The Two Magics characters

The Governess

Also known as the young lady, the governess, the new governess, my predecessor's successor

The unnamed young governess who narrates the story via the transcript Douglas reads; hired to care for two orphaned children at Bly, she becomes convinced the estate is haunted by two dead servants. She is the protagonist of The Turn of the Screw.

As drawn: A young woman of about twenty, the youngest daughter of a poor country parson; slight, earnest and high-strung, dressed in the plain, modest attire of a Victorian governess.

Bonds:GroseTrusted confidantes

Mrs. Grose

Also known as the housekeeper, my colleague, my friend

The plain-spoken, loyal housekeeper at Bly and the governess's only adult confidante, who confirms her descriptions of the ghosts but ultimately cannot see them herself.

As drawn: A stout, simple, plain, clean and wholesome middle-aged woman with a round face, mild gaping mouth and honest eyes; dressed as a country housekeeper of the 1840s.

Bonds:MilesFond acquaintancesFloraTemporary caretakerJesselFormer colleaguesPeterHousehold acquaintances

Miles

Also known as little Miles, the little boy, the little gentleman

The elder of the two orphaned children in the governess's charge, a beautiful, preternaturally charming boy mysteriously expelled from school. He dies in the governess's arms in the final scene.

As drawn: A beautiful ten-year-old boy of delicate, angelic features and fresh rosy health, with an air of extraordinary innocence and sweetness; dressed as a well-bred Victorian schoolboy.

Bonds:GroseFond acquaintancesFloraSibling chargesPeterImproper friendsJesselAdmonishing acquaintance

Flora

Also known as little Flora, the little girl, my small charge

The younger child at Bly, a lovely little girl of eight whom the governess believes to be secretly aware of the ghost of Miss Jessel. She is sent away with Mrs. Grose after a breakdown.

As drawn: An exquisitely beautiful fair-haired little girl of eight with a radiant, angelic face and rosy cheeks; dressed in a child's white Victorian frock.

Bonds:GroseTemporary caretakerMilesSibling chargesJesselGhostly witness

Peter Quint

Also known as Quint, the fellow, the hound, the man, the horror

The dead former valet of the children's uncle, whose malevolent ghost the governess sees haunting Bly. In life he was a depraved, domineering servant found dead on the village road.

As drawn: A tall, erect, active bareheaded man with very red, close-curling hair and little queer red whiskers, clean-shaven otherwise; a pale, long face with straight good features, darker arched eyebrows, and sharp, small, very fixed eyes; wears smart clothes that are not his own and looks oddly like an actor, but never a gentleman.

Bonds:MilesImproper friendsGroseHousehold acquaintances

Miss Jessel

Also known as my predecessor, the former governess, the woman in black, the other person

The governess's dead predecessor, whose ghost appears in mourning by the lake and elsewhere. In life she was ruined by her liaison with Peter Quint and died after leaving Bly.

As drawn: A woman of extraordinary, wonderful beauty with a pale, dreadful face and awful, dark, fixed eyes full of fury; dressed in black mourning that is rather poor and almost shabby.

Bonds:FloraGhostly witnessGroseFormer colleaguesMilesAdmonishing acquaintance

The Uncle

Also known as the master, our employer, the gentleman in Harley Street, the children's guardian, the bachelor uncle

The children's bachelor guardian in London who hires the governess on the strict condition that she never trouble him about them. He never appears at Bly and is present only as an absent, longed-for figure.

As drawn: A rich, fearfully extravagant bachelor in a glow of high fashion, good looks and charming manners; an elegant gentleman of the town in expensive attire, master of a great London house full of the spoils of travel and the trophies of the chase.

Douglas

Also known as our friend, the reader of the tale

A member of the Christmas-eve fireside party who introduces and reads aloud the governess's manuscript, having known her long ago when she was his sister's governess.

As drawn: A grey, reserved elderly gentleman, dignified and long reticent, seated by the fire in an old country house and reading from a thin, faded red gilt-edged album.

Mrs. Gracedew

Also known as the American lady, the American, the dear lady, the stranger

The vivacious, wealthy American widow who arrives to admire the old English house in Covering End and, charmed by it and by its heir, intervenes to save it from Mr. Prodmore's grasp.

As drawn: A charming, animated and wild-spirited American lady, a well-to-do widow, brightly and fashionably dressed in late-Victorian travelling attire.

Bonds:ProdmoreNew acquaintancesYuleSocial acquaintancesCoraNew friendsChiversHelpful acquaintances

Mr. Prodmore

Also known as Prodmore, the elder man, the personage

The heavy, calculating mortgage-holder in Covering End who controls the fate of the Yule estate and schemes to marry his daughter into a title through Captain Yule.

As drawn: A personage of great presence and weight, with a large, smooth face in which a small sharp meaning is planted like a single pin in a tight red cushion; wears a blue frock-coat, a stiff white waistcoat, a high white hat cocked protestingly, and a bold prize plant in his buttonhole.

Bonds:YuleOld antagonistsGracedewNew acquaintancesCoraFather and daughterChiversOld adversaries

Captain Yule

Also known as Clement Yule, Captain Clement Yule, the young man, his master

The radical-minded young soldier who unexpectedly inherits the mortgaged old house of Covering End and must reckon with Mr. Prodmore's terms and Mrs. Gracedew's influence.

As drawn: A tall, erect young man in a darkish tweed suit with a red necktie tied in a sailor's knot, removing a soft brown hat as he enters; an aspect in which contradictions are remarkably at home.

Bonds:ProdmoreOld antagonistsGracedewSocial acquaintancesChiversTelegram correspondence

Chivers

Also known as the old man, the old servant, the caretaker

The ancient, devoted manservant of the old house in Covering End who admits the visitors and tends the estate, embodying the long history of the place.

As drawn: A considerably shrunken, completely silvered old servant with a drooping kind white head and idle old hands almost covered by the sleeves of an aged black dress-coat, finished with a white necktie he has done up himself in honour of the day.

Bonds:ProdmoreOld adversariesYuleTelegram correspondenceGracedewHelpful acquaintances

Cora Prodmore

Also known as Cora, Miss Prodmore, the girl, his child

Mr. Prodmore's spirited young daughter, whom he intends to marry to Captain Yule, and who instead befriends Mrs. Gracedew on the train to Covering End.

As drawn: A charming, wonderful young Englishwoman, fresh and lively, dressed as a fashionable young lady of the 1890s.

Bonds:ProdmoreFather and daughterGracedewNew friends

The Frame Narrator

Also known as the narrator, the transcriber

The unnamed first-person narrator of the framing story, one of the fireside company who later makes the exact transcript of Douglas's manuscript from which the tale is given.

As drawn: A genteel Victorian guest among the fireside company at an old country house on Christmas eve, listening by the hearth in the great brown hall.

Mrs. Griffin

Also known as one of the ladies

A lady of the Christmas-eve fireside party who presses Douglas with questions about the governess's story during the prologue of The Turn of the Screw.

As drawn: A genteel Victorian lady of the fireside company, in evening dress, seated in the great brown hall by the fire.