” [Chapter 18]. The Narrator is further reminded of her overpowering presence even when she is away from the family due to finding Rebecca’s writings. Exemplified in her finding a book gifted to Max from Rebecca, with her “little notes, scrawled on half-sheets of paper, and letters” [Chapter 5]. Just as the Governess cannot avoid the visions of Quint and Jessel, the Narrator cannot escape from Rebecca despite the fact she is dead. This is due to the way everything Rebecca has touched and everyone she has met serving as receptacles for her memory.
The past serves as the vessel for the Psychoanalytic reading of paranoia in both texts. In ‘The Turn of the Screw’, readers are offered signs that the Governess’ mental well being is becoming fractured despite her best efforts to construct a story that is “a credible picture” of what she claims to be her stable “state of mind” [Chapter 6]. She appears to be the only one who comes into contact with these ghosts, something that she becomes confidently fixated with as she declares to the housekeeper Mrs Grose “the more I go over it, the more I see in it, and the more I see in it, the more I fear. I don’t know what I don’t see what I don’t fear!” [Chapter 6]. The tone of this outcry conveys the Governess’ commitment to the matter, as she is convinced that there is nothing else to her visions she is unaware of any other conclusions of them, just her own and the aftermath they cause for her emotionally. As she is the only source of these visions for the reader, one comes to doubt her credibility since neither the children nor the housekeeper ever sees Quint or Jessel when the Governess does. This proves to be something even the Governess acknowledges in sharing, regarding what she has seen, that Flora “kept it to herself!”, as Flora hasn’t verbally endorsed the Governess’ claim. This proposes a sense of ambiguity in the text, which can serve as “the greatest strengths of a tale” [Emond, 1986, Page 1] because it opens critical debates on its subject matter. Is this a genuine ghost tale with authentic phantoms or just the psychological breakdown of an unwell woman?. Furthermore, it underlines how paranoid the Governess is since she is so convinced she is actually seeing physical ghosts that she willfully assumes others are seeing them too, which doesn’t provide concrete support for her case but instead that of her ever-growing and delusional obsession.
The Narrator echoes this detected unstable state and deluded assumptions on other people’s parts as prompted by hauntings from the past. The consistent mentionings and physical reminders of the first Mrs. de Winter immediately succeed in creating doubt on the Narrator’s part, From seeing “the name Rebecca” standing out on paper as “black and strong…the tall R dwarfing the other letters” [Chapter 4] to imagining how she would refer to her husband by his nickname as “Max was her choice, the word was her possession” whilst the Narrator cannot have that pleasure as she ‘has to’ “call him Maxim” [Chapter 5]. In turn, the protagonist is pushed to become so unsure of her place at Manderley and as Max’s wife that she appears to forget her official marriage title. We see this in a brief telephone conversation exchanged with Mrs Danvers who is asking for Mrs. de Winter, meaning the Narrator as this is legally who she is. However, she immediately responds with ”I’m afraid you have made a mistake” as “Mrs. de Winter has been dead for over a year”[Chapter 8]. This outlines the psychological state of the Narrator because she has proven herself to show a lack of a mental grasp of herself as she cannot answer to her newly found title, due to the past holder haunting her psychologically. One can interpret this as an extension of how the separation between herself and Rebecca in referring to Max by his nickname has caused the Narrator to feel isolated from affection with her husband. Thus, exterior circumstances are creating a conflict within the Narrator’s inner circumstances. This example lacks the prevailing underscore of ambiguity as shown in James’ text since it cannot be directly argued that the Narrator is hallucinating these signals of Rebecca, due to the ghost of Rebecca existing in other people’s words and physical objects in the house.
However, du Maurier comes to suggest replication of James’ technique of uncertainty as a method of executing her protagonist’s deteriorating interior state and confidence. Exemplified as such when the Narrator mirrors the Governess’ assumption of Flora also seeing the ghosts in assuming other’s opinions on her based on comparisons with Rebecca, as she imagines one of the guests to a ball at Manderley claiming “this new one’s not like our Mrs. de Winter, she’s different altogether” [Chapter 15]. Therefore, the Narrator’s paranoia lies in criticisms towards herself as she is convinced that the people around her cannot let go of Rebecca and therefore cannot let go of the past. This component of those in the present acting as verbal cues of what was in the past is significant in the text, establishing the merging of the two time periods as shown in James’ narrative and illustrating how the frequent mentioning of the past is negatively impacting the protagonist’s psyche.
Wallace calls on the findings of Doane to expand on this aspect of ‘Rebecca’ that fits underneath the analysis of ‘The Turn of the Screw’. She reflects on Doane’s statement of “in Psychoanalysis, the past is aggressive” as it holds the traits of “haunting” and so “dominating” [2013, Page 134]. Taking this brief outline, one can conclude that the past being, in a metaphorical sense, a supernatural threat as a Gothic element relies on the findings in Psychoanalysis to validate its position in an academic sphere The past is characterised as menacing and a threat to the protagonists’ wellbeing and opportunities. One of these opportunities being the formation of personal connections with those in the present, as they have come to already have previous relationships with the ghosts For the Governess, this is demonstrated in how longs to be close to Miles and Flora who was cared for by Quint and Jessel-”’ It was Quint’s own fancy…to spoil him’” [Chapter 6]. The Narrator cannot feel close to her husband as she is immediately informed:”’ They say he can’t get over his wife’s death” [Chapter 2] and how her housekeeper taunts her with ”’ She’s the real Mrs. de Winter …he doesn’t want you, he never did. He can’t forget her’” [Chapter 18]. This tying element of the past as a threat bleeds within passages from both texts as the two women each become unnerved and terrified by ghosts of the past in their individual narratives, thus connecting Psychoanalysis with the haunting past under the Gothic realm.
Paranoia as an effect of clashing time periods isn’t the only manner Psychoanalysis reaches these texts through contextual executions as provided by their Gothic identity. The narratives are connected by their allusions to taboo acts of sexuality, a significant area of study as endorsed by Bowen who states how “sexual difference is thus at the heart of the Gothic, and its plots are often driven by the exploration of questions of sexual desire” [2014]. These said explorations of sexual impulses within ‘The Turn of the Screw’ and ‘Rebecca’ are mainly offered to the readers through the revelation of the past figures that have haunted the protagonists, which both defy the previous impressions had on them.
In James’ text, sexuality is hinted at with a subtle delivery that relies on knowledge on Freudian psychoanalytic principles in its first appearance, shared with Quint’s first appearance. The Governess claims to see the ghost of the previous valet standing “at the very top of the tower…very erect, as it struck me” [Chapter 3], a staging that calls to psychoanalytic ideograms concerned with the concept of repression. To elaborate, the tower Quint is seen standing on is no coincidence of placement as a tower can be interpreted metaphorically as a symbol of manhood and male genitalia due to its convex shape. This constitute of symbols in literature is significant in Psychoanalytic study as sexuality is dissected with consideration of how it’s restrained by characters. This is explored within academic discussions surrounding the Governess, most notably by Wilson’s hypothesis that she” is a neurotic case of sex repression, and the ghosts are…hallucinations” [1938] as an effect. Therefore, there exists a claim that the Governess is not being haunted by supernatural beings but rather suffering from the consequences of denying sexual urges. Thus, Psychoanalysis can be used as a tool for providing answers to the Governess’ paranoid state overseeing ghosts. They are in fact manifestations of her own repressed sexuality, executed by James using imagery with ties to sexuality as ”the use of symbols that make repressed material more acceptable” [Dobie, 2011, Page 59].
Sexuality is further alluded to and explored in an antithetical way to being repressed to the point where symbols are relied on to convey it. This is invited by Mrs Grose when informing the Governess of the previous valet concerning his relationship with the children. The Governess is told that “’ Quint was much too free’”[Chapter 6]. Here, one can detect how Quint lived his life with no consideration for the constraints of the 19th century stipulated as agreements to be accepted by society. An initial reading of this statement with regards to sexuality calls for the semantics of liberation and progression as a refusal to submit to society’s close-mindedness towards eroticism, as was common in Gothic literature since the genre “transgressed boundaries” [Thomas, 2012, Page 2]. However, the addition of the children in the matter clouds Quint’s sexual freedom with something sinister and disgraceful.
The revelation of how Quint and Jessel behaved whilst working at Bly Manor confirms this insinuation that sexuality is being executed in a manner most illicit, legally and ethically, rather than progressive ownership of one’s sexual identity. We come to discover that “Miles and Flora saw more — things terrible and unguessable and that sprang from dreadful passages of intercourse in the past’’ [Chapter 13]. This broadcast, whilst not boldly graphic in detail, reveals the disturbing truth of Quint and Jessel engaging in a sexual relationship with no concealment from the children Jessel was tasked with taking care of. This resulted in the children undergoing psychological altering due to the repressed trauma, notably Miles getting expelled from school due to sharing the sexual knowledge that was forced onto him with “those I [he] liked” [Chapter 24]. This sudden signalling of sexual abuse experienced by the children calls to Psychoanalytic readings of the matter, such as Dobie’s outlining of how before Freud, “children were thought to be….innocent of the biological drives” they would later develop and how “childhood are periods of intense sexual experience” [2011, Page 58]. This idea of sexuality and childhood is most crucial to interpretations of the text because it highlights the true horror of the story in the abuse. This is granted by dissection using Psychoanalysis which was developed after the text’s initial publishing, thus coats the tale with a critical lens that would not have been acknowledged initially as children and sexuality were hardly linked under the same scope of analysis. Therefore, the information about Quint and Jessel’s sexual misconduct conveys how the Gothic as a genre is alluding to Psychoanalytic readings to present a direction of taboo sexual acts.
Du Maurier’s exploration of taboo sexuality is less morally corrupt, however, it still represents a concerning case of hypersexuality exemplified in Rebecca that can be comprehended by reflecting on Psychoanalysis.. The turn in the opinion of this past figure comes with the discovery that she had affairs with several people, as described by Mrs Danvers as “they made love to her of course…it was like a game to her” [Chapter 18]. This implies the promiscuousness that Rebecca lived freely by, in addition to an absence of emotional investment alluded to by the suggestion that it was all a ‘game’. This is confirmed in Max’s later statement that “Rebecca was incapable of love, of tenderness, of decency. She was not even normal.” [Chapter 20]. The passages of positive comments on her character and an emphasis on how perfect she appeared,are strategically counteracted with this negative perspective of Rebecca’s psyche, suggested by Freud as the place where “sexuality” is “lodged” [Acklin, 1998], with relation to a separation between sex and affection. Using this attitude towards sexual acts, one can conclude that Rebecca’s hypersexuality which is endorsed by her inability to commit to any deeper sensation represents troubling psychological states, defined by Freud as a “problem” that has to be“traced the to the brain rather than to the genitals” [Acklin, 1998]. Rebecca as an alleged nymphomaniac and possible sociopath as two separate classifications that become blended is a possible result of “sadistic narcissism” and “suppressed aggression”, provided by applications of Acklin’s writings and demonstrates her fractured psyche.The Gothic allows for this interpretation of Rebecca because it serves as a “testing ground for many unauthorised sexualities” [Thomas, 2012, Page 2], a category Rebecca easily falls under due to her outlandish sexual escapades, thus, demonstrating how Psychoanalysis fits in with the Gothic when dissecting this significant area.
When comparing sexuality as conveyed in James’ text, one can identify how it is repressed significantly less in ‘Rebecca’, illustrated in the absence of symbols representing repressed sexual desires. It is also less concerning ethically speaking, as Rebecca’s hypersexuality is not psychologically damaging people involved in it as exemplified in Quint and Jessel’s detrimental sexual acts happening in front of the children.
Overall, Psychoanalysis is a crucial tool in analysing and understanding both texts exemplified with close consideration of their genre. Paranoia as stemmed from emphasis on the past provides an understanding of the present characters of the Governess and the Narrator, while inflated sexuality is the key to comprehending the past figures of the previous workers and Rebecca.
Bibliography
Botting, Fred, Gothic (The New Critical Idiom), Routledge; 2nd edition (4 Oct. 2013)
Dobie, Ann B., Theory into Practise: An Introduction to Literary Criticism, Wadsworth Publishing; 3rd edition (3 Jan. 2011)
Wallace, Diana, Female Gothic Histories : Gender, History and the Gothic, University of Wales Press, 2013
Doane, Mary Ann, Femmes Fatales: Feminism, Film Theory, Psychoanalysis, (New York and London: Routledge, 1991) as referenced in Wallace
Emond, Elizabeth Suzzane, Tracing the Thread: A Textual Analysis of The Turn of The Screw, The University of British Columbia, 1986
Wilson, Edmund as cited by Edward J. Parkinson, The Turn of the Screw: A History of Its Critical Interpretations 1898–1979
Bowen, John, Gothic Motifs, The British Library Article, 2014
Haefele-Thomas, Ardel, Queer Others in Victorian Gothic: Transgressing Monstrosity, University of Wales Press, 2021
Acklin, T. (1998). Nymphomania and the Freudians. Carol Groneman.. Psychoanal. Q., 67(1):187–188