Close Analysis: Turn Of The Screw By Henry James
E. F. DeVries
10/10/2017
ENG 300-006
Hines
Turn of the Screw: Close Reading Assignment For my essay, I chose to analyze a passage from the prologue, on the second page of Turn of the Screw, by Henry James. It reads:
“‘It is in old faded ink and in the most beautiful hand.’ He hung fire again. ‘A woman’s. She had been dead these twenty years. She sent me the pages in question before she died.’ They were all listening now, and of course there was somebody to be arch, or at any rate to draw the inference.” (James 2) Douglas, the speaker, goes out of his way to note that the manuscript was written in “the most beautiful hand”, in spite of the ink being old and faded. There is a notably stark contrast between these two qualities. Douglas immediately going out of his way to inform the listeners of the beauty of the writer’s hand indicates that he be sexually attracted to her, and/or have had a very close interpersonal relationship in the past with the individual in question. The speaker’s initial line of dialogue is followed up with: “He hung fire again.” Collins English Dictionary defines this idiom as “to be delayed” or “to procrastinate” (collinsdictionary.com). Douglas’s procrastination could be indicative of him collecting his thoughts, as he is dealing with a grave matter; it builds suspense for the …show more content…
Is it such a serious matter that he makes it out to be with his dramatic pauses, or is it to be approached with playfulness and impudence?
Works Cited
James, Henry, et al. The Turn of the Screw: Authoritative Text, Contexts, Criticism. W.W. Norton, 1999.
“Definition of 'Hang Fire'.” Hang Fire Definition and Meaning, Collins English Dictionary, www.collinsdictionary.com/us/dictionary/english/hang-fire.
“Arch.” Merriam-Webster,
10/10/2017
ENG 300-006
Hines
Turn of the Screw: Close Reading Assignment For my essay, I chose to analyze a passage from the prologue, on the second page of Turn of the Screw, by Henry James. It reads:
“‘It is in old faded ink and in the most beautiful hand.’ He hung fire again. ‘A woman’s. She had been dead these twenty years. She sent me the pages in question before she died.’ They were all listening now, and of course there was somebody to be arch, or at any rate to draw the inference.” (James 2) Douglas, the speaker, goes out of his way to note that the manuscript was written in “the most beautiful hand”, in spite of the ink being old and faded. There is a notably stark contrast between these two qualities. Douglas immediately going out of his way to inform the listeners of the beauty of the writer’s hand indicates that he be sexually attracted to her, and/or have had a very close interpersonal relationship in the past with the individual in question. The speaker’s initial line of dialogue is followed up with: “He hung fire again.” Collins English Dictionary defines this idiom as “to be delayed” or “to procrastinate” (collinsdictionary.com). Douglas’s procrastination could be indicative of him collecting his thoughts, as he is dealing with a grave matter; it builds suspense for the …show more content…
Is it such a serious matter that he makes it out to be with his dramatic pauses, or is it to be approached with playfulness and impudence?
Works Cited
James, Henry, et al. The Turn of the Screw: Authoritative Text, Contexts, Criticism. W.W. Norton, 1999.
“Definition of 'Hang Fire'.” Hang Fire Definition and Meaning, Collins English Dictionary, www.collinsdictionary.com/us/dictionary/english/hang-fire.
“Arch.” Merriam-Webster,