"Peter Quint - you devil!" - at the climax. Does every one agree that the "devil" is the new governess?
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Henry James's original text seems worth quoting here :Originally posted by Sydney Grew View Post
"Is she here?" Miles panted as he caught with his sealed eyes the direction of my words. Then, as his strange "she" staggered me and, with a gasp, I echoed it, "Miss Jessel! Miss Jessel!" he with a sudden fury gave me back.
I seized, stupefied, his supposition - some sequel to what had been done to Flora, but this made me only want to show him that it was better still than that. "It's not Miss Jessel! But it's at the window - straight before us. It's there - the coward horror, there for the last time!"
At this, after a second in which his head made the movement of a baffled dog's on a scent and than gave a frantic little shake for air and light, he was at me in a white rage, bewildered, glaring vainly over the place and missing wholly, though it now to my sense filled the room like the taste of poison, the wide, overwhelming presence. "It's he?"
I was so determined to have all my proof that I flashed into ice to challenge him. "Whom do you mean by he?"
"Peter Quint - you devil!" His face gave again, round the room, its convulsed supplication. "Where?"
They are in my ears still, his supreme surrender of the name and his tribute to my devotion. "What does he matter now, my own?" - "what will he ever matter? I have you", I launched at the beast, "but he has lost you for ever!" Then, for the demonstration of my work, "There, there!" I said to Miles.
There seems little doubt who is intended by the term "you devil" in this context.Comment
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Interesting you say that now, Syd - it dawned on me watching this production, for the first time (thirty years and 5 or 6 productions after I first heard TOTS) that this is indeed what is intended.Originally posted by Sydney Grew View Post"...the isle is full of noises,
Sounds and sweet airs, that give delight and hurt not.
Sometimes a thousand twangling instruments
Will hum about mine ears, and sometime voices..."
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In this production it was certainly implied that it was the Governess. I think Britten would probably have left it to the audience to decide. The only instruction in the vocal score is that when Miles has shouted 'Peter Quint, you devil' he runs into the Governess's arms - as happened in this performance.Comment
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No I don't - or rather, I only half agree. The other half says "devil" is addressed to Quint. To make a firm decision is to attempt to unlock the whole mystery by a single interpretation late in the drama; in quandary is the best place to be unless you pine for simple solutions.Originally posted by Sydney Grew View Post
Even with James's text before us, the ambivalence remains. Why would Miles spit "you devil" at the Governess and then rush into her arms? Much more likely he would repudiate Quint's influence if he was about to seek comfort from her. On the other hand, of course, Miles cannot actually perceive Quint at that moment, and so it is unlikely he would address him directly. Let's keep the ambiguity going, since otherwise our understanding of all that's gone before crystallises into focus one way or the other, and TotS becomes just another Agatha Christie.
In the Glyndebourne production, Miles half-turned to the Governess to speak "you devil!"..... half-turned. So isn't the Director agreeing with me?
Incidentally, out here in the sticks my broadband wasn't fast enough to stream (and others also had problems). Download of 3GB was the only option - over eight hours' worth, but time well spent. I shall still buy the DVD if it's made available.Comment
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I have downloaded both acts & transferred them to my 'favourites' list. Am interested to know if they are likely to remain there.
Anyway I'll have found out by next Monday.Comment
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