The Abuse of the Hand: A Thematic Motif in Browning's "Fra Lippo Lippi" Author(s): John Ower Source: Victorian Poetry, Vol 14, No (Summer, 1976), pp 135-141 Published by: West Virginia University Press Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/40002381 Accessed: 04-12-2015 01:37 UTC Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at http://www.jstor.org/page/ info/about/policies/terms.jsp JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org West Virginia University Press is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Victorian Poetry http://www.jstor.org This content downloaded from 128.143.23.241 on Fri, 04 Dec 2015 01:37:34 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions Brief Articles and Notes THE ABUSE OF THE HAND: A THEMATICMOTIF IN BROWNING'S "FRA LIPPO LIPPI" John Ower Centralto Browning's"Fra Lippo Lippi"is the painter'sstruggleto maintain his spiritualand artistic integrity in a society dominated by false values.1As Lippi recognizes,the impossibly ascetic ideal of the MedievalChurchleads to moral confusion, hypocrisy and, ironically, a greater license than would otherwise prevail.The tension within Lippi'sculture,reflected in the psychological conflicts that drive him to dissipation,2is renderedsymbolically by Browning through the motif of the abuse of the hand This motif recurs throughoutthe poem, and is skillfullywoven into its thematic texture The misuse of the hand in "Fra Lippo Lippi" derives much of its significancefrom a set of implicit meaningsarisingfrom the web of ideas and images in the poem Man's hand is one of his chief distinctions from the beasts, a noteworthy point in view of Browning'sironic rendition of Lippi's world in terms of animalbehavior.3As a unique sign of humanity, the hand is a vehicle of creativity and civilization,expressingman's spiritualpowers.It is therefore a physical sign that he is made in God's image, a proof of Lippi's belief in "The value and significance of flesh" (1 268).4 The spiritual meaningof the hand is suggestedby the painter'sallusionto the Biblicalstory of the shaping of Eve by God from Adam's rib (11.265-269; Genesis 21-22) The hand of the Divinity, as the instrument of His creativity, has formed that of man, which in turn reflects its Maker'spowers Thus Lippo as a painter uses his hand to glorify God by praisingHis creation It is within 1See W Irvineand ParkHonan, The Book, The Ring, and The Poet (New York, 1974), pp 337-338 2For the tensions in Lippi, see Roma King, The Bow and The Lyre (Univ of Press,1957), p 33 Michigan o For a mention of the animal imageryin "Fra Lippo Lippi," see Park Honan, Browning's Characters(New York, 1969), pp 178-179 and 211; and Ian Jack, Browning'sMajorPoetry (Oxford, 1973), pp 222-223 Jack feels that Lippi's use of animalimageryindicateshis "delightin the naturalworld." All quotations and line referencesin this essay are uniformwith Ian Jack, ed., Browning:Poetical Works1833-1864 (OxfordUniv.Press,1970) 135 This content downloaded from 128.143.23.241 on Fri, 04 Dec 2015 01:37:34 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 136 / VICTORIANPOETRY this religiouscontext that the abuseof the hand by Lippiand others gainsits full ironic and apocalypticsignificance.5 The first explicit referenceto the hand occursin lines 12-14: Aha,you know your betters?Then,you'll take Yourhandaway that'sfiddlingon my throat, And pleaseto know me likewise Lippo has been apprehendedby the watch under suspiciouscircumstances Whetherangeredby the Monk'stone of indignantsarcasm,or whetherin the course of a perfectly routine "police brutality,"6 one of the officers has graspedhim by the throat Lippi, wise in the ways of the streets from the bitter experiences of his childhood, is quick to give substanceto his bluster by droppingthe name of his patron.Althoughthis tactic achievesthe desired result, Lippo buys some extra insuranceby slippinga bribe to a watchman(11 27-31) Together, the first two allusions to the abuse of tr/e hand in "Fra Lippo Lippi" suggest the corruptionof Florence by characterizingits forces of law and order as little better than the thieves and murderersthey are intended to suppress Despite its pious pretensions, Florentine society is pervadedby violence and brute materialism.As a man, if not as an artist, Lippiis deeply implicatedin its moralsqualor Browning'sintimations of the corruptionof Lippi'sworld, of its betrayal of its own professedideals, are crystallizedin the poet's second majorreference to the hand With his painter's eye, which can read the spiritual character written in a face, the Monk sees in a particularly ill-favored guardsmana perfect model for the "slave"who executed John the Baptist: I'd like his faceHis,elbowingon his comradein the door Withthe pike and lanterns,-for the slavethat holds John Baptist'shead a-dangleby the hair Withone hand('Look you, now,' as who shouldsay) And his weaponin the other, yet unwiped (11.31-36) Through this imaginary painting, in which the abuse of the hand figures centrallyin the moral symbolism, Lippi'ssociety is associatedby implication with the vicious and decadent rulers to whom John the Baptist fell victim (Matthew 14 3-12) In their unfortunate proclivity to lust and violence, Lippo's contemporariesresemble all too closely Herod and his circle More subtly, just as John the prophet of the Messiahwas murdered to satisfy Herodias' thirst for vengeance, and just as the slave proudly displays his handiworkin the expectation of a reward, so the Florentinesare ready to For the mixtureof ironic realismand religiousrevelationin "Fra Lippo Lippi," see Donald S Hair,Browning'sExperimentswith Genre(Univ.of TorontoPress,1972), pp 108-110 For a good account of the dramaticsetting of the openinglines of "Fra Lippo Lippi,"see N B Crowell,A Reader'sGuideto RobertBrowning(Univ.of New Mexico Press,1972), p 109 This content downloaded from 128.143.23.241 on Fri, 04 Dec 2015 01:37:34 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions JOHNOWER/137 sacrificetheir Christianprofessionsto their lower appetites and to their selfinterest This betrayal of spiritual principles is highlighted by Lippi's characterizationof a second guardsmanas Judas (1 25) The association reflects ironically upon the morals of both Lippi and his tormentors by connecting the bribe which has just changedhandswith the "thirty pieces of silver" (Matthew 26 15) The allusion is particularlyappropriateto the painterwho, in order to benefit from the protection and munificenceof the Medici, has compromised his artistic principles by painting "saints and saints/ And saints again"(11.48-49) However,Lippi's dereliction represents only part of a complex and ambiguousmoral situation Although he has become a kind of Judas by prostitutinghis art to the religioushypocrisy of the "servantsof Mammon"(Matthew 24),7 his partial sellout is also a necessaryself-protectionif he is to surviveand carry on his work Both as a "voice crying in the wilderness"(Matthew 3), and as a harbingerof the Renaissance,Lippi is himself a sort of John the Baptist, in imminentdanger of an untimely and fruitless martyrdomunless he sheltershimself as best he may The next pair of referencesto the hand providea diagnosisof the moral disease afflicting Lippi and his society by indicating that not only its hypocrisy, but also much of its excessive carnality, can be traced to the imposition of an unduly ascetic religiousideal, which breeds rebellionin the flesh For three weeks before his escapade, Lippo has been cooped up in his "mew," "A-paintingfor the great man, saints and saints" (11.48-49) Just as his subject matter reflects the officially accepted "otherworldly"conception of art, his cloisteringrepresentsan ironic extension of his imprisonmentby monastic asceticism Lippi's aestheticand sexual frustrationsare broughtto a head by the beginningof Carnival,and the hands which were busy painting saints are now used to tear up curtainsand bed-clothesfor an escape ladder: Into shredsit went, Curtainand counterpaneand coverlet, All the bed-furniture -a dozen knots, Therewas a ladder! Down I let myself, Handsand feet, scramblingsomehow,and so dropped (11.61-65) The degradationof the flesh to which its complete denial inevitably leads is pinpointed by the imageof Lippiscrambling"Handsand feet" like a monkey down his make-shiftladder The note of selbstironiein his descriptionof his escape indicates that the painter is well awareof the paradoxicalrelationship between puritanismand immorality.Nevertheless,he is unable to break the hold of the medievalideal on his mind Even as he returnsfrom his spreehe For the religioushypocrisyof the Medici,see WilliamIrvine,"FourMonologues in Browning'sAfewand Women,"VP, (1964), 157 This content downloaded from 128.143.23.241 on Fri, 04 Dec 2015 01:37:34 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 138 / VICTORIANPOETRY thinks, in a mood which appearsto be compounded of penitential guilt and post coitus tristum,of his unfinishedpaintingof the arch-asceticSt Jerome:8 And so as I was stealingbackagain To get to bed andhavea bit of sleep EreI riseup to-morrowand go work OnJeromeknockingat his poor old breast Withhis greatroundstone to subduethe flesh (11.70-74) Lippi's perversionof his creative powers to appease his sense of guilt is strikingly rendered by the "chinese-box" conception of his misuse of his painter'shand to depict its still more flagrantmisemployment.The imageof St Jeromebruisinghis breastwith a stone, with its possiblegrotesqueplay on the notion of "self-abuse,"9indicates the destructivemisdirectionof sexual energieswhich Freudattributesto the moralisticand punitivesuperego Two minor but pointed indications of the failure of the Florentinesto practise what they preach are contained in the hand-imageryin Lippo's account of his receptioninto the monastery: Old Aunt Lapacciatrussedme with one hand, (Its fellow was a stingeras I knew) And so alongthe wall, over the bridge, By the straightcut to the convent.Six wordsthere, WhileI stood munchingmy first breadthat month: 'So, boy, you'reminded,'quoth the good fat father Wipinghis own mouth, 'twasrefection-time,'To quit this very miserableworld?' (11.88-95) The old woman who can use her hands to beat or to dispose of a starving child, but not to feed him, suggeststhe lack of Christiancharity in Lippi's society This hardnessis contrasted,in the picture of the Priorcomplacently wiping the crumbs from his mouth, with a religious hypocrisy which is better-temperedbecauseit is fully fed These two passing references through the hand-image to the moral shortcomingsof Lippi's Florence serve to introduce a third in which, once again, the Monk'sinsights are summed up in a painting Lippo is recounting how he graduated from a more or less idle doodling in his books to the production of his first real picture (11.127-165) Browningmay be ironically suggestingthat the illuminationof medievalmanuscriptswas the outcome of monastic indolence If so, Lippiis not simply growingfrom a childishplay to a matureseriousnessin the use of his handsto expresshis spiritualand artistic gifts He is also risingabove a frivolousdissipationof his talents by employing For the portraitof St Jeromeas epitomizingthe asceticideal,particularlyin the denialof art and of sexualappetite,see MargaretW.Pepperdine,"Browning'sTra Lippo Lippi,' 70-75," Expl, 15 (1957), Item 34; and MarkW Siegchrist,"The PuritanSt Jeromein Browning's'Fra Lippo Lippi',"Studies in BrowningandHis Circle,I (1973), 26-27 For the currency of this term in Browning'sday, see The Oxford English Dictionary(Oxford,1961), I, 45 This content downloaded from 128.143.23.241 on Fri, 04 Dec 2015 01:37:34 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions JOHNOWERI 139 them to glorify God through His works This positive use of the hand is ironicallycounterpoisedwith the centerpieceof Lippi'spainting: the breathlessfellow at the altar-foot, Freshfrom his murder,safe and sittingthere Withthe little childrenroundhim in a row Of admiration,half for his beardand half For that white angerof his victim'sson Shakinga fist at him with one fiercearm, Signinghimselfwith the otherbecauseof Christ (Whosesad face on the crosssees only this Afterthe passionof a thousandyears) (11.149-157) Not only has the murderermisusedhis handsin repeatingthe sin of Cain,but his victim's son is about to compound the crime with his own homicidal revenge The son's utter forgetfulness of the Christianprinciples which he professes is once again suggested by his use of his hands, which implies a superficial, mechanistic observance with no relationship whatever to his feelings or to his actions (Irvine and Honan, pp 337-338) His unconscious hypocrisy is summed up in his disregardof Christ'sinjunctions to forgive one's enemies, and to settle one's disputes before going to the Temple (Matthew 23-24, 44) His transgressionof these commandmentsis underlined by his parody of a third: that when givingalms one should not let one's left hand know what his rightis doing (Matthew6 3) The next referenceto the abuse of the hand is also to a painting Lippi angrily describes the crass misuse of his fresco of the martyrdom of St Lawrence: I painteda SaintLawrencesix monthssince At Prato,splashedthe frescoin fine style: wHowlooks my painting,now the scaffold'sdown?' I ask a brother:'Hugely,'he returns'Alreadynot one phiz of your three slaves Who turn the Deaconoff his toastedside, 'But'sscratchedand proddedto our heart'scontent, The pious people haveso easedtheirown *Withcomingto say prayerstherein a rage: *Weget on fast to see the bricksbeneath 'Expectanotherjob this time next year, Tor pity and religiongrowi' the crowd'Yourpaintingservesits purpose!'Hangthe fools! (11.323-335) Once again, Browningskillfully exploits the implicit ironic contrastbetween Lippi's creative use of the hand in painting, and its profanationin various moral and spiritualperversions.Like the slave who holds John the Baptist's head, the minions "Who turn the Deacon off his toasted side" misuse their hands to perpetratea revoltingatrocity The ironic relevanceof their ferocity to Lippi'sown age is impliedby the grotesqueimageof the angrychurchgoers clawingin rageat his painting.Althoughmaskingas righteousindignation,the anger of the "worshippers"has the same animal origins as the brutality of Lawrence's tormentors This is cynically recognized by the brother who speaks to Lippi about the "restoration"of the fresco, and who regardsthe This content downloaded from 128.143.23.241 on Fri, 04 Dec 2015 01:37:34 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 140 / VICTORIANPOETRY fresco as a safety-valvefor the base and violent passions of his congregation That such a crass attitude representsthe desecrationof a sacredgift is underlined by the parishioners'use of their hands to perpetrate,at least technically, an act of sacrilege Their relationshipto Christianideals is precisely that of the slavesin the painting Lippi's indignation at the treatment of his St Lawrence leads him perilouslyclose to an outrightrejectionof the Church'sauthority.Awarethat his hasty "Hangthe fools!" has shocked the guardsmen,Lippo takes evasive action To make perfectly sure that his words will not be repeated to the authorities, he passes a second bribe to the officers (1 345) Once again, Browningis implying that fear and self-interestmake Lippo play Judasto his own artisticideals The tensions and confusions implicit in Lippi's difficult position are epitomized in the painter's use of the hand-imagein his descriptionof his proposed "Coronationof the Virgin." Lippo imagineshimself in his picture uncomfortably out of place in the "pure company" (1 368) of Heaven However, in a symbolic gesture of atonement and forgiveness,he is led into the celestial presenceby the "soft palm" of a "sweet angelicslip of a thing" (11.370-371) Their handhold suggestsLippi's communion with divine truth through his perception of "The value and significanceof flesh." However,his sensual appreciationof the "soft palm," like his associationof the "angelic slip" with the Prior's mistress (1 387),10 indicates that his sacramentalism too often breaks down into self-contradiction.Like his hypocritical society, he wishes to eat his cake in both this world and the next Lippi's double standard,particularlybecause of the stronghold of the ascetic ideal upon his mind, breeds in him a childish and neurotic fear of punishment.His pathetic need for moral security is indicated by his special care not to lose his grip upon his angelicprotector'shand (11.384-385) In "Fra Lippo Lippi," the motif of the abuse of the hand is thus complexly related to Browning'sironic treatment of the partialinvolvement of the painter in the social and spiritualcorruptionof his milieu The Monk's final handshakewith the guard(1 390) may suggestan attempt on his part to transcendthe shortcomingsof his society by establishinga new communion arisingfrom his aesthetic ideals But it is equally probablethat he is simply passinganother bribe Lippi'sgestureof apparentfriendshipthereforeimplies not only the possibility of a new spiritual brotherhood based upon his principles,but also the destructionof the human community by a pervasive immorality The Monk's refusal of the Guard'soffer of torches to light his For Browning'suse of the Prior's"niece"to crystallizethe hypocrisyimposedby the ascetic ideal, see Boyd Litzinger,"Incidentas Microcosm:The Prior'sNiece in 'Fra LippoLippi',"CE, 22 (1961), 409-410 This content downloaded from 128.143.23.241 on Fri, 04 Dec 2015 01:37:34 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions JOHNOWERI141 way home underlinesthis moral and social breakdownby recallingthat, only a short time before, the flames of the same brandswere being thrust by the watchmen into his face (1 2) The last implicit reference to the abuse of the hand in line 390 of "FraLippo Lippi"is thus subtly linked to one at the very beginningof the poem This content downloaded from 128.143.23.241 on Fri, 04 Dec 2015 01:37:34 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions