On Death: A Comparison between E. A. Poe’s ‘The Premature Burial’ and Henry James’ The Turn of the Screw

Abstract

This articles studies “The Premature Burial” (1844) by Edgar Allan Poe and The
Turn of the Screw (1898) by Henry James with the intention of illustrating their similar
approaches and representation of the subject of death. In spite of their geographical and
chronological separation, these texts exemplify the obsession over death that saturates the
lives of people with such intensity that they become unable to distinguish between what is
real and what is a fabrication of their mind, a distorted perception of reality that leads them
to make doubtful decisions and, in the case of James’ story, to a tragic denouement. The
relationship between death and illness is also a paramount factor in both cases.