Religion In Joyce's work there are large amount of metaphors and symbols referred to Christianity and Greek mythology, especially in A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man and Ulysses. In these two novels we find a large number of references to biblical and mythological characters.
In "Cliff's Notes on Joyce's Portrait ..." Valerie Pursels mentions the great significance of the main character's name. His surname, Dedalus, refers to Daedalus and Icarus as they relate to Stephen's experience of leaving adolescence behind and entering the adult word. With regard to the first name of this character, he has the same name as the first Christian martyr, Stephen, who is related to the protagonist in the sense that because of his rare name, Stephen Dedalus suffers ridicule. Furthermore, the reference to Icarus determines the bird imagery which also appears in the novel, in which the flight of a "heavy bird" symbolises Stephen's exile from Ireland.
On the other hand, in Wales' book The Language of James Joyce is mentioned the symbolic meaning of Stephen in Ulysses, where he is related to a different mythological character in the different episodes. For instance, in the opening episode Stephen is related to Telemachus, in the next, to Nestor and in the third one there is a connection between Stephen and Proteus.
Pursel alludes to Stephen's very religious mother in the book I have already mentioned. She stresses the fact that she is called Mary, the same as the Blessed Virgin.
As well as the symbolic meaning of the characters, in Joyce's novels we find many passages which represent epiphanies. The same Stephen explains his theory about the epiphanies in Stephen Hero in a fragment quoted by Arnold Kettle in the seventh volume from The New Pelican Guide to English Literature which says the following:
"By an epiphany he meant a sudden spiritual manifestation, whether in the vulgarity of speech, or of gesture or in a memorable phase of the mind itself. He believed that it was for the man of letters to record these epiphanies with extreme care, seeing that they themselves are the most delicate and evanescent of moments. He told Cranly that the clock of the Ballast Office was capable of an epiphany."
As it can be observed in this explanation , Stephen does not conceive the idea of epiphany as something belonging to Christianity, but as a mystical moment caused by everyday events and objects. This disconnection in Stephen's epiphanies with Christianity is seen in an example from A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man quoted by Valerie Pursel, in which Stephens renunciation to the possibility of a religious vocation and his decision to participate in life's pleasure is described as an epiphany.
(Section 3 in "Joyce's Use of Imagery in Different Topics" )
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Creada: 22/02/2000 Última Actualización: 07/03/2000