66 pages • 2 hours read
Anne RiceThe Witching Hour
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1990A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Summary
Background
Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Character Analysis
Themes
Symbols & Motifs
Important Quotes
Essay Topics
Tools
BetaSymbols & Motifs
Emerald
The Mayfair emerald necklace symbolizes the family legacy and Lasher’s pact with the witches. Lasher obtains wealth for, and has sexual relations with, the Mayfair women who wear the emerald—including Deirdre. The pact also means producing witches of increasing power over the generations through incest, until the 13th can make Lasher incarnate. Lasher originally procured the emerald for Deborah, the second generation of Mayfairs, and it was passed down all the way to Rowan, the 13th witch. However, Rowan dislikes the emerald: “the jewel had reminded her, strangely, of the Catholic statues of Jesus and Mary with their exposed hearts, like the one she’d smashed so angrily in her mother’s bedroom” (900). She associates it with religion, which she—as a neurosurgeon—rejects. Rowan only wears the emerald when she marries Michael. After Lasher puts it on her while she is sleeping, Rowan has the law firm Mayfair and Mayfair keep It.
Storms
Suzanne names Lasher for the lashing wind he creates. He not only causes storms at the request of the witches, but also creates them when a male or female witch dies. An example of this includes the “storm” (450) Lasher creates for natural deaths such as when Julien and Mary Beth die, as well as the ones he creates for unnatural deaths when Lionel shoots Stella and when Carlotta kills Antha. These storms represent the witches leaving the earth and, in turn, leaving Lasher. There is also a storm during Rowan and Michael’s wedding reception. Their guests head inside the First Street house at the “first gust of rain” (904). Traditionally, storms represent ideas with negative connotations, such as fear, chaos, and power; however, this storm symbolizes change, specifically a new phase in Lasher’s existence. After Michael impregnates Rowan, Lasher focuses on pleasing Rowan until he can possess the baby.
Hands
Both Michael’s and Rowan’s hands have symbolic meaning. Michael’s hands are how he receives psychic visions; when he touches objects, he sees people who also held those objects, both living and dead. While he believes the vision he had when he was drowning is important, he “would have loved nothing better than to encase his hands in concrete” (781). He hates his new psychic power and becomes a recluse as a result. During a second drowning, Michael loses his psychic powers: “after the accident in the pool, my hands went back to normal” (1027). This occurs when Rowan leaves Michael for Lasher. Michael loses his wife along with the psychic power in his hands, emphasizing his lack of control in both situations.
Similar to Michael’s, Rowan’s hands are also connected to her occult powers. She has a diagnostic sense that allows her to see if someone can be healed when she touches them and can use the psychic power to heal people. When Rowan performs surgery, she uses her hands to save lives by combining her physical and mental training with witchcraft. The Talamasca file includes descriptions of her hands as “cool and hot” (653). Hands also take on metaphoric meaning. For instance, Aaron says that the “entire battle is now in Rowan’s hands” (983), which suggests that hands are a metaphor for responsibility as well as a representation of power.
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By Anne Rice
