The tone of The Turn of the Screw shifts as the narrative advances. The novella opens with a tone full of intrigue, fascination, and some trepidation, as the unnamed narrator recounts the excitement that he and his friends felt as they prepared to hear the ghost story about the governess while sitting around a fire on Christmas Eve. In keeping with the fact that this group of friends has gathered around the fire specifically to tell scary stories, the language is engrossing and exciting, as the narrator notes that everyone is "held" by the fire "sufficiently breathless"—a phrase that speaks to the fearful excitement at play in this opening scene.
The tone naturally shifts registers when Douglas starts reading the governess's firsthand account of what happened at Bly. This is largely because the governess's tone is more serious and pointedly literary, as she uses formal language to recount her harrowing experience. That said, her tone follows the shape of her narrative: at first, her language sounds hopeful and trusting, since she's excited to take on new work as the governess of two charming children. From there, though, things get worse, and her tone reflects this shift. When she starts seeing the ghosts, her tone becomes somewhat frantic and confused, but it doesn't completely descend into fear; instead, the governess tries to stay grounded by proposing a number of possibilities that might explain the strange appearances she has witnessed. This creates a rather suspenseful tone, since readers know that The Turn of the Screw is a ghost story and thus understand that things will continue to get worse for the governess. Indeed, by the end of the novella, the narrative is flooded with an ominous kind of ambiguity, and the tone becomes disconcertingly open-ended, as readers try to piece together not just what happened, but also why it happened.
