On its face, Henry James’s novella “The Turn of the Screw” presents an eerie ghost story that has attracted much philosophical, ethical and literal debate since it was first published in the 19 th century (Kimbrough 12). The story revolves around the experiences of an unnamed young governess. She is taking care of two children on behalf of an unnamed young man. The children are the young man’s niece and nephew. The young man is unconcerned, leaving the young governess as the sole observer of the two children, who are apparently haunted by some spirits or ghosts in their large house of Bly. Since James published the novella, it has become a topic argument as to whether it is a simple tale of supernatural impact on human beings or psychological disintegration. Although James has stated that he wanted to write a “purely” ghost story, evidence of psychological disintegration is presented by the author’s use of ambiguity. Therefore, the purpose of this discussion is to determine how Henry James uses ambiguity and what ambiguity suggests in the novella. By definition, ambiguity is the art of expressing more than one meaning or interpretation using words, pictures, objects or other aspects of media. It permits specific and distinct interpretations of the subject and object (Allen 58). Thus, it is in contrast with the use of vagueness in literature and arts. In this context, James’s story clearly indicates an organized way of presenting more than one meaning using his ghost story. In his interpretation of James’s novella, Edmund Wilson wrote an essay “The Ambiguity of Henry James” in which he presented a psychological view of the story. According to his interpretation, James was aware that people are inclined to believe in spirituality and other supernatural concepts that are purely in disagreement with rationality (Wilson 71). The substance of ghosts in the novella was a result of James’s careful use of the people’s resistance to rational reduction, and thus be sympathetic with the issue of ghosts and haunting. First, it is necessary to interpreted the story from a psychological perspective, which reveals the actual issues affecting James, his family and the society at the time. The story presents a number of images, characters and narrative processes. These materials, from a psychological perspective, present literal symbols the author uses to represent actual events, characters or their effects. For instance, Henry James had a brother named William James, a pioneering psychologist. According to Allen (62), Henry James was using psychological symbolism with “ghosts” as a resemblance of his brother’s attitudes towards psychology. Secondly, according to Oliver Cargill (56) James’s use of ghosts was a disguised reflection to his sister Alice’s sickness. Possibly, James believes that Alice’s illness was not only natural, but also a matter of spiritual haunting. Moreover, James’ previous works, including short stories and novels, were not well received in both Britain and the US. In fact, he was labouring to meet the demand of accredited literal works. It has been argued that James was probably using ghosts as a way of attracting attention of the audience. Ho