As has been grimly foretold time and time again, the governess starts to lose her mind. The all-too-perfect angel children, magnanimously spacious living quarters, and of course the enigmatic visitants' visitations begin to catch up with the determined governess. What is particularly interesting about this set of chapters is how the children begin to overshadow the actual ghosts in doing what they do best: haunt those unsuspecting people who get too close. Flora and Miles are highlighted as the main concern by the governess herself. Of course Quint and his crush are always looming over, but the closest to the governess are also the most unsettling to her precisely because of that proximity.
Flora is looking outside the window when the governess conspicuously wakes up one night to check on her. When questioned, the heavily suggested lying indicates that Flora is not as innocent as she is made out to be; rather, her angelic veneer is an illusion hiding a far more sinister truth. How Flora apparently lies is also of interest. She maintains her uncanny innocence throughout the questioning, not once being surprised and actually turning the tables on the governess herself several times. What this implies is that Flora is an avid, practiced liar, one who has had experience in keeping composure through questions that, due to the weak response provoked, are likely memorized by the child through multiple similar instances. Furthermore, it is also heavily teased that Flora knows far more than she lets on about, but it is also simultaneously suggested in the same fashion that all the questioning and investigating to understand what is really going on is ultimately futile. Miles is no less suspicious, as he actually wanders out into the front of the house- though a good while later than the grilling Flora received- at night. At the point of questioning, Miles, similar to his sister, assumes the personality that would best help him avoid telling the actual truth to the governess, in this case being a playfully impish child. By sheer merit of his innocuousness, the second sibling manages to escape the desperate clutches of the overzealous governess. Also related is another reference to Miles's darker schoolboy side, which seems to surface frequently but never in a tangibly punishable fashion, adding to the bevy of circumstantial evidence that seems to indicate that both children are running an elaborate sham which ruins people's lives.
Perhaps the most shocking revelation is that Quint and the former governess are connected to the children in a deeper aspect than what was previously stated. Although some implications, such as Quint's special interest in Miles, are referenced, the governess outright voices her belief that the two are here because of the children. Now the governess doing so is probably the first clear sign that she is descending into madness. Though Henry James may have subtly teased it with his valorous descriptions of the governess's sharpness and intellect, it seems obvious that the governess is now just formulating mad theories. It is also worth noting that the only instances of an otherworldly visit in this set of chapters is by a man staring at the governess for a full minute, a detail the governess seems far too proud of, and a woman's presence being felt extremely close to the governess. As the encounters become more intimate, so to does the madness. Mrs. Grose is mentioned very briefly near the end with a discussion of what to do next. When the governess remarks of leaving already, it is evident that she will not last much longer.
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