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Foreshadowing
Frame Story
Explanation and Analysis—By the Fire:
The Turn of the Screw uses a frame narrative to build anticipation and suspense at the very outset of the novella. The book initially opens with a group of friends sitting around a fire on Christmas Eve and swapping ghost stories. After a particularly chilling story about a ghost visiting a child, the narrator watches as Douglas prepares to tell his story. However, Douglas doesn't tell his story right away—he builds suspense by insisting that he has to send for the manuscript that he copied from the woman who told it to him originally, meaning that the listeners have to wait two days to hear the story in full. All they know, at first, is that it's a ghost story involving two children.
Related Themes:
