Joyce 135-194 (10.18.2005)

I think one of the most defining parts of this reading is Stephen’s shift in his quest for self. When Stephen encounters his classmates taunting “ ‘Stephanos Deadlos! Bous Stephanoumenos! Bous Stephaneforos!”, he experiences a changing attitude for “their banter”: “now it flattered his mild proud sovereignty” (168). Stephen is experiencing a change in the name he identifies with as he recognizes the “prophecy” that his name sets forth for him, “a prophecy of the end he had been born to serve and had been following through the mists of childhood and boyhood” (169). His namesake, Daedalus, built wings to escape prison, mirroring Stephen’s desire to escape misery and poverty. As Stephen begins to identify with Daedalus, his identification shifts away from the Virgin Mary. While the Virgin previously offered a sense of explanation and hope for Stephen, he can now only turn “his eyes coldly for an instant towards the faded blue shrine of the Blessed Virgin”, reflecting his fading relation and increasing disorientation with the religious figure and his need for a new source of motivation (162). The inspiration now comes from Daedalus, “a symbol of the artist forging anew in his workshop out, of the sluggish matter of the earth a new soaring impalpable imperishable being” (160). Similar to Stephen’s earlier recognition of the life that a play posses, Stephen now realizes that an individual can create art to rise above the world, to fly and to create something more than just art, to create an “impalpable imperishable being”, a definition of self similar to the soul (169). This new inspiration drawn from the pagan character symbolizes Stephen’s shift in identification from his first name, the name of the first Christian martyr, to his pagan surname. Will this identification prevail as other figures come into Stephen’s life? Throughout the novel, we have recognized that Stephen is a dramatic character through his theatrical and intense reflections on religious life. Is this shift away from secular beauty permanent or just another phase of the dramatic character?

This shift reflects Stephen’s move away from the church, away from the Blessed Virgin, and toward more worldly figures which is also seen in Stephen’s views of women. The Virgin is no longer the woman Stephen worships. At the beach, Stephen encounters a beautiful girl who seems like heaven, like “one whom magic had changed into the likeness of a strange and beautiful seabird” (171). Stephen’s definition of beauty is shifting from an emphasis on religion to an emphasis on the world.

While I’m unsure if the shift is permanent, I think it’s very important nonetheless. This shift in inspiration and motivation is important to Stephen’s character development and in the theme of the life of art that has been previously developed in the novel.