Portrait Of An Artist

Portrait Of An Artist – The Role Of Women In Stephen Dedalus’ Creative Process Essay, Research Paper

James Joyce’s A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man presents an account of the formative years of aspiring author Stephen Dedalus. The very title of the novel suggests that Joyce’s focus throughout will be those aspects of the young man’s life that are key to his artistic development, and it allows one to consider each event in Stephen’s life — from the opening story of the moocow to his experiences with religion and the university — as a significant contribution to his growth as an artist. Central to the experiences of Stephen’s life are, of course, the people with whom he interacts, and of primary importance among these people are women, who, as his story progresses, prove to be a driving force behind Stephen’s art.

As A Portrait of the Artist progresses, the structure of the relationship between Stephen, women, and art becomes increasingly clear. At one point in the novel, Stephen comes to the conclusion that his art involves “recreat[ing] life out of life” (434) and, at another, that he must “encounter for the millionth time the reality of experience and forge in my soul” (526). He realizes that to fulfill his destiny as an artist, he must embrace life and the experiences of which it consists, for it is from experience that he builds his creations. In light of this revelation, Stephen’s life becomes a process of accumulating experiences, as well as a struggle to break free of those institutions that would prevent him from doing so. For Stephen, inspiration requires experience, and it is through women that Stephen gains the latter and, thus, receives the former.

Stephen’s relationship with the opposite sex begins to develop early in his life. Within the first few pages of the novel lie hints of the different roles women will play in his story. Dante becomes the first to give Stephen some experience of the world outside himself when she teaches him about geographical features in other countries and on the moon. This physical understanding of the exterior world may be the impetus for Stephen’s subsequent construction of a hierarchical list that defines his place within the universe.

Both Dante and Stephen’s own mother associate themselves with punishment when they assert that he “will apologise” or “the eagles will come and pull out his eyes” (246). This incident results in Stephen’s composition of a poem based on “apologise” and “eyes,” one

of his first artistic endeavors. Dante and Mrs. Dedalus, having planted these words in Stephen’s mind, are the first females to inspire him to create.

Young Stephen’s first romantic interest in the opposite sex comes in the form of his playmate, Eileen, whom he plans to marry when they are older. This assertion, although childishly innocent, is nonetheless the first suggestion that sexual and romantic relationships with women will be important to Stephen as he matures. Indeed, the appearance of punishment, romance, and inspiration at such an early point in the novel creates a sense of the interconnected effect they will have on Stephen and his art. The association of women with each of these essential elements establishes yet another link between them, and emphasizes the central role women will play in Stephen’s life.

Throughout his childhood, women continue to contribute to Stephen’s development as an artist, though he seems unaware of their significance. Eileen, for example, indirectly leads Stephen to the conclusion that “by thinking of things you could understand them” (287) when he sees in her hands and hair possible meanings for the terms Tower of Ivory and House of Gold. Stephen also displays his growing knowledge of the differences between men and women when he observes that she has “long thin cool white hands too because she [is] a girl” (286).

This recognition of women as sexual beings manifests itself again when, after reading The Count of Monte Christo, Stephen begins to have sexually-driven fantasies about its female protagonist, Mercedes. Though she exists only in fiction, Mercedes’ role in Stephen’s development and accumulation of experience is no less important. She represents a new step in his relationship with women, in that her physical presence is not required to inspire Stephen’s imagination. Her image alone has a profound effect on him: “as he brooded upon her image, a strange unrest crept into his blood” (311). In this case, Mercedes’ image stirs sexual feelings in Stephen, but eventually the female image comes to have a deeper significance for him, as does the sexual act to which it is tied.

Though his fantasies are rife with sexual content, Stephen finds himself unable to consummate — in even the mildest form — the scenes he imagines. While alone on a tram with a girl his own age, he feels compelled to kiss her, but fails to do so. Angry with himself, he attempts to create with poetry what he was unable to achieve in real life. This time Stephen’s imagination is stirred not by a sexual image, but by a sexual experience, however frustrated it may be. He makes a conscious decision to write about the experience, and “by dint of brooding on the incident” (318) he successfully creates a love

poem.

Even before this incident, Stephen seems to understand that women hold the power to transform him; he prophetically imagines that up