Chosen Character: Peter Quint

For this unit of the course I have chosen to read The Turn of the Screw. It was written in 1989 by Henry James and is a short story based on six main characters lifes but everything is not as it seems. It is set at country estate house called Bly. We had to pick a character to portray and create a look that represents their storyline and personality. 

Peter Quint: His Storyline

My chosen character is Peter Quint. He used to work at the house and became close with the two children, Flora and Miles. Over the years they built up a close relationship and would spend a lot of time with each other including Mrs Jessel who also worked there. During his time working at the house, Quint suffered an unfortunate death. He fell on an icy path when drunk and hit his head causing him to die. The children missed him very much. After his death a new governess of the house was hired. On a particular evening she thought she saw someone standing across from the house by the lake. It looked like a male figure however when she looked back again he was gone. The governess spoke to Mrs Grose about this and she was led to believe that it was in fact the ghost of Peter Quint. One night the governess noticed that flora was not in her room. In the process of looking for her they find her standing by the lake where the governess had previously seen the ghost of Peter Quint. 

They came to the conclusion that they thought both Flora and Miles knew about the ghosts. Was it possible that the ghosts were trying to connect to the children. At the end of the book the governess is sitting with Miles in his room. The ghost of Quint appears at the window. She tries to cover Miles and tells the ghost to leave. She looks back down at Miles and he is laying dead in her arms and the ghost has disappeared. 

My interpretation from reading the book is that the ghosts are controlling the children and trying to still have a close relationship with them, however when giving a presentation in class about the book Helen mentioned that some people interpret the book in a different way. Some people seem to believe that the governess has a mental condition and that the ghosts and the children don't exist. I could see this being an idea however I did not get this from reading the book. 

From reading the book I believe that Quint has the intentions of changing Miles and has come back from the dead to haunt him. At the beginning of the book Miles is expelled from school which comes as a massive shock to the two ladies as he has always been well behaved. Is this the actions of Quint beginning to control him? In the book it is obvious that he is a notorious figure and somewhat menacing. In the book Mrs Grose says that "he was a hound and 'too free' with everyone." It becomes clear that he thought he was better than his role of the house servant. When the children's Uncle leaves Quint believes he should now take over. I feel he is showing signs of jealousy and he wishes he was of a higher social standard. Peter Quint was obviously well known before his death, however I get the impression that some where not sad when he passed. His red hair and handsome features made him quite a striking character. When the governess sees him standing by the lake his features are the main things that she notices. He comes across as evil and threatening causing the governess to be cautious of him and somewhat frightened, however she tries to hide this. Like in many books Quint is the 'bad guy' and the governess has to try her hardest to stop him from affecting Miles, however this is not enough.