The Haunting Of Bly Manor: 9 Henry James Stories That Inspired The Series

2. The Beast In The Jungle

The Beast in the Jungle follows the story of John Marcher, a man who is paralysed by the notion that he will experience some catastrophic event, lying in wait for him like a "beast in the jungle." His old friend Mary decides to spend her days with John as she is curious about what fate has in store for him. As the best years of John's life pass him by, he realises that his great misfortune was becoming so crippled by fear that he couldn't seem to enjoy himself. He even ignored the love of a good woman due to his preposterous sense of foreboding.

In the final episode of Bly Manor, Viola, the Lady of the Lake, drags Dani by the throat towards the lake, but she is intercepted by Flora. As Viola's sole purpose is to look for her daughter, she begins to take Flora instead, but Dani invites Viola's ghost to inhabit her body, which releases all the previously trapped souls that died in the house at the hands of Viola or otherwise.

After this, Dani and Jamie move to America to start a life together and make the most of the years Dani has left, as she is overwhelmed by the knowledge that the Lady of the Lake will consume her entirely. Dani's character also ends up with one blue eye and one brown, as Viola shares her body.

Just like John in The Beast of the Jungle, Dani eventually struggles to live her life because she's paralysed by fear. Although Jamie tries her best to help, Dani's days are interrupted by visions of Viola's faceless appearance in reflections of water. After nearly choking Jamie one night, Dani realises it's time for her to go and she follows the call of the Lady of the Lake to Bly Manor and drowns herself, taking Viola's place.

It's unclear if this was intended as a metaphor for mental illness, but it can certainly be read as one. Dani has experienced more than one tragedy in her life and it's understandable that the trauma Bly Manor caused runs deep and feels inescapable to her, much like John's anxiety felt to him in the original short story. The ending reveals that Jamie, Flora, Miles, Owen and Henry all escape the terrors of Bly, and fortunately Flora and Miles do not recall the sinister events at all.