James' The Turn of the Screw: Its “Fine Machinery”

This article attempts to point out a small but significant oversight of previous criticism, particularly of psychological criticism. I refer to the strong possibility that here, for the first time, James was experimenting with the Doppelgänger motif, an experiment aimed at solving a major problem of form and effect in the work as James himself has described that problem in his various letters and prefaces.

The discussion assumes a general familiarity with the critical controversy which has swirled about the nature and origin of his apparitions, too often obscuring the central artistic problem which James perceived in it. We are not dealing here with the real world where things either are or aren't, but with the quality and complexity of James' imagination—specifically the particular problem posed by his subject, the handling of ghost material. The discussion will also assume some familiarity with Doppelganger literature, its psychological implications as well as the various forms the motif has taken in literature. The major characteristics of the motif will be reviewed briefly, and occasional allusions will be made to the better known of those stories roughly termed “Doppelganger.”

The words “Doppelganger” and “double,” its nearest equivalent in English, are often used interchangeably, though neither is wholly accurate in that each suggests a mere duplication of the primary self. Actually, as the double appears in literature, it either may or may not physically resemble the primary self, and may or may not be seen by others. When speaking of the phenomenon generally, I will ordinarily use the word “double”; in the discussion of specific narrative incidents, the governess' ghosts will be referred to as “apparitions,” both for convenience and because this is how she herself views them.

It must further be kept in mind that we are really dealing