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A Drama of Gestural Communication:Henry James's The Golden BowlKyung-ah KimIt can be said that the work of Henry James deals with characters who have varying points of view and forms of life and are unable to understand each other. Maggie and Amerigo of The Golden Bowl feel strongly the otherness which results from the difference between the American and the European point of view. That is, the two centers of consciousness of Maggie and Amerigo tend to be always in conflict with each other. Here, James's intention is to describe and dramatize the way this conflict is developed and finalized. Accordingly, one of the keys for understanding this novel would be that we could see what way of communication is executed between the characters who want to relieve their suffering conflict. They communicate with each other by seeing and showing the gestural meaning on their faces and bodies. This way of interaction enables them to communicate and appreciate each other without a word and thus, form a new mutual relationship. In short, when Maggie faces Amerigo and Charlotte, she shows them she has an idea by the facial expression and utilizes this as a method of dialogue. Here, the cracked golden bowl can be the visual medium of showing that her conjugal life with Amerigo has a defect. That is, the medium of communication that they exchange through showing and seeing is the very cracked golden bowl. Through this special non-verbal dialogue, Maggie can remove and modify the evils in the defective relationship among the others and form the right relational structure. This represents the aspect of the novel as the drama of consciousness that repeatedly shows and sees without external turbulences.