"A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man" of James Joyce: MISCELLANEOUS objective questions Note 2

Ireland from which Stephen wants to escape:The labyrinth of create where Daedalus was confined, the old sow that eats her farrow are the images representing Ireland from which Stephen wants to escape.

Images which pull Stephen toward his vocation as an artist: The hawk like man flying sunward above the sea, the wonder girl standing alone in the midstream are the images which pull Stephen toward his vocation as an artist.

Stephen and Emma: With the beginning of his adolescence Stephen in the evenings would pore over Alexander Dumas’ Novel The Count of Monte Cristo. The story being very interesting to him he would compare himself with Edmond Dantes, the hero of the book and Emma with Marcedes, the heroine.

Catholic philosophers influenced Stephen’s thinking: Saint Thomas Aquinas, Duns Scoties, saint Ignatius of Loyala.

The women in many guises: Joyce has used women in three guises – mother, mistress and temptress. Mrs. Dedalus, Emma and the prostitute respectively are the representatives of the guises. The women in many guises stand as a block in the way of the free growth of Stephen’s vocation.

‘pull out his eyes …….. Apologize’: The source of this religious song is Isaac Watt’s Divine song XXIII.

The epigraph of A portrait of the Artist As A young Man: This Latin epigraph is taken over from Ovid’s Metamorphoses, VIII, 188 means ‘And he applies his mind to obscure arts’.

The epigraph sums up the theme of the novel. The mythic Daedalus escaped himself from the labyrinth of crete forming wax wings. Stephen Dedalus, too, is out to emancipate himself from labyrinth like Ireland with which he is disgusted. Evidently he will escape himself from there not by was wings but by ‘viewless wings’ of imagination. So the aim of the mythic Dadalus and Stephen Dedalus are alike.

The three day retreat held in the Belvedere Chapel: During this three day retreat held in the Belvedere College in honour of St. Francis Xavier Father Arnall gave a series of sermons on hell and allied matters. The effect of these sermons delivered by Father Arnall was very significant and intense. During these days Stephen himself visualized the vision of hell for his past immoral deed; namely his proximity with the prostitute.

The climax of the novel:The novel reaches its climax as appears the wonder girl Stephen’s muse, who reveals to him his vocation as an artist, in the midstream.

The best prose writer and the best poet: According to Stephen the best poet was Byron and the best prose writer was Cardinal Newman.

Stephen criticized Tennyson as being only a rhymester.

Stephen not sent to Clongowes : Stephen’s was not sent to Clongowes because Clongowes was an expensive college and his father was in financial difficulty. Instead he was sent to Belvedere College.

French counter part for God: The French counter part for God is Dieu.

The original version of A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man : Stephen Hero.

Joyce was probably influence to write A Portrait: The works by which Joyce was probably influenced in writing A Portrait are Samuel Butler’s The Way of All Flesh, Augustine’s Confessions, Goethe’s Werther and Welhelm Meister.

Ardhendu De

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