“I turned and saw that Flora, whom,
ten minutes before, I had
established in the schoolroom
with a sheet of white paper, a
pencil and a copy of nice “round
O’s,” now presented herself to
view at the open door.”
---Chapter 2, The Turn of the
Screw



The circle is a universal symbol with extensive meaning. It
represents the notions of totality, wholeness, original
perfection, the Self, the infinite, eternity, timelessness, all
cyclic movement, God ('God is a circle whose centre is
everywhere and whose circumference is nowhere' (Hermes
Trismegistus)).
As the sun, it is masculine power; as the soul and as
encircling waters, it is the feminine maternal principle. "It
implies an idea of movement, and symbolizes the cycle of
time, the perpetual motion of everything that moves, the
planets' journey around the sun (the circle of the zodiac),
the great rhythm of the universe.
The circle is also zero in our system of numbering, and
symbolizes potential, or the embryo. It has a magical value
as a protective agent, ... and indicates the end of the
process of individuation, of striving towards a psychic
wholeness and self-realization" (Julien, 71).
 With
the number ten, symbolizes
heaven and perfection as well as
eternity.
 In Jung, the antithesis of the square
(lowest state of man who has not
achieved inner perfection), standing
for the ultimate state of Oneness,
with octagon in between.
 Circle of Necessity: birth, growth,
decline, death. Defense against
chaos, formlessness.
 an
ancient
symbol depicting
a serpent or
dragon
swallowing its
own tail and
forming a circle.
 The
Ouroboros often represents selfreflexivity or cyclicality, especially in
the sense of something constantly recreating itself, the eternal return, and
other things perceived as cycles that
begin anew as soon as they end.
 It can also represent the idea of
primordial unity related to something
existing in or persisting from the
beginning with such force or qualities
it cannot be extinguished.


The ouroboros has been important in
religious and mythological symbolism, but
has also been frequently used in alchemical
illustrations, where it symbolizes the circular
nature of the alchemist's opus. It is also
often associated with Gnosticism, and
Hermeticism.
Carl Jung interpreted the Ouroboros as
having an archetypal significance to the
human psyche. The Jungian psychologist
Erich Neumann writes of it as a
representation of the pre-ego "dawn state",
depicting the undifferentiated infancy
experience of both mankind and the
individual child.
Discuss how the
circle functions as a
symbol in chapter 2
of The Turn of the
Screw by Henry
James.