Speaker or Narrator, and Point of View
The speaker is a reimagined version of an unnamed minor character from the New Testament, the wife of the Roman governor Pontius Pilate.
Form and Meter
Free Verse
Metaphors and Similes
This poem uses little figurative language. Most of its figurative language occurs in the first stanza and describes Pilate's hands. The speaker uses a metaphor, calling her husband's hands "a woman's." She then uses a simile to say they are "like shells from Galilee."
Alliteration and Assonance
Alliterative C sounds in "Camp hands that clapped" mimic the sound of clapping. Duffy also uses alliterative, sibilant S sounds in the phrase "sweating, sexual" and alliterative B sounds in the phrase "baying for Barabbas."
Assonant long O sounds in the phrase "Rome, home" create a wailing effect that expresses the speaker's feelings of longing, while assonant I sounds create drama in the phrase "eyes were eyes to die for." Assonant U sounds extend and dramatize the phrase "useless, perfumed."
Irony
While Pilate occupies a position of power partly by virtue of being a man, he ironically has traits associated with femininity—submissiveness, indecisiveness, and vanity.
Genre
Lyric poetry, Persona poetry
Setting
Ancient Jerusalem during the events described in the New Testament
Tone
Longing; Lamenting; Biting
Protagonist and Antagonist
Protagonist: the speaker. Antagonist: Pilate.
Major Conflict
The poem's major conflict concerns the fate of "The Nazarene," or Jesus. While the speaker wants him to be pardoned, her husband prioritizes self-preservation, allowing his execution.
Climax
The climax is the moment in which Jesus is "dragged" to the place of his execution.
Foreshadowing
The first stanza, dwelling on Pilate's hands, foreshadows Pilate's own behavior at Jesus's trial, where he washes his hands to absolve himself of guilt.
Understatement
The description of an execution with the phrase "My maid knows all the rest" is understatement, using a muted description rather than delving into the specifics of the dramatic moment.
Allusions
The poem as a whole is an allusion to the Bible, and specifically to the story of Pontius Pilate's wife in the Book of Matthew.
Metonymy and Synecdoche
The phrase "the crowd was baying" uses metonymy to identify a crowd as itself the source of a noise, rather than the members of that crowd.
Personification
N/A
Hyperbole
The phrase "His eyes were eyes to die for" appears hyperbolic, although it can be interpreted as a reference to the Christian tradition of martyrdom.
Onomatopoeia
N/A
