One of the primary functions of ghosts in James' and Wharton's short stories is as human conscience: to bring the unconscious into conscious awareness and to evoke guilt, shame, or fear. For the governess in "The Turn of the Screw," the ghosts symbolize sexual awakening and social deviance. From the time she arrives at Bly, the governess learns of Miles' misbehavior at school, mischievous behavior that Mrs. Grose attributes to normal adolescence. However, the narrator views the ghosts with increasing suspicion, believing them to herald the social and sexual corruption of Miles' youth. Similarly, Miss Jessel is depicted as having been promiscuous and the governess views her apparition partly as a symbol of unconscious sexual desires. Spencer Brydon's ghost serves a more direct psychological purpose in James' "The Jolly Corner," as the protagonist's own conscience symbolizing the life he never lived and the choices he never took. In both cases, the ghosts bring to light unconscious desires.

In Wharton's "The Lady Maid's Bell," Emma Saxon's ghost serves a similar function as the ghosts in "The Turn of the Screw." Saxon, like Miss Jessel and Peter Quint, signals sexual corruption. In "The Lady Maid's Bell," Saxon's ghost seems to be aware of Mrs. Brympton's relationship with Mr. Ranford. Moreover, the narrator suspects that Saxon was among one of Mr. Brympton's sexual prey. The ghost of Robert Elwell in "Afterward" delivers not a sexual message but a moral one. However, Elwell's ghost does bring to light that which had remained secret and hidden just as Saxon's ghost did in "The Lady...

In all four tales, ghosts bring the protagonist to the brink of mental breakdown. Furthermore, the ghosts' borderline existence means that some characters do not perceive them or at least will not admit that they do. The ghosts' liminal existence threatens the protagonists in all four tales.
Finally, ghosts signal a key transition in the lives of all four protagonists. All four protagonists had just moved into the new homes when they saw the ghosts; the ghosts did not suddenly appear to them in their familiar surroundings. Thus, ghosts could symbolize transition and change. Ghosts mark changes in career and lifestyle for all the characters: the governess in James' "The Turn of the Screw" accepts a new post; Spencer Brydon meets his ghost after thirty years of travel abroad; Alice Harley recuperates from illness as a personal maid to Mrs. Brympton when she sees the ghost of her predecessor in Wharton's "The Lady Maid's Bell,"; and Mary Boyne in "Afterward" moves with her husband from America to England.

Works Cited

James, Henry. "The Turn of the Screw." Ghost Stories of Henry James.

James, Henry. "The Jolly Corner." Ghost Stories of Henry James.

Wharton, Edith. "The Lady Maid's Bell." Ghost Stories of Edith Wharton.

Wharton, Edith. "Afterward." Ghost Stories of Edith Wharton.