In Turn of the Screw by Henry James, there is a question of whether the ghosts of Peter Quint and Miss Jessel are real. They seem to only appear to the governess and she is the only one who admits to seeing them. F. W. H. Myers recognized apparitions as "a manifestation of persistent personal energy, --or an indication that some kind of force is being exercised after death which is in some way connected …
showed first 75 words of 419 total

showed last 75 words of 419 total
…you want to see, for example, in Something Wicked this Way Comes. Or mirrors could portray a brutal reality like in Fall of the House of Usher. Reflections other than mirrors have the same meaning, for example, seeing yourself in water. In the end, neither the governess nor we the reader are certain that these ghosts are out to get the children. Being the one who sees them, the governess might actually be the victim.