Context and Critics Flashcards
What is common of the governess as a class
‘Ill health’
Roving Bee - what are the parallels with tots
.dora is shown round house by pupil named Florry
.two children to gov
.left by an ‘inferior ignorant teacher’ to the care of ‘very second rate servants’ at an early age
.dora is ‘like a ship on a new voyage without a compass’ and gov is on ‘a great drifting ship’
However Dora ends up with minister
H
What are possible influences for the governess’ character
‘Miss Lucy at’ from Freuds infamous studies or HJ sister Alice who had a mental illness
What does Elliot schrero think about the governess and children allowed to associate with servants
The children get ‘corrupted’ and the governess provided the ‘loving care and protection the child’s own mother does not (or cannot) provide’
Who said ‘I have sometimes thought.,, that the women who saw the phantoms was mad’
Henry A. Beers
What theory did Edna Kenton create
The mad governess theory
What did Edna Kenton say the story is about
‘The “little personal mystery” of the governess’ where the ghost and children are ‘Ebb and flow of her troubled mind’
What was Edmund Wilson heavily influenced by
Freudian ideas
What did Edmund wilson think the governess was
‘Neurotic case of sex repression’
What does Edmund Wilson think the governess does in terms of the master
Her infatuation with him causes her to ‘transfer her feelings onto a self generated vision of the former valet atop the tower at Bly’
Which critic does Leon Edel support and how
Edmund Wilson - because Leon says ‘the governess’ courage is a mask for deep hysteria’
What does Leon Edel say Bly is filled with
‘The terror of the governess, her wild suppositions and soothing-self consoling explanations’
What does the governess go through
‘Daily thankless toil; to accept it as such courageously and meekly’
