James's Fractured Fairy-Tale: How the Governess Gets Grimm

This article details how the Governess's manuscript in "The Turn of The Screw" uses the fairy tales of Cinderella and Bluebeard. While the Governess hopes the Uncle will be Prince Charming, as events at Bly progress, she finds herself sucked into a Bluebeard narrative, in which she is the threatened "second wife" (after Miss Jessel). Her determination to force "Bluebeard" into "Cinderella," and the tragic consequences of her actions, show how a belief in romantic literature can twist a young woman's psyche, creating out of happily-ever-after a story of ugliness and horror and pain.