Eilidh and I came across this Funeral Ode when researching the funeral of Old Abe Lincoln. It hits upon our predilection for hands, in this case evil hands, that cause events to happen. The hand, after all, is the cutting edge of the mind (according to Jacob Bronowski).
We realised that the figure or image of ‘the’ hand has frequently appeared in our performance works. Many performers have used an additional hand to activate proceedings that they as individuals might otherwise avoid. I say ‘the’ hand as each has been imbued with either a specific character or a general supernatural quality, the prosthetic appendage becoming the vessel of or channel to the body or world to which it belongs: the hands never belong to this world and are always artefacts, portals or talismans from another.
For example we had a rubber hand in our first show ‘So Long’ where Eilidh wielded the hand of God. In ‘Glee’, Pauline held on to a replica of Prince Albert’s hand as she channelled Queen Victoria. (We discovered that Victoria actually had Albert’s body parts cast to keep her company, hand included). In ‘Hugger-Mugger’ (the basis of Old Abe) Nic wore a skeleton glove which channelled the evil hand of Evil Dead 2.
Evil Hand from Evil Dead 2
In this final case it was Nic’s real hand inside the glove that became possessed and not an inanimate object. This led to a situation where the ‘evil’ occupied a living body part forming a rupture between the cutting edge of the mind and the mind itself: the hand had a mind of its own, possessed as it was by some kind of evil. However because the hand was still attached to the body we arrived at the problematic cohabitation where the mute hand would carry out some naughty act much to the protestation of the speaking head, thus leading to the “It’s not me, it’s Emu!” phenomenon championed by Rod Hull (and Emu of course). No matter how much the head screams “It’s not me it’s the hand!” we cannot help but revel in the fact that it’s always the hand and always the head, the puppet and the puppeteer, dancing together. It’s the joy of imagining that there’s some kind of handy predisposition towards the base pleasures of demonic possession or some possibility of letting the hand wander on it’s own volition and not being responsible for our actions that makes the sight of someone smashing plates over their own head so much fun to watch.
Here’s the classic of Emu vs. Parkinson. He doesn’t say it at the end of this one, but I long for Hull to proclaim: “It’s not me it’s Emu”, it tickles me.
We have been well aware of the hand’s yearning towards exterior guidance for some time as this Funeral Ode from 1865 testifies. Stay posted for more hand wranglings as we continue to explore the meaning of ‘The Evil Hand’.
President Lincoln Lying in State
FUNERAL ODE.
WHEN raging earthquakes bury towns, Or fierce volcanoes lash their manes
Of boundless, fiery ruin round
The groaning hills and shrieking plains, he world may fitting emblems find To speak the horror of its heart,
In cities craped, in banners furled, And all the solemn show of art.
But when a Human Hand is turned Into a ruthless demon-power,
And smites a nation in its Chief,
Even at his triumph’s crowning hour,
What emblems shall Man fitting find, What types sad, grand enough to show
The horror shaking continents,
And their infinity of woe?
Alas! alas ! we wildly feel
There should be still some outward sign, And so we furl the shining flag
And darkly cloud the glowing shrine.
How vain ! At last the Nation lifts
Its naked hands to Heaven, and owns
The impotence of every type
Before the awful Throne of Thrones :
Then silent stands and thinks of him
The swerveless Good, the calmly Great : In wonder would the reason pierce
Of their Beloved’s mystic fate.
Was he too dear an Idol here ?
Too merciful for this dread time? Did Heaven now will a sterner hand, With justice mailed, to guard the clime?
O God of Nations, if we sin
In questioning, forgive, for we
Are by our woe driven on to seek The meaning of Eternity !
Forgive, and bless, and make us feel’ That Thou wilt still love, watch, save all,
Though even the best of rulers die, Though earth should sink and planets fall !
HARPER’S WEEKLY MAY 6, 1865
http://www.sonofthesouth.net/leefoundation/civil-war/1865/April/pacification-south.htm