Both The Hand by Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette and The Birthmark by Nathaniel Hawthorne give voice to women who, in one form or another, encounter a hand that they originally admire but which all too soon after marriage becomes rep

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Epitomes of Fantasy in the Bedford

Original symbols of beauty and objects of fantasy morph into disgust inducing forms in the shape of hands. Jumping head first into a loveless marriage with fantasies of everlasting love is the downfall of one marriage while a birthmark which was said to have added to the attraction becomes the decisive key to death in another. Both "The Hand" by Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette and "The Birthmark" by Nathaniel Hawthorne give voice to women who, in one form or another, encounter a hand that they originally admire but which all too soon after marriage becomes repulsive. Hands, marriage and male domination are all key factors within both stories.

The young wife in Colette's story is introduced lying beside her husband, in cozy yet strangely different surroundings than in what she grew up. While he sleeps, she draws in her mind the details that are shaping and outlining their estranged marriage. "Too happy to sleep" (Bedford 259), she thinks to herself giddily. She feels a tremor go through the arm she lies upon and glances at the hand that the arm is attached to. Staring at it, multiple thoughts run through her mind