5) Hawthorne & Poe: Body Symbolism

Body symbolism can be seen in works of both Poe and Hawthorne, but while Poe concentrates on one eye in his stories, Hawthorne makes use of the image of a hand.

The birthmark on Georgiana's cheek in "The Birthmark" is in the form of a hand. It can represent violence on the part of her husband, as it reminds the reader of a slap on the cheek, or it can indicate that she has been "touched" by other men, who liked this mark so much. But the most important is that it represents a person's uniqueness, which Aylmer wanted to suppress. When it is gone from Georgiana's cheek, life flows away from her.

In "Rappaccini's daughter" a poisonous mark of Beatrice's hand is left on the skin of her not-yet-lover after she touches him, trying to stop him from approaching the poisonous flowers. This touch not only indicates the beginning of their relationship and binding Giovanni to her, but is also a means of infecting him to the utmost depths of his soul, so that his nature becomes equally poisonous to her.

The butterfly in "The Artist Of the Beautiful" starts its flight only from a person's hand, and it feels one's personality through the hand too. It sparkles on the hand of a boy, who is not yet spoiled with scepticism, and loses its lustre when the old watchmaker stretches his hand to take it. In this story hands stand not only for the person's character, but also for his destiny, which is noticeable when the author makes comparison between the mighty hands of the blacksmith and the delicate hands of the artist.

In Hawthorne's stories a hand represents life and uniqueness of a person, his character and his destination. Hands are also connected with the soul both as a representation of its disposition and as means of reaching and contaminating it.

Works cited:

1) Mosses from an Old Manse, by Nathaniel Hawthorne

2) Discussions in my and CME de Oliveira's blogs

4) The Anthropology and Social Significance of the Human Hand, by Ethel J. Alpenfels, D.Sc.