Hands (Symbol)
Hands are the most prominent symbol in this poem, used to illustrate and contrast the personalities, positions, and lives of the characters of Pilate and Jesus. The poem's very first lines describe Pilate's hands as soft, fragile, and uncertain in their movements. The speaker is disgusted by them, with this disgust serving as a shorthand for the general distaste she feels toward Pilate. Meanwhile, Pilate's hands are used in luxurious settings, such as clapping to call for food, because he occupies a non-demanding and luxurious position. Later, he will take care to keep his hands literally and figuratively clean, dodging guilt for allowing Jesus's execution. In contrast, Jesus's hands are rough from physical work. They are then further damaged by the violence of crucifixion. The injustice of Pilate's comfortable life beside Jesus's painful death manifests in the juxtaposition of their hands.
Crowds (Motif)
The speaker encounters two crowds. First is the crowd that witnesses Jesus's entrance into Jerusalem, followed by the crowd that watches his trial and execution. In the world of this poem, crowds are volatile—full of power yet unpredictable and often bloodthirsty. The first of the two crowds causes the speaker to trip. This is a minor incident, but it hints very subtly at the possible danger and menace of the crowd. Later, this danger and menace come to the surface, as a crowd almost arbitrarily metes out first mercy and then bloodshed, choosing to spare Barabbas but kill Jesus. This is a poem about the ills of social norms and power structures, and the mob's exertion of power demonstrates and makes manifests the dangers posed by the speaker's society generally.
