Three Journeys into Awareness: A Reading of Isabel Archer, the Coverness and Maisie Farange (With Special reference to Pansy Osmond, Miles and Flora)

Abstract

<p>It is my purpose to demonstrate how, through exposure to evil, three young Jamesian heroines experience a journey from innocence into a fuller awareness of life.</p> <p>Romantic and idealistic, Isabel Archer finds evil where her heart had looked for love. Through her gradual involvement with Pansy Osmond, Isabel is given an identity with which she can go forward into a new life. As an agent of grace, Pansy is the magic talisman which puts the seal on Isabel's decision to return to Rome. Pansy deepens the poignancy of Isabel's choice.</p> <p>As a young woman who is as romantic and idealistic as Isabel, the governess, in <em>The Turn of the Screw, </em>innocently supposes tat her lide is enriched by the presence of the two beautiful children who are in her care. Miles and Flora, who appear to embody "the sweet, shy bloom of ideal infancy," are not, however, like Pansy Osmond--a means of grace. They are, themselves, the main source of evil. Their corruption draws demons from beyond the grave who, in their maleficent solicitation of the children, also become sources of evil. The governess copes with her experience of an ever tightening turn of the screw of evil through the agency of two confessions: an oral confession to Douglas and a written confession in the form of a journal.</p> <p>Maisie Farange, who is perhaps the loveliest of Jame's fictional children, journeys into awareness through exposure to the evil of a morally squalid domestic atmosphere. Maisie, always maintaining her innocence and sense of wonder, matures with charm. Through what she comes to know, it is Maisie, herself, who is an agent of grace. In trying to save the adults of her circle, she surmounts her evil surroundings and moves forward into adolescence.</p>