Amputation and Embodiment in ‘The Maiden Without Hands’: ‘She had wept so long and so much onto the stumps’

This chapter explores themes of amputation and abjection in a series of European folktales often referred to by the title of “The Girl Without Hands.” In a close reading of the Brothers Grimm version of the tale, the chapter argues that the amputation is deeply symbolic in nature. The removal of the girl’s hands—and by extension her ability to act independently in the world—symbolizes the loss of power and agency that is seen to accompany entry into womanhood. Drawing upon theories of feminine abjection coined by Julia Kristeva and developed by Barbara Creed, the chapter argues that the loss of the protagonist’s hands also evokes and serves as a vehicle to negotiate a number of culturally potent anxieties about female identity and agency.