Camp hands that clapped for grapes.
Their pale, mothy touch made me flinch.
Pilate's hands are an essential symbol in this poem, standing in for his weakness in every arena. Here, Duffy suggests two different aspects of his flawed character through the symbolism of hands, using sound devices to make her point more vividly. In the first line of this quotation, Duffy describes the way he exercises his power to demand grapes, presumably from servants or other people over whom he can exercise control. Here, clipped one-syllables words using harsh C, P, and G sounds emphasize his entitlement and impatience while also mimicking the sound of his claps. In the following line, however, the speaker is instead focused on his feebleness and lack of vigor. Here, Duffy instead opts for softer L, F, and Th sounds, evoking the noncommital touch that so disgusts the speaker.
He looked at me. I mean he looked at me. My God.
This line uses deeply colloquial language in subtle ways, revealing a great deal about the speaker in just a few words. In order to describe the intensity of Jesus's stare, the speaker merely repeats what she has already said—an unremarkable description of a physical action. However, the italicization of the word "me" indicates that the speaker feels truly seen and understood. The contrast between the first repetition of "he looked at me" and the second, italicized repetition reflects the contrast between the speaker's everyday life and her jarring experience in this scene. While she is frequently looked at as a victim of objectification or surveillance, she now experiences being looked at as an object of curiosity and respect. Meanwhile, the closing words "My God" call the reader's attention to Jesus's own status, within Christianity, as the son of God. Here, the speaker appears to use these words in an idiomatic, exclamatory sense. However, they suggest that the qualities that impress her about Jesus are the same ones that have earned him a religious following.
Was he God? Of course not. Pilate believed he was.
These closing lines articulate the dynamic between the poem's three main characters—the speaker, her husband, and Jesus—in a concise, cutting way. The speaker has a no-nonsense, clear-eyed vision of Jesus. She does not believe that he is God, and feels all the more sympathetic toward him and drawn to him because of their shared humanity. Both the speaker and the man being crucified as she watches are powerless, making them anything but godlike. Pilate, however, is easily frightened and impressed, which means that he follows the will of the mob around him rather than exercising courage. His belief that Jesus is God comes not out of humility or appreciation, but out of a tendency to believe others have power over him, even when he holds their fate in his hands.
