Angol szakdolgozatom; Conclusion

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Conclusion
 In my thesis my objective was to observe the development of the protagonist through the novel how he is familiarizing himself with the concept of the ideal beauty, how he finds it in its female reality and how he extends his knowledge of that by identifying it with the Virgin Mary and – based on this – eventually creating an own interpretation of it. I have dealt with the symbolism of the Virgin Mary which too might have brought Stephen closer to his interpretation of the ideal beauty. Although other female characters in the novel also provide Stephen with useful experiences concerning the ideal beauty the main guideline is the Virgin Mary who frequently appears in the novel to help him in staying on the right passage.I hope that I have managed to demonstrate an interesting aspect of the development of the protagonist and that the symbolism of the ideal beauty in the Virgin Mary has made it more comprehensible.                Endnotes 1.

The Name of Mary

 The Hebrew form of her name is miryam denoting in the Old Testament only the sister of Moses. In I Par., iv, 17, the Massoretic text applies the same name to a son of Jalon, but, as the Septuagint version transcribes this name as Maron, we must infer that the orthography of the Hebrew text has been altered by the transcribers. The same version renders miryam by Marian, a form analogous to the Syriac and Aramaic word Maryam. In the New Testament the name of the Virgin Mary is always Mariam, excepting in the Vatican Codex and the Codex Bezae followed by a few critics who read Maria in Luke, ii, 19. Possibly the Evangelists kept the archaic form of the name for the Blessed Virgin, so as to distinguish her from the other women who bore the same name. The Vulgate renders the name by Maria, both in the Old Testament and the New; Josephus (Ant. Jud., II, ix, 4) changes the name to Mariamme. It is antecedently probable that God should have chosen for Mary a name suitable to her high dignity. What has been said about the form of the name Mary shows that for its meaning we must investigate the meaning of the Hebrew form miryam. Bardenhewer has published a most satisfactory monograph on the subject, in which he explains and discusses about seventy different meanings of the name miryam (Der Name Maria. Geschichte der Deutung desselben. Freiburg, 1895); we shall be able to give only an outline of his work. Fr. von Hummelauer (in Exod. et Levit., Paris, 1897, p. 161) mentions the possibility that miryam may be of Egyptian origin. Moses, Aaron, and their sister were born in Egypt; the name Aaron cannot be explained from the Hebrew; the daughter of Pharaoh imposed the name Moses on the child she had saved from the waters of the Nile; hence it is possible that their sister's name Mary was also of Egyptian origin. This seems to become even probable if we consider the fact that the name Mary was not borne by any woman in the Old Testament excepting the sister of Moses. But the question why was not the name Mary more common in the Old Testament, if it was of Hebrew origin, is answered by another question, why was the name Mary chosen by the parents of Our Blessed Lady and by a number of others mentioned in the New Testament, if the word was Egyptian? Though the meaning of Mary as derived from the Egyptian Mery, Meryt (cherished, beloved), is most suitable for an only daughter, such a derivation is only possible, or at best barely probable. Most interpreters derive the name Mary from the Hebrew, considering it either as a compound word or as a simple. Miryam has been regarded as composed as a noun and a pronominal suffix, or of a noun and an adjective, or again of two nouns. Gesenius was the first to consider miryam as a compound of the noun meri and the pronominal suffix am; this word actually occurs in II Esd., ix, 17, meaning "their rebellion". But such an expression is not a suitable name for a young girl. Gesenius himself abandoned this explanation, but it was adopted by some of his followers, e.g. by J. Grimm (Das Leben Jesu; sec. edit., I, 414-431, Regensburg, 1890) and Schanz (Comment. uber d. Ev. d. hl. Matthäus, p. 78, Freiburg, 1879). One of the meanings assigned to the name Mary in Martianay's edition of St. Jerome's works (S. Hier. opp., t. II, Parisiis, 1699, 2°, cols. 109-170, 181-246, 245-270) is pikra thalassa, bitter sea. Owing to the corrupt condition in which St. Jerome found the "Onomastica" of Philo and of Origen, which he in a way re-edited, it is hard to say whether the interpretation "bitter sea" is really due to either of these two authorities; at any rate, it is based on the assumption that the name miryam is composed of the Hebrew words mar (bitter) and yam (sea). Since in Hebrew the adjective follows its substantive, the compound of the two words ought to read yam mar; and even if the inverse order of words be admitted as possible, we have at best maryam, not miryam. Those who consider miryam as a compound word usually explain it as consisting of two nouns: mor and yam (myrrh of the sea); mari (cf. Dan., iv, 16) and yam (mistress of the sea); mar (cf. Is., xl, 15) and yam (drop of the sea). But these and all similar derivations of the name Mary are philologically inadmissible, and of little use to the theologians. This is notably true of the explanation photizousa autous, enlightening them, whether it be based on the identification of miryam with me'iram (part. Hiphil of 'or with pronominal suffix of 3 plur.), or with mar'am (part. Hiphil of ra'ah with pron. suffix of 3 plur.), or again with mar'eya (part. Hiphil of raah with Aramaic fem. termination ya; cf. Knabenbauer, Evang. sec. Matt., pars prior, Parisiis, 1892, p. 43). Here a word has to be added concerning the explanation stella maris, star of the sea. It is more popular than any other interpretation of the name Mary, and is dated back to St. Jerome (De nomin. hebraic., de Exod., de Matth., P.L., XXIII, col, 789, 842). But the great Doctor of the Church knew Hebrew too well to translate the first syllable of the name miryam by star; in Is., xl., 15, he renders the word mar by stilla (drop), not stella (star). A Bamberg manuscript dating from the end of the ninth century reads stilla maris instead of stella maris. Since Varro, Quintillian, and Aulus Gellius testify that the Latin peasantry often substituted an e for an i, reading vea for via, vella for villa, speca for spica, etc., the substitution of maris stella for maris stilla is easily explained. Neither an appeal to the Egyptian Minur-juma (cf. Zeitschr. f. kathol. Theol., IV, 1880, p. 389) nor the suggestion that St. Jerome may have regarded miryam as a contracted form of me'or yam (cf. Schegg, Jacobus der Bruder des Herrn, Munchen, 1882, p. 56 Anm.) will account for his supposed interpretation stella maris (star of the sea) instead of stilla maris (a drop of the sea). It was Hiller (Onomasticum sacrum, Tübingen, 1706, pp. 170, 173, 876) who first gave a philological explanation of miryam as a simple word. The termination am is according to this writer a mere formative affix intensifying or amplifying the meaning of the noun. But practically miryam had been considered as a simple noun long before Hiller. Philo (De somn., II, 20; ed. Mangey, II, 677) is said to have explained the word as meaning elpis (hope), deriving the word either from ra'ah (to see, to expect?) or from morash (hope); but as Philo can hardly have seriously believed in such a hazardous derivation, he probably presented Mary the sister of Moses as a mere symbol of hope without maintaining that her very name meant hope. In Rabbinic literature miryam is explained as meaning merum (bitterness; cf. J. Levy, Neuhebraisches und chaldaisches Wörterbuch uber die Talmudim und Midraschim, Leipzig, 1876-89, s.v. merum); but such a meaning of the word is historically improbable, and the derivation of miryam from marar grammatically inadmissible. Other meanings assigned to miryam viewed as a simple word are: bitter one, great sorrow (from marar or marah; cf. Simonis, Onomasticum Veteris Testamenti, Halae Magdeburgicae, 1741, p. 360; Onom. Novi Test., ibid., 1762, p. 106); rebellion (from meri; cf. Gesenius, Thesaur. philol. critic. ling. hebr. et chald. Beter. Testamenti, edit. altera, Lipsiae, 1835-38, II, p. 819b); healed one (cf. Schäfer, Die Gottesmutter in der hl. Schrift, Münster, 1887, pp. 135-144); fat one, well nourished one (from mara; cf. Schegg, Evangelium nach Matthäus, Bd. I, München, 1856, p. 419; id., Jacobus der Bruder des Herrn, München, 1882, p. 56; Furst, Hebr. und chald. Hanwörterb. über d. alte Test., Leipzig, 1857-1861, s.v. miryam); mistress (from mari; cf. v. Haneberg, Geschichte d. biblisch. Offenbarung, 4th edit., Regensburg, 1876, p. 604); strong one, ruling one (from marah; cf. Bisping, Erklärung d. Evang. nach Matth., Münster, 1867, p. 42); gracious or charming one (from ra'am which word does not have this meaning in the Old Testament; cf. v. Haneberg, 1, c.); myrrh (from mor, though it does not appear how this word can be identified with miryam; cf. Knabenbauer, Evang. sec. Matth., pars prior, Parisiis, 1892, p. 44); exalted one (from rum; cf. Caninius, De locis S. Scripturae hebraicis comment., Antverpiae, 1600, pp. 63-64). In 1906 Zorrell advanced another explanation of the name Mary, based on its derivation from the Egyptian mer or mar, to love, and the Hebrew Divine name Yam or Yahweh (Zeitschrift für katholische Theologie, 1906, pp. 356 sqq.). Thus explained the name denotes "one loving Yahweh" or "one beloved by Yahweh". We have already pointed out the difficulty implied in an Egyptian origin of the name Mary. Probably it is safer to adhere to Bardenhewer's conclusions (l. c., pp. 154 sq.): Mariam and Maria are the later forms of the Hebrew miryam; miryam is not a compound word consisting of two nouns, or a noun and an adjective, or a noun and a pronominal suffix, but it is a simple though derivative noun; the noun is not formed by means of a prefix (m), but by the addition of a suffix (am). Presupposing these principles, the name miryam may be derived either from marah, to be rebellious, or from mara, to be well nourished. Etymology does not decide which of these derivations is to be preferred; but it is hardly probable that the name of a young girl should be connected with the idea of rebellion, while Orientals consider the idea of being well nourished as synonymous with beauty and bodily perfection, so that they would be apt to give their daughters a name derived from mara Mary means therefore The beautiful or The perfect one. From: http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/15464a.htm   2.  

de Sancta Maria [Responsorium]

O clarissima Mater

Angol szakdolgozatom; Conclusion bejegyzés elolvasása

Angol szakdolgozatom; Chapter 3-3

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Explanation of the symbols of the Virgin MaryIf we want to analyze these symbols in greater detail we have to summon the source where these are from. We find these terms in the Litany of the Blessed Virgin Mary (specifically the Loreto version), which was composed in the mid-16th century. St. Peter Canisius popularized the litany in 1558 when he published it to foster devotion to the Blessed Mother in response to the Protestant “Reformers” who had attacked such devotion. The litany represents a compilation of titles praising our Blessed Mother that were used at services at the Shrine of Loreto in Italy from the 13th century.Most of the titles of the Virgin Mary are associated with the prophecies and symbolism of the Old Testament which foresaw the role our Blessed Mother played in the mystery of salvation. Several of these center on her sanctity and maternity. For instance, the Tower of David stood prominently and strongly on the highest summit of the mountains surrounding Jerusalem. Such a tower was part of the defense mechanism of the city. From it, warnings would be given of approaching enemies. Mary is compared to the Tower of David because of her holiness, being recognized as full of grace and having been conceived free of original sin. By her prayers and example, she is part of God’s “defense mechanism” by which the Kingdom of God will stand undefeated and sin will always be conquered.[1] Similarly, Mary is also called the Tower of Ivory and this symbol can be found in several places throughout the novel. Beside the first chapter, the word ivory can be found in five other places.[2] This term is also used in the Song of Songs[3] to describe the beloved bride. (A similar term, Ivory Palace is mentioned in Psalm 45, verse 9, for the same reason.) Both instances foreshadow the nuptial relationship between Christ and his bride, the Church, as conveyed in St. Paul’s Letter to the Ephesians. One might remember, as Vatican II taught, that Mary is “a type of the Church”[4]: She conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit and through her, our Saviour entered into this world. As such, “The Church indeed contemplating [Mary’s] hidden sanctity, imitating her charity and faithfully fulfilling the Father’s will, by receiving the Word of God in faith becomes a mother”[5]The role of mother is particularly clear in the term Ark[6] of the Covenant. We remember from the Old Testament the Ark of the Covenant housed the Ten Commandments, the Law of God. As the Israelites journeyed to the promised land, a cloud, signifying the presence of God, would descend upon or overshadow the tent where the Ark was kept. Jesus came to fulfill the covenant and the law. In the Annunciation story[7], Archangel Gabriel says to Mary, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power of the Most High will overshadow you,”[8] which conveys the same notion. Therefore, Mary “houses” Jesus in the womb; she is the new “Ark.”, and the House of Gold.From this foundation flow the other titles: Jeremiah predicted that the Messiah would be named, “The Lord of our Justice”[9]; Mary is the Mirror of Justice because no one better reflected the love and devotion to our Lord in her life than Mary. Because of her pure love and because she “housed” Jesus, she is called House of Gold. Jesus is the Wisdom of God, “the Word who became flesh and dwelt among us”[10]; therefore, the Virgin Mary, who bore our Lord, is called Seat of Wisdom.For the Catholics, Mary is also a sign of great hope. Vatican II stated, “The Mother of Jesus in the glory which she possesses body and soul in heaven is the image and beginning of the Church as it is to be perfected in the world to come. Likewise, she shines forth on earth, until the day of the Lord shall come, a sign of certain hope and comfort to the Pilgrim People of God”[11]. For this reason, she is called Morning Star[12], because she is a symbol of the victorious Christian who perseveres in faith, and shares in Christ’s messianic authority and victory over the darkness of sin and death. The term is found in the Book of Revelation: “To the one who wins the victory, who keeps to my ways till the end, I will give authority over the nations — the same authority I received from my Father. He shall rule them with the rod of iron and shatter them like crockery; and I will give him the morning star.”[13] Also in Song of Songs we find, “Who is this that comes forth like the dawn, as beautiful as the moon, as resplendent as the sun…”[14]; as the brightness of a light penetrating the early morning darkness, Mary heralds the coming of her Son, who is the light of the world.[15]She too is the Gate of Heaven. Mary is means by which our Lord came down from heaven to free us from sin. At the end of her life, Catholics believe that Mary was assumed body and soul into heaven, a fulfilment of everlasting life and the resurrection of the body promised by Jesus. Therefore, she is the gate through which Jesus entered this world, and gate of fulfilled promise by which we will share everlasting life. Therefore, we look to her as the Star of the Sea.[16] As a star guides the sailor on the stormy sea to safe port, so Mary, through her prayer and examples, guides us along our journey of life, over sometimes turbulent water, to the heavenly port.In all, Mary is the Mystical Rose[17]. The rose is considered the most beautiful flower, the flower of royalty which surpasses all others in fragrance. She has the sweetness of sanctity and the beauty of virtues. In sum, all of these titles remind people of the important role of the Blessed Mother in the Catholic Spirituality, as a model of virtue and sanctity, in her motherhood, and as a sign of the life to come.[18]These symbols are but a small part of a whole list that a symbol encyclopaedia[19] contains about the Virgin Mary. The rest of the symbols, though not included in the novel, also add something to the ideal beauty that is represented by Mary. As mentioned above, these symbols are all elements of the complex concept of beauty but for Stephen it is now perceivable and by the end of the nove he is ready to reflect it through his work of art.[20]Stephen Dedalus’s transformation into a priest of the arts is parallel to the early life of James Joyce. Both struggle to deal with the conflicts of childhood and adolescence to find a balance in which they can happily live. Since A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man is written in third person, yet employs the characteristics of the protagonist, Stephen Dedalus, the use of descriptive language is essential to the reader’s understanding of the novel as a whole. James Joyce excellently uses his talent to successfully communicate Stephen’s feelings so that we, the reader, can understand the development of his attitudes and ideals about feminine beauty.

[1] cf. The Holy Bible, Song Sol, 4:4
[2] 4.530: a broken ivory handle was stuck through the pith of a ravaged turnover.
4.835: sign upon the flesh. Her thighs, fuller and soft-hued as ivory, were bared
5.196: whining on a wall? Yellow ivy; that was all right. Yellow ivory also. And
5.197: what about ivory ivy?
5.199: The word now shone in his brain, clearer and brighter than any ivory sawn All in all the word ivory occurs 10 times.
[3] Song Sol, 7:5
[4] Mary is the type of the Church, her model and mother. Differing from all the other faithful, because of the exceptional gifts she received from the Lord, the Blessed Virgin nonetheless belongs to the Church and is fully entitled to be a member. (from: Lumen gentium, No. 53) 
[5] His Holiness, Pope Paul VI, “Dogmatic Constitution on the Church” Lumen Gentium (promulgated on 21 November 21, 1964) No. 64.
[6] Places of occurrence in the novel:2.525: the glass roof making the theatre seem a festive ark, anchored among the
2.528: the grass plots. A sudden burst of music issued from the ark, the prelude of
2.534: flowing music the ark was journeying, trailing her cables of lanterns in her2.960: emptied out. On the lines which he had fancied the moorings of an ark a few
[7] cf. Joyce, 247.
[8] The Bible, Luke 1:35
[9] ibid. Jer. 23:6
[10] ibid. John 1:14
[11] Lumen Gentium, No. 68.
[12] Places of occurrence in the novel:3.110: morning star, bright and musical, telling of heaven and infusing peace, it3.480: earthly beauty, dangerous to look upon, but like the morning star which. Is3.1237: the morning star which is thy emblem, bright and musical,
[13] The Bible, Rev. 2:26-28
[14] ibid. Song of Sol. 6:10
[15] cf. The Bible, John 1:5-10, 3:19
[16] cf. ’Maris Stella’ (dealt above at p 32 in my thesis)
[17] Places of occurrence in the novel:1.219: could not get out the answer for the sum but it did not matter. White roses
1.220: and red roses: those were beautiful colours to think of. And the cards for
1.222: pink and cream and lavender. Lavender and cream and pink roses were
1.223: beautiful to think of. Perhaps a wild rose might be like those colours and
1.224: he remembered the song about the wild rose blossoms on the little green
1.225: place. But you could not have a green rose. But perhaps somewhere in the      et al.
[18] cf. Joyce, 247.
[19] Hans Biedermann, Szimbólumlexikon, (Budapest: Corvina, 1996) 25.

[20] cf. Joyce, 288.

Angol szakdolgozatom; Chapter 3-3 bejegyzés elolvasása

Angol szakdolgozatom; Chapter 3-2

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The ideal beauty by a philosophical approach Stephen’s first success in identifying a symbol with its deeper meaning might come from his artistic mind that is beginning to take shape from the beginning of the novel. Since it is rather obvious that the narrator tells the story in retrospective quality the instruction to ’think of things in order to understand them’ can also be a subsequent expression of what he feels, though instinctively, not being able to put the explanation into words. The recogniton of how to perceive a thing and consider it in isolation is in the very mind of Stephen all along the novel from the revelation, yet it is not until university that he is able to explain it to himself and accept it consciously without doubts that is not only relying on his feelings. During his university years Stephen studies the theses of Plato, Aristotle, St. Thomas Aquinas and other philosophers whose teachings greatly help him to assign proper definitions to abstract notions such as art and beauty. When having a conversation with Lynch, Stephen gives the definition of art saying: “[Art] is the human disposition of sensible or intelligible matter for an esthetic end.”[1] Here we find a conscious conviction of Stephen that were he to become an artist he should aim at such matter that has enough beauty to dispose. In other words he should pursue the ideal beauty to create the ideal work of art. At the same time he quotes two definitions of beauty from great philosophers.The first is from Plato which says: “Beauty is the splendour of truth.”[2] For Plato beauty is the inseparable companion of truth and perfect goodness. By the beautiful he means anything that, when intellectually perceived, excites by its mere contemplation and causes a feeling of satisfaction and delight for the well-disposed will. Apparently Stephen’s own definition of beauty is not fundamentally based on Plato’s because his reaction to this is: “I don’t think that it has a meaning.”[3] However, he admits that “the first step in the direction of beauty is to understand the frame and scope of the imagination, to comprehend the act itself of esthetic apprehension”[4] which is suggested by Plato and Aristotle.Much more influence is exerted on Stephen by St. Thomas Aquinas whom he cites secondly in connection with beauty “that is beautiful the apprehension of which pleases.”[5] This idea, though not correctly, is quoted by Lynch in Latin.[6] St. Thomas interprets this idea that those things are beautiful of which the mental intuition causes delight. The more comprehensive the mental intuition of the beautiful is, the greater is the spiritual delight produced by it. He adds that things of which one can have no direct intuition are to be judged beautiful if it can be shown that on the supposition of immediate contemplation spiritual satisfaction would naturally arise. From this train of thought St. Thomas deduces that God must be infinitely beautiful.Until this moment Stephen shows little independence in expressing his own ideas in connection with abstract, philosophical questions but his conversation with Lynch does not end with only quoting great philosophers but the narrator provides an opportunity for Stephen to represent his personal philosophical conviction. The qoute from St. Thomas Aquinas goes on with: “Ad pulcritudinem (sic!) tria requiruntur integritas, consonantia, claritas.”[7] According to St. Thomas Aquinas there are three things necessary for beauty: integrity, symmetry, and radiance. We have to consider the performance of our own mind when confronted with any object, hypothetically beautiful. Our mind to apprehend the object divides the entire universe into two parts, the object, and the void which is not the object. To apprehend it, we must lift it away from everything else: and then we perceive it as one integral thing, that is a thing. We recognise its integrity: that is the first quality of beauty. Then we have to analyze the thing. Our mind considers the object in whole and in part, in relation to itself and to other objects, examines the balance of its parts, contemplates upon the form of the object, traverses every detail of the structure. So the mind receives the impression of the symmetry of the object. The mind recognises that the object is in the strict sense of the word, a thing, a definitely constituted entity. Now for the third quality. After the analysis which discovers the second quality the mind makes the only logically possible synthesis and discovers the third quality. First we recognise that the object is one integral thing, then we recognize that it is an organized composite structure, a thing in fact: finally, when the relation of the parts is exquisite, we recognize that it is that thing which it is. The soul of the commonest object seems to us radiant.[8]Throughout the novel Stephen is collecting these ’things’ he finds attributive to the ideal beauty most of which he finds in the Virgin Mary. In the last section of my thesis let me make a complementary list of the symbols Stephen identifies with Mary and let’s see how these identifications correspond to their religious practice.  

[1] ibid. 235.
[2] ibid. 236.
[3] ibid. 236.
[4] ibid. 237.
[5] ibid. 236.
[6] “Pulcra (sic!) sunt quae visa placent” Joyce, 236. The correct quotation is: “Pulchra dicuntur quae visa placent.” (St.Thomas, Summa Theologica Tome 1. q. 5. art. 4.)
[7] The quote here is too a bit different: “Nam ad pulchritudinem tria requiruntur. Prima quidem integritas, sive perfectio; (quae enim diminuta sunt hoc ipso turpia sunt), et debita proportio, sive consonantia; et iterum claritas habent colorem nitidus, pulchra esse dicuntur.” (St. Thomas, Summa Theologica, Tome 1, quaestio 39, articulus 8.)

[8] cf. Joyce, 241-242. “… the synthesis of immediate perception is followed by the analysis of apprehension. Having first felt that it is one thing you feel now that it is a thing. You apprehend it as complex, multiple, divisible, separable, made up of its parts and their sum, harmonious. […] When you have apprehended that basket as one thing and have then analysed it according to its form and apprehended it as a thing you make the only synthesis which is logically and esthetically permissible. You see that it is that thing whch it is and no other thing.”

Angol szakdolgozatom; Chapter 3-2 bejegyzés elolvasása

Angol szakdolgozatom; Chapter 3-1

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Chapter 3   The retreat The Blessed Virgin, Mary the Mother of Christ plays a very special role in Roman Catholicism. She is said to be the perfect human being, the one human after Adam and Eve created without Original Sin. Her life is considered the ideal pattern for all persons to follow insofar as it is possible for them. This leads to a great emphasis on the moral virtue of virginity; sex outside of marriage is considered a mortal sin for which one who does not repent can be punished with eternal damnation. This explains, for example, many of Stephen’s feelings in Chapter Three: his continued depression during the period when he visits prostitutes, his mixed feelings - of faith and guilt countered by indifference and pride - when carrying out his duties as prefecture of the sodality (a group dedicated to the honor of the Virgin Mary and to the promotion of piety and chastity among its members), and his tremendous terror in response to the sermons given by the priest during the school retreat. Terrified of eternal damnation, Stephen’s character changes completely. His detached, ironic attitude toward religious ceremonies is replaced by an almost obsessive devotion; his earlier debauchery is replaced by an almost painful asceticism. The bulk of Chapter Three deals with a retreat. Although there are several forms of retreat, the general purpose is to withdraw for a while from the normal affairs of the world to meditate on spiritual matters.Throughout his days at the retreat, Stephen becomes increasingly conscious of his sins, recognizing that one falls into moral depravity “by seeing or by thinking of seeing. The eye sees the thing, without having wished first to see. Then in an instant, it happens.”[1] Again, Stephen feels punished for not seeing the way the church fathers want him to, and again retreats into the ways of tradition. “Praying with his darkened eyes,”[2] Stephen rejects the earthy reality of woman as sexual being in favor of an idealized virginal purity, embodied by the traditional Catholic conception of Mary.[3] While he earnestly wishes for God’s forgiveness, Stephen’s primary attraction to the church is an aesthetic one - he visualizes himself as one of the white flowers, “heaped in fragrant masses”[4] on the altar. He also identifies with the “pale flames”[5] of the candles, revealing to the reader, and later to himself, that it is only Catholicism’s pageantry coupled with a fair amount of guilt which led him to this point. In his confession, Stephen comes to believe that “the past was past”[6], which is impossible. The past and the present exist simultaneously because of memory’s persistence, and the cyclical patterns of behaviours and thoughts, which bring the past into the present, and often, into the future. At the retreat, he listens to Father Arnall's sermon about hell that seems to be targeted directly at him, turning his tremendous guilt into fear: “Every word of it was for him.”[7] He has failed to avoid sin and for that he will suffer the most horrible fate that anyone could ever imagine: spending eternity in hell. He feels so ashamed that he is unable to repent in his own church at Clongowes, but rather wishes to find a place as far removed from the college as possible. This shame and guilt makes him vulnerable when the director at Clongowes confronts him about becoming a priest. He envisions the power he would have and thinks that if he were a priest that his superior piety would save him from the wrath of hell.[8] For him it seemed the only plausible escape. His experience with the prostitute is essential in Stephen’s reanalysis of his attraction to Emma Clery. He realizes now that her flirtatious gestures were not reserved for him alone, and he suspected that she flaunted her charm to many men. He becomes angry at the idea that women did not remain pure for their own sake, but only out of their religious fear that their souls would be damned if they sinned against the church. This point seems to be the height of Stephen’s confusion until his encounter with the wading girl, the final step in his complete transfiguration into the artist and finally beginning to perceive the ideal beauty.   The vision of the ideal beauty While waiting for his father outside the publichouse, Stephen wandered on to Bull to reflect and to escape the anxiety he felt waiting to hear word about the university. He heard a few of his classmates calling out to him and the sounds of his own name made him think of the mythical Dedalus: “Stephanos Dedalos! Bous Stephanoumenos! Bous Stephanoforos!”[9] Like the myth, Stephen wants to fly up like a bird:           “His heart trembled; his breath came faster and a wild spirit passed over his limbs as though he was soaring sunward. His heart trembled in the ecstasy of fear and his soul was in flight. His soul was soaring…”[10] This may be a foreshadowing of Stephen’s leaving Ireland and flying past the nets which would hold him back. He feels as though he is being reborn into adulthood and has finally reached that point in his life where he is capable of fulfilling his calling in life. This calling that he feels is unlike anything that has ever spoken to him before and it invokes in him an incredible freedom of spirit. As his mind, body and soul are still soaring from this ecstasy of flight, he repeatedly mentions that he is alone.[11] He is happy and free, but he is alone. Then he sees her.  “A girl stood before him in midstream, alone and still, gazing out to sea. She seemed like one whom magic had changed into the likeness of a strange and beautiful seabird.”[12] The imagery in the following passage and the particular words the narrator uses to present that imagery are very meaningful. The girl is the perfect balance between Stephen’s two extreme ideas of women. “Her thighs, fuller and softhued as ivory, were bared almost to the hip…”[13] She is delicate and pure and she has all the qualities of innocent virginity (notice the adjective: ivory!), but at the same time, she exposes her flesh in a sensual manner and exhibits a mortal beauty. Stephen’s comparison of her to a crane and a dove shows an important relationship between the girl and Stephen’s freedom. She is neither virgin nor whore. She is attainable. She certainly seems divine to Stephen who associates her presence to the calling of a life of art. He knows immediately that if he had been destined to a life in the church that this would have been the kind of calling he should have experienced. Instead he realizes that he cannot become a priest because he is unable to adhere to those physiological restrictions demanding of the profession. He has also discovered that to err is human and to have desires of the flesh is natural. He is no longer disgusted by human desires and realizes how beautiful love, passion, and devotion can be from an artist’s perspective. With the help of this vision Stephen can continue to reach an even more complete perception of the abstract and this time his studies at university will come handy, that is the interpretation of beauty grows richer with the philosophical approach. 

[1] Joyce, 159.
[2] ibid. 163.
[3] cf. Joyce, 165.
[4] Joyce, 166.
[5] ibid. 166.
[6] ibid. 167.
[7] ibid. 130.

[8] cf. Joyce, 179-180.

Angol szakdolgozatom; Chapter 3-1 bejegyzés elolvasása

Angol szakdolgozatom; Chapter 2-3

1 hozzászólás Írta Crystal több éve
Stephen’s early poetry and its connection with the Virgin Mary Before having made up his mind completely about the ideal beauty Stephen has several attempts to write poetry. Let’s have a look at these poems: “The ivy whines upon the wall,And whines and twines upon the wall,The yellow ivy upon the wall,Ivy, ivy up the wall.”[1] When analyzing this poem it is very conspicuous that the word ’ivy’ plays a significant role in it. On the one hand we can interpret ivy as a symbol of immortality because it is an evergreen. It may also refer to the immortality of art or poetry. However, ivy clings while climbing so it might signify the need for protection, too. That is, since the poem is one of Stephen’s first works of art he needs positive feedback to go on and to produce more. On the other hand ivy and basically all vines that entwine symbolise Mary's fullness with the Holy Trinity.[2] This was necessary for her Divine Maternity that was initiated through her fullness with the overshadowing, indwelling, conceiving Holy Spirit; whereby she became the Mother of God - co-parent, with the God the Father, of God the Son incarnate. With this interpretation Stephen’s associative mind appears again as if while longing for the unity with ideal beauty his imaginative mind comes up with new symbols expressing this idea.Whatever is in Stephen’s mind when he writes the poem the figure of the Virgin Mary can also be felt in his further reflections of the poem. His exclamation: “Lord Almighty!”[3] suggests that his thoughts are about some transcendental experience and from the keyword of the poem ’ivy’ he soon gets the word ’ivory’ that is an even more obvious connection to Mary. Moreover, his first thought about ivory is in Latin,[4] that refers to his prayers to the Blessed Virgin when he was a prefect.The writing of the other poem[5] (or in its full length[6]) is preceded by a short contemplation about Gabriel’s annunciation to Mary about Jesus’ birth. The reference to the Virgin Mary is obvious here but the symbol of rose repeated several times proves Mary’s symbolical presence, too. An interpretation of the rose-metaphor and other symbols can be found in the third chapter of my thesis.Nevertheless, as Stephen uses certain words that suggest the presence of the Virgin Mary Joyce himself puts such references into the novel as if strengthening the role of Mary in Stephen’s life as a source he gains the parts of the ideal beauty. One such reference is particularly worth mentioning.              Another reference to the Virgin Mary In the first chapter we see Stephen and his classmates at a Latin class which is headed by the intimidating Father Arnall. He hands back the boys’ theme books and says they are “scandalous” and that the boys should write them again with the corrections immediately. He is especially annoyed with Fleming’s theme book because the pages are stuck together with a blot of ink. Father Arnall holds the book up by a corner and claims that it is an insult to any master to submit such a theme. He asks Jack Lawton to decline the noun “mare”[7] and Jack stops short before finishing. He shames Jack and asks boy after boy to do the same grammar, but no one knows it. When he asks Fleming, Fleming says the word has no plural. It seems to be a minor event in the course of the story, yet if we examine this closely it turns out to be a significant motif of the figure of the Blessed Virgin.The word “mare” in Latin is a neuter noun in the third declension. Since it ends in an “-e”[8] it gets an “-i” sound throughout the declension. Fleming said that the word had no plural[9], but the truth is that it does, although one should be careful when applying the rule above-mentioned. Therefore the correct declension pattern of the word would be:  
       Case                                     Endings    Singular  Plural  
Nominative --- -ia mare maria
Accusative same as Nom. -ia mare maria
Genitive -īs -ium marīs marium
Dative -ī -ibus marī maribus
Ablative -ī -ibus marī maribus
  As a matter of fact there are only a very few examples for singularia tantum nouns in Latin so Feming’s answer may suggest some thoughtlessness or even deliberate negligence. Yet, his remark that the word mare has no plural may indicate that Joyce wanted the readers to be aware of the fact, that it has something to do with a name and this name would be Mary.[10] This assumption is based on the nominative case of the word mare in plural which is maria[11]. This variant of the name Mary can be found in almost all languages of the world in more or less the same form.[12] That is why this linguistic curiosity can imply some deeper meaning of Joyce’s deliberate use of this word. Namely, that as Stephen was unable to explain the attributes related to the Virgin Mary, Fleming and the rest of the class could not perceive her and even deny her for they are, too, far from being capable of grasping the abstract.In addition, although the Litany of the Blessed Virgin does not contain the attribute “sea” or anything in connection with it, one of Mary’s most commonly used symbols is the Star of the Sea.[13] It is frequently used in prayers and even in medieval poetry.[14]              

[1] ibid. 203.
[2] cf. “God with her”
[3] Joyce, 203.
[4] cf. Joyce 203.
[5] ibid. 247-248.

[6] ibid. 254-255.

Angol szakdolgozatom; Chapter 2-3 bejegyzés elolvasása

Angol szakdolgozatom; Chapter 2-2

1 hozzászólás Írta Crystal több éve
The figure of Mary Dedalus For Stephen there are two important female figures above the other female characters in the novel: his mother, Mary, and Emma. Throughout the novel, Stephen’s relationship with his mother, Mary Dedalus contributes him significantly as well as his relationship with Emma to become a creative artist because his mother gives him the first notion and expectation of a woman. Stephen has a sensitive and imaginative mind which is essential for an artist from the very childhood. He feels his mother more comfortable with a physical contact. “His mother had a nicer smell than his father”.[1] This simple feeling is the first remark of his mother as well as the first sign of his attachment towards women. As he grows up, he experiences complicate sensation with his emotional development. When he is in school, he faces the problem when Wells, his mean classmate, asks him whether he kissed his mother before bed. “What did that mean, to kiss? […] Why did people do that with their two faces?”[2] He cannot find the right answer because all his friends laugh at him when he says yes. His behaviour of not knowing how to respond a situation like this might suggest that now he is without his mother: in fact he is without any kind of women. Because his mother takes care of Stephen and spends most time with him since he was child, she is very important to him. Kissing his mother before sleep is a natural expression of loving to his mother for young Stephen. He does not even think about any other considerations. This simple notion confuses him when others laugh at him. On the other hand, he puts himself the task to find out what the relationship is between man and woman from then on. Later on the many interactions Stephen has make him reconsider what it means to be a woman. One of the events, his encounter with the prostitute changes his impression of women. This is a major turning point that changes his relationship with his mother and the opinion of the Virgin Mary who seems now too pure for him. Mary Dedalus was the model of the Irish woman who is very religious and obedient to her husband. Stephen creates the Virgin Mary image – the ideal woman and whom all people should respect in the Roman Catholic Church – from his mother. Even though his mother has numerous children and a lot of housework, she has steady faith in God. Before he goes to college, the relationship becomes a common relationship between a mother and a son, that is his mother loses her Virgin Mary image. However, as he grows up, he finds the contradiction of religious faith and spends less time with his mother. She does not affect him as much as other people in the novel. Later on, when he does not consider himself a Catholic, he has trouble with her for participating in the religious Easter ceremony. He chooses to disobey to his mother’s wish because he thinks it is a compromise of his integrity even though he wants his mother to be happy on the other side of his mind.[3] The whole process of Stephen’s estrangement from his mother is based on his developing self-respect. As he says: “I said that I had lost the faith … but not that I had lost     selfrespect.”[4] His mother loves him even though she lets him travel to Europe. Furthermore, she understands what he wants to be:  “She prays now, she says, that I may learn in my own life and away from home and friends what the heart is and what it feels”.[5] Stephen’s relationship with his mother does not change as an ordinary relationship between a mother and a son from his childhood. On the other hand, this quote shows his growth that he still has to undergo, which is reiterated in his mother’s wish.  The fictional figure of Mercedes and the real figures of Emma Clery and the prostitute At the beginning of the second chapter in A Portrait, we find Stephen associating feminine beauty with the heroine Mercedes in Alexander Dumont Pere’s The Count of Monte Cristo.  “Outside Blackrock, on the road that led to the mountains, stood a small whitewashed house in the garden of which grew many rosebushes: and in this house, he told himself, another Mercedes lived….there appeared an image of himself, grown older and sadder, standing in a moonlit garden with Mercedes who had so many years before slighted his love…”[6] These fantasies about Mercedes are the first real steps for Stephen in challenging the church’s view of women, but again he feels as though this image of women is out of his reach. She is a fictional character in a romantic adventure novel and he can only imagine himself with her. Although Mercedes may not be real, the feelings that Stephen has and the emotions she provokes in him are very real. “…As he brooded upon her image, a strange unrest crept into his blood.”[7]  “…but a premonition which led him on told him that this image would, without any overt act of his, encounter him… and in that moment of supreme tenderness he would be transfigured. He would fade into something impalpable under her eyes and then in a moment, he would be transfigured. Weakness and timidity and inexperience would fall from him that magic moment.”[8] Stephen realizes that some transformation is going to take place, and Joyce emphasizes the words ’transfigured’ and ’moment’ to indicate the kind of impact it will have on Stephen. At this point in the novel, Stephen attributes this premonition to his attraction to young Emma Clery.  “…Amid the music and laughter her glance traveled to his corner, flattering, taunting, searching, exciting his heart. …Sprays of her fresh warm breath flew gaily above her cowled head and her shoes tapped blithely on the glassy road. …As they wait for the last tram from a Christmas party His heart danced upon her movements like a cork upon a tide.”[9]  Joyce carefully uses these words to ease the reader into the transition to sensual imagery to portray females. These words convey Stephen’s feelings of excitement, and a new conflict arises within him. He who still believes that women are pure and unapproachable now feels troubled over his growing sexual drives. Stephen realizes that she is flirting with him by the way she urges her vanities yet he is tempted to call her on it. He wants to hold on to her and kiss her and he associates the whole situation with the way in which Eileen had suddenly run down the path in a peal of laughter hoping he would chase her.[10]The conflict within Stephen whether or not to kiss Emma stems from his continuing religious beliefs that women are holy and not to be defiled, and like with Mercedes, he is forced to be content in fulfilling his wishes only in his head. This encounter with Emma does place women at a slightly more attainable level for Stephen and we are able to see how it begins to shape his ultimate ideals of feminine beauty. However connected to the church, Stephen feels, it is impossible for him to just push these feelings away from himself and ignore them. He decides to write a poem about Emma Clery and for the first time, we see Stephen successfully use art as a means of expression and relief. In his poem which is modeled after one of his favorite poets, Byron, he acts out what he wishes he would have done and that is to give Emma a kiss.[11] Again this illustrates a side of Stephen that is not comfortable with abstraction. He has not yet come to the realization that he is not unlike other boys his age. Yet, parallel to this, with his artistic mind and poetry he starts to discover more deeply the abstract part of the ideal beauty, too.His poem which is addressed to E– C–, starts out with Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam, a Latin phrase meaning, For the Greater Glory of God[12] and ends with Laus Deo Semper meaning, Praise to God Always. This is especially interesting because the poem merges both religion and art without Stephen’s knowledge that this is where the heart of the conflict lies. It becomes an even greater conflict for him when, as time passes, he finds it more and more difficult to resist the temptations of his sexual urges. He mentally defiles with patience whatever image had attracted his eyes and turns those images which had been innocent by day into cunning and sinful images at night.[13] Carnal lust grows in him and gets so strong that Stephen is no longer able to resist temptation and becomes a wretched sinner. A significant step in Stephen’s transformation is his visit to the prostitute. The setting for this visit carries all of the elements of a black mass.  “Women and girls dressed in long vivid gowns traversed the street…The yellow gasflames arose before his troubled vision against the vapoury sky, burning as if before an altar.”[14]  The long vivid gowns of the women and girls could be like those of the priests and the yellow gasflames are meant to conjure up images of decay upon the altar. As the prostitute approaches Stephen, the narrator uses the word ’detain’[15] to show how the prostitute may have held Stephen against his will. This word becomes significant later on in Stephen’s discussion with the priest in chapter five as the priest tells Stephen the difference between the traditional use of the word detain and it’s use in the marketplace. Virgin Mary was detained in the full company of the saints is different from “I hope I am not detaining you.”[16] In this way, the narrator might imply that Stephen was seduced by the prostitute and attempted to resist her up until the very last moment before she kissed him. Although it is Stephen who calls on the prostitute he does not make a move towards her, but instead waits in the middle of the room until she comes to him: “His lips would not bend to kiss her.”[17] He feels reassured by her embrace and longed for her to just hold and caress him. Perhaps he regarded her as a mother figure and he gained strength from this encounter. Joyce’s description of the room, the obscene doll with it’s legs spread, the way the prostitute lures him in and bends his lips to hers for him gives the reader the impression that Stephen is an innocent and the prostitute is the sinner. This scene puts a new perspective on that holy image of women for Stephen. It is a sharp contrast to those ideas of holiness and purity and innocent shyness that he associated with Emma, and of course, the Blessed Mary. It is even a contradiction to the image he had of Mercedes. Although this encounter awakens a sense of freedom in Stephen that he will not be able to suppress later on in the novel, he still cannot help but feel overwhelming guilt about what he has done.Stephen’s relationship with Emma, however, contributes to his becoming a creative poet due to the fact that she was the motivation for him to write poetry. Imaginatively he ponders about the romantic beauty of a woman, and he places his feelings in a poem. He meets Emma at a Christmas party first time and crushes on her. After he does not have enough courage to kiss her, he tries to write love poetry for her with his imaginative and sensitive emotions. His poem to Emma initiates how he feels about women and expresses his admiration towards the ideal woman. Moreover, the poem is also significant in the novel for the fact that it marks the beginning of his artistic life.His impression of women becomes complicated when he visits the prostitute and has difficult time to get over with his sin. He now has the two extreme perspectives of women: one is pure, distant, and unapproachable like Emma and the Virgin Mary. Another is impure, sexual, and common like the prostitute. He cannot decide his true perspective of women until he sees a beautiful wading girl in the ocean.[18] She gives him a clear vision of beauty that he desires. In allowing himself to enjoy the beauty of the girl, to believe in her beauty, he finds not only physical beauty but also emotional beauty of a woman. He realizes his fate is “to live, to err, to fall, to triumph, to create life out of life”[19] and finds the power of art that is his destiny to become a poet and write. Later, he finishes his poem at the university, which marks his decision to become a true artist.Curiously, he does not give his poem to Emma even though he writes it for ten years. He does not know her very much by the end of the novel. She is a symbol of pure and ideal femineity. But after he has a few conversations with her, he realizes she is real, friendly, and an ordinary girl. The gap between the two opposite perspectives gets smaller, and he develops his theory of aesthetics and devotion to the appreciation of beauty. “Yes, I liked her today. A little or much? Don’t know. I liked her and it seems a new feeling to me”[20]. His sensitive emotion is still growing with different point of view that indicates he is on the way of becoming a true artist.  

[1] Joyce, 7.
[2] ibid. 16.
[3] cf. Joyce 275.
[4] Joyce, 277.
[5] ibid. 288.
[6] Joyce, 70.
[7] ibid. 72.
[8] ibid. 73.
[9] ibid. 77-78.

[10] cf. Joyce, 78-79.

Angol szakdolgozatom; Chapter 2-2 bejegyzés elolvasása

Angol szakdolgozatom; Chapter 2-1

1 hozzászólás Írta Crystal több éve
Chapter 2   A contemporary model of an Irish woman Stephen’s development is a very complex process where one cannot just skate over the role of women even if their figures are marginalized throughout the novel. To fully understand the development of the ideal beauty in Stephen we have to observe his relationships with the female characters of the novel and also to consider the way women in Ireland were viewed at the turn of the century. Mary Dedalus, Stephen’s mother, symbolizes the contemporary woman in Ireland at this time, as well as the role of the Catholic wife. But what exactly was the role of a Catholic wife in Ireland at the turn of the century? We can only answer this question by means of summoning a contemporary document that among others deals with the social standing of women in Joyce’s time. Irish women, especially Catholic wives, were “seen in the image of the Virgin Mary – pure, and that the sexual act inside marriage [was] for procreation and not to be enjoyed. Women [were] positively discouraged from seeing themselves as having their own identity and their own sexual needs.”[1] The role of the Irish woman was essentially “giving birth to a man's children and looking after his house, while doing so increasingly in isolation from other women.”[2] Although this contemporary guideline seems a bit harsh and simplistic one should not forget that at the turn of the century women had only a very few rights and in a strict Catholic country such as Ireland there must have been even more restraints than in other parts of Europe. James Joyce’s depiction of Mary Dedalus represents the way that women were viewed in Ireland at the turn of the century. At that time the Catholic Church taught that the role of a woman is “to marry, have children and stay in the home.”[3] This contemporary document, however exaggerated it may be suggests such a standing in which it is no wonder that the role of female characters is marginalized in the novel. All the more interesting it is – by further analyzing the role of women in the novel – to understand Stephen’s relationship with the significant female figures of the novel.               Stephen’s relationship with the Virgin Mary Throughout the novel, Joyce uses images of the Virgin Mary to emphasize Stephen Dedalus’s struggle between his relationship with women and his religion. Growing up Stephen was raised in a strict Catholic household. Yet, in spite of all the efforts his parents and his teachers have given to him at the end of chapter two, Stephen ventures and eventually has sex with a prostitute. Soon after this, Stephen contemplates over his actions and feels that these sins of the flesh may separate him from the Virgin Mary. While Stephen reflects on his current situation, the narrator mentions,  “On the wall of his bedroom hung an illuminated scroll, the certificate of his prefecture in the college of the sodality of the Blessed Virgin Mary.”[4] Due to Stephen’s devotion to Catholicism in his early life, there is a great conflict in his heart between the prostitutes he has encounters with and his devotion to the Virgin Mary, and on a broader scale, to his religion. Stephen comes to the conclusion that,  “his sin, which had covered him from the sight of God, had led him nearer to the refuge of sinners. Her eyes seemed to regard him with mild pity: her holiness, a strange light glowing faintly upon her frail flesh, did not humiliate the sinner who approached her.”[5]  Stephen’s inner conflict between his sins and what he has been taught regarding his religion is emphasized in this passage. His attachment to the Virgin Mary is close to the unorthodox practice of Mariolatry[6], which is basically an exaggerated respect towards the Virgin mother.   The Virgin Mary from a theological standpoint and how it appears in the novel Peter Kreeft outlines the basis behind Catholic Devotion in his article.[7] He clearly states in it, “what motivates Catholic Marian devotion is something even more than her physical privilege of being the Mother of God, incredible dignity though that was. It was her spiritual excellence, her perfect modeling of sainthood.” Kreeft discusses several individual components of Mary on which many Catholics base their adoration of Mary. First, Mary is hidden, almost invisible. Like John the Baptist, Mary disappears before Christ. (That’s why Christ called John the Baptist “the greatest of all the prophets”[8]: because his whole program was that “He [Jesus] must increase, but I must decrease”[9]). Mary is the greatest because she is the smallest. The same ’invisibility’ may be observed in the novel in connection with the Virgin Mary. For one thing, Stephen can only perceive her through visions or contemplations and not by physical apprehension and for another, the marginalized role of female characters in whom Stephen seeks for the ideal beauty also suggests this. Second, Mary is humble, modest and withdrawn and most of all silent. Ecclesiastes advises, “God is in heaven and you upon earth, therefore let your words be few.”[10] This is Jesus’ attitude too. We only have to think about how short his prayers and speeches are. Mary knows more about love than that. Love seeks silence. Mary must have read Ecclesiastes; for example her request to Christ at Cana was simple, “They have no wine.”[11] And her directions to the servers were simply “Do whatever he tells you.”[12] This silence and calmness may also be felt when Stephen is on his way to understand more and more about the Virgin Mary: perception without words, that is how I would put it.Third, Mary is womanly, a model woman. “Blessed art thou among women”[13] Mary is the alternative to both chauvinism and feminism, counter pointing the heat and hate of both. Although Stephen’s search for the ideal beauty is realized in its womanly form at the end of the novel[14] this ideal beauty holds something universal and thus cannot be confined to any of the genders. Fourth, Mary is willing and simple. Her “fiat”[15] is the blindingly simple secret of all sanctity: the eagerness to say ’yes’ to her divine lover’s will. There is nothing more, nothing added to this one simple thing, this purity of heart. The same eagerness and love appears when Cranly says: “Whatever is unsure in this stinking dunghill of a world a mother’s love is not. Your mother brings you into the world, carries you first in her body.”[16] Simplicity appears in all the symbols Stephen assigns to the Virgin Mary through his contemplations and visions. All these symbols tell something about Mary by their simplicity but none of them can fully explain the mystery of her: like small pieces of a puzzle they build up the ideal human being. These symbols have partly been discussed and the rest will be dealt later on in my thesis. Stephen, although not being aware of these factors his soul and artistic mind makes him to observe the Virgin Mary an entity to respect and an ideal figure of beauty and perfection.  

[1] Women In Ireland. (The author and original date of publication of this historical IRSP document is unknown) The Irish Republican Socialist Movement. 5 Mar. 2004  <http://irsm.org/history/women.html>.
[2] ibid.
[3] ibid.
[4] Joyce, 118.
[5] ibid. 118.
[6] “Mariolatry.” (Gr. Maria, Mary, and latreia, worship) is the “worship of the Virgin Mary, regarded as carried to an idolatrous extreme:  opprobrious term.”  The New Lexicon Webster's Encyclopedic Dictionary of the English Language. Canadian ed., 1988.
[7] Catholics and Fundamentalists: Praying with the Saints. Ed. Peter Kreeft. 3 Mar. 2004 <http://www.christlife.org/library/articles/C_understand5.html>
[8] The Holy Bible, Mt. 11:11
[9] ibid. John 3:30
[10] ibid. Eccl. 5:31
[11] ibid. John 2:3
[12] ibid. John 2:3,5
[13] An excerpt from the prayer “Hail Mary”
[14] Joyce, 195.
[15] i. e.:Let it be done to me according to your word, The Bible, Lk. 1:38
[16] Joyce, 275.
Angol szakdolgozatom; Chapter 2-1 bejegyzés elolvasása

Angol szakdolgozatom; Chapter 1-3

1 hozzászólás Írta Crystal több éve
The interpenetration of religion and aesthetics in Stephen 

The inseparability of religion and aesthetics is far from peculiar if we take into consideration Stephen’s further relation with his belief. When he practises his religion, Stephen is spellbound by his aesthetic reveries which have the effect of annihilating all sense of guilt and religious anguish. As prefect of sodality he leads his peers in prayers to the Blessed Virgin. This is the highest rank a student may achieve at school and with this distinction he is able to reassure himself about his innocence. However, his sins disturb him and the hypocrisy of his position nags him. But by immersing himself in the incantatory beauty of Latin and the exotic Marian imagery, and by assigning himself the chivalric role of a knight[1] dedicated to the Virgin he rids himself of anxiety.

Angol szakdolgozatom; Chapter 1-3 bejegyzés elolvasása

Angol szakdolgozatom; Chapter 1-2

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Association based on whiteness and coldness Another approach to the interpretation of the Mary-metaphors is provided by Hugh Kenner, who correlates these with colours and other sensations and deduces them from their first association in Stephen’s mind to their final meaning. Kenner deals with whiteness and coldness in detail. He writes: “Stephen finds himself like Simon Moonan[1] engaged in the rhythm of obedience to irrational authority, bending his mind to a meaningless act, the arithmetic contest. He is being obediently good.”[2] And the narrator adduces here the appropriate colour to imitate the situation: “He thought his face must be white because it felt so cool.”[3] Kenner goes on with his theory and says that “the pallor of lunar obedient goodness is next associated with damp repulsiveness: the limpness of a wet blanket and of a servant’s apron:[4] “He sat looking at the two prints of butter on his plate but could not eat the damp bread. The table-cloth was damp and limp. But he drank off the hot weak tea which the clumsy scullion, girt with a white apron, poured into his cup. He wondered whether the scullion’s apron was damp too or whether all white things were cold and damp.”[5] According to Kenner’s theory throughout the first chapter we find an intrinsic linkage between the features of white, cold, damp and obedient and these factors insinuate themselves repeatedly. When Stephen says his daily prayers it is not by chance that his shoulders are shaking.[6] It is partly because of his childlike fear of God and of darkness and partly because of the coldness suggested by the narrator as he is shaking and trembling even under the cold white sheets. However, as if foretelling the solution to this problem Stephen also feels some distant hope: “the shaking would stop.”[7] He will not always be in the captivity of these mysterious sensations. He also wonders about the sea which “was cold day and night, but it was colder at night.”[8] Here, coldness is mixed with secrecy as if implying the terrible power of God.[9] Also, secrecy and holiness are involved when Stephen feels coldness in the chapel. Yet, he knows that this holy smell should be cold and there is little wonder that for Stephen holiness is in strong connection with coldness.[10] If we take these associations into consideration it is easier to understand Stephen’s further steps towards grasping the abstract. He is puzzled by the phrase in the Litany of the Blessed Virgin: Tower of Ivory. “How could a woman be a tower of ivory or a house of gold?”[11] He ponders until the revelation comes:  “Eileen had long white hands. One evening when playing tig she had put her hands over his eyes: long and white and thin and cold and soft. That was ivory: a cold white thing. That was the meaning of Tower of Ivory.”[12] Though we might find the association a bit far-fetched, Stephen’s way of thinking is directed by the same considerations as before but this time he combines more than one feature into one complex entity. As Kenner suggests: “This instant of insight depends on a sudden reshuffling of associations, a sudden conviction that the Mother of God, and the symbols appropriate to her, belong with the cold, the white, and the unpleasant in a blindfold morality of obedience. Contemplation focused on language is repayed:”[13] “Tower of Ivory. House of Gold. By thinking of things you could understand them.”[14] As we can see, contemplation plays an important role in Stephen’s development to grasp the meaning of abstract notions and symbols. Yet, it is not the only objective he puts before himself. He does not only search for the ideal beauty but he begins to seek out the grounds of his belief, too. For him it is also something that he cannot just perceive without contemplating upon it. This search will eventually bring Stephen closer to the interpretation of the abstract beauty. Therefore, to see more clearly how the figure of the Virgin Mary influences Stephen’s ideas about beauty, we have to examine his own faith and religion because it is faith in which he first encounters the Blessed Virgin.   Stephen’s faith and its roots Stephen’s faith – infused in his early childhood and developing throughout the novel – will greatly influence his interpretation of beauty. As a baby he takes his parents’ word for granted, but as he grows older he begins to question what he has been told more and more. Like many a youth on the verge of adulthood, Stephen wrestles with the basic concepts that he has grown up with. In the book, Stephen struggles to define who he is, what religion he believes in, how things should be perceived, and what he wants to do in life. When in geography class, Stephen writes down his name and location:      “Stephen Dedalus    Class of Elements    Clongowes Wood College    Sallins    County Kildare    Ireland    Europe    The World    The Universe”[15]    But he cannot stop here. He asks “What was after the Universe?”[16] and there he is stuck on that question. For his answers, Stephen first turns to God and the Catholic Church.The presence of the Catholic Church in A Portrait is obvious. Equally obvious is the presence of a particular aspect of Catholicism: Jesuit thought. The influence exercised over Stephen by the Catholic Church in general, and by the Jesuits in particular, is so enormous that one cannot start to unravel his thoughts and his progress through the novel without taking a close look at the Catholic doctrine and Jesuit spirituality. Nor is this an easy task, for Stephen’s religion is not an element one can isolate from others. Religion is woven into the very fabric of his intellect, and to pull it out as a thread would involve a warping of that fabric. Stephen’s aesthetic idea depends to a very large extent on the religious vocabulary in terms of which it is formulated. Likewise, his views on religion, the Church, and the Jesuits are filtered through his aesthetic frame of mind. The young artist’s aesthetics is as saturated with religion as his religion is imbued with aestheticism. A close look at Stephen’s aesthetics necessitates an equally careful consideration of the religious ideas which permeate his mind, and vice versa.

[1] Joyce’s names should always be analyzed. The name of Simon Moonan might be a reference to the moon, which is heatless and white and although does not have an own light it reflects the power, the heat and the light of the Sun as of some higher authority.
[2] Hugh Kenner, “The Portrait in Perspective” in: William M. Chace ed., Joyce A Collection of Critical Essays, (New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, Inc. Englewood Cliffs, 1974) 36.
[3] Joyce, 13.
[4] Kenner, 36.
[5] Joyce, 13.
[6] cf. Joyce, 20.
[7] Joyce, 21.
[8] ibid. 19.
[9] cf. Kenner 36.
[10] cf. Joyce, 19.
[11] Joyce, 40.
[12] ibid. 40.
[13] Kenner, 37.
[14] Joyce, 48.
[15] ibid. 17.

[16] ibid. 17.

Angol szakdolgozatom; Chapter 1-2 bejegyzés elolvasása

Angol szakdolgozatom; Chapter 1-1

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Chapter 1

 The development of the feminine ideal of beauty in Stephen Dedalus’s childhood until the retreat         Introduction   As it is scheduled in the introduction, this thesis will be an analysis of the references to the Virgin Mary in James Joyce: A Portait of the Artist as a Young Man and the demonstration of how the protagonist, Stephen Dedalus, who is but a child begins to develop the feminine ideal of beauty within himself and how this ideal is embodied in the Holy Virgin and in her metamorphoses. However, to understand perfectly how Mary can be inserted into my interpretation and why Stephen seeks beauty in its feminine reality we have to examine the gender roles in the novel to justify the assumption that despite their marginal presence it is female characters that greatly influence Stephen’s development throughout the novel. Moreover, there will be an endeavour throughout my thesis to clarify Joyce’s deliberate use of names and certain words in order to glance behind the words and try to resolve their figurative meaning.   

The very first steps

 As a very young child Stephen is taught to idealize the Virgin Mary for her purity and holiness. He is being brought up in a religious family and his parents consider it important that this kind of religious education should be kept after leaving his house of birth. That is why Stephen is enrolled to Clongowes where his studies are secured to begin in this mentality. Curiously, before starting school the strongest effects in the matter of belief do not come from his parents but his aunt, Dante. She is so fanatic in Catholicism that she even forbids Stephen to talk to the girl, Eileen in the neighbourhood since she is Protestant. She does it after Stephen announces that when he is grown, he will marry Eileen. This rabid Catholicism is not compatible with Stephen’s basic character. Dante’s fury over his friendship with Eileen is against the very core of Stephen’s sensitive nature: later he makes sense of the Virgin Mary by remembering Eileen’s hands and hair. Ironically, he relates to an icon of his faith by remembering the pretty features of a young Protestant girl.[1]              Stephen’s first attempts to grasp the ideal feminine beauty At the beginning of the novel we see that Stephen is a devout child, fearful of hell and enraptured by Virgin Mary who is described to Stephen as a Tower of Ivory and a House of Gold.[2] It seems that Stephen takes these expressions literally and so becomes confused as to how these beautiful elements of ivory and gold could make up a human being. This confusion is important in that it shows Stephen’s inability to grasp abstraction. He is a young child who does not yet understand how someone can say one thing and mean something else. This also explains his trouble with solving the riddles and puzzles presented to him by his classmates at Clongowes. Let’s take an example.When we move to Stephen’s first days at the boarding school of Conglowes the language of the naration changes to reflect Stephen’s aging: he is now a young boy, and he is terribly homesick. He comforts himself with thoughts of how it will feel to return home. He is also very devout, and his nightly prayers[3] are halfway between a child’s compulsive superstitions and the Catholic faith in which he has been raised. One day, a larger boy named Wells picks on Stephen and pushes him into a cesspool. Stephen gets a fever from the filthy water, and he is taken to the infirmary. Here, Brother Michael takes care of him and another boy named Athy will be his room-mate. While in the infirmary, Athy asks Stephen whether he is good at riddles, and if he can answer one of his riddles. Stephen – after thinking about the right answer, – gives it up. This case might suggest his inability to think in riddles or symbols but his ordeal is not yet over. Athy goes on and inquires whether Stephen can ask the riddle another way. But Stephen once again makes no reply.[4] From the conversation it is clear that the inexperienced protagonist is unable to interpret things in another way and cannot treat a concept in isolation from its primary meaning. That is why he is yet unable to comprehend the symbolism of the Tower of Ivory and the House of Gold.It is mental perception through which Stephen eventually finds the way to explain the meaning of the symbols. He says to himself: “By thinking of things you could understand them,”[5] when he arrives at the conclusion that the epithet ’Tower of Ivory’, in the litany of the Blessed Virgin, means what Eileen’s hand felt like in his pocket – like ivory, only soft – and the ’House of Gold’ means what her hair had looked like, streaming out behind her like gold in the sun. Yet, shortly before this revelation he is puzzled over Dante’s not wishing him to play with Eileen because Eileen is a Protestant and the Protestants make fun of the litany of the Blessed Virgin, saying, “How could a woman be a tower of ivory or a house of gold?”[6] Therefore it is easy to understand Stephen’s doubts and increasing confusion: “Who was right then?”[7] The Protestants or the Catholics? Stephen’s analytical quandary is resolved by the perception of the identity between Eileen’s prying hand and the meaning of the Tower of Ivory. In the same way, by the same dialectical process, his flooding impressions reach a stage of cohesion from moment to moment, a temporary synthesis in which he suddenly sees what they mean. Those moments in the dialectical process when synthesis is achieved, when certain phrases or sensations or complex experiences suddenly cohere in a larger whole and a meaning shines forth from the whole, are called epiphanies. In connection with this specific symbolism of the Virgin Mary referred to above, it is interesting to explore how the protagonist attained to the idea that in order to perceive something in its true reality he should apply some techniques. Yet, since these techniques are applied in the fifth chapter of the novel I will also deal with this question under the section of Stephen’s university years in my thesis.    Stephen’s first interpretation of the ideal beauty and its consequences From the very outset Stephen is very thoughtful and observant and looks for his own way to explain or rationalize the things that he does not understand. In this manner he can find those traits that he associates with the Blessed Mary in his protestant playmate Eileen. After having matched the symbolical signs with the physical ones – that is identifying ivory and gold with Eileen’s hand and hair – he then attributes Eileen’s ivory hands to the fact that she is a girl and generalizes these traits to all women. This assumption is based on Stephen’s constant attempt to observe these symbols on other female characters in the novel and finally finding them in their perfection in his vision at the end of the fourth chapter.[8] This generalization, however, produces a major conflict for Stephen when his aunt, Dante, tells him not to play with Eileen because she is Protestant and Protestants do not understand the Catholic faith, and therefore will make a mockery of it. Here, his ideas about women being unattainable are confirmed. The Virgin Mary is divine and therefore out of reach for mortals. Now Eileen, the human representation of the Blessed Mary, is out of reach as well because Stephen is not allowed to play with her. We can see now that the ideals of beauty – both the tangible and the symbolic – are kept hidden from the prying eyes of Stephen. Although his senses are assiduously developing for experiencing beauty, it is drifted away from him by forces beyond his control. The frustration as a result of this estrangement appears in the second chapter of the novel where we find Stephen associating feminine beauty with Mercedes. First, it is only a dream that comes to his mind when meditating over the book The Count of Monte Cristo and having the pictures of Marseille, of sunny trellises and of Mercedes.[9] Yet, this dream is about to come true in Stephen’s mind for he imagines that there is another Mercedes living in “a small whitewashed house in the garden of which grew many rosebushes.”[10] For Stephen, Mercedes is someone who means adventure and unrest. She brings along another value for Stephen which will prove to be very difficult to resist: the temptation to pursue carnal lust. Stephen’s thoughts tend to return to Mercedes and a strange unrest creeps into his blood. Sometimes even a fever gathers within him and leads him to rove alone in the evening along a quiet avenue.[11] Dublin has become a new and complex sensation for him. He walks freely in the streets wondering the city but there is a vague dissatisfaction growing within him and after a while he wanders up and down “as if he really sought someone that eluded him.”[12]His wanderings continue but “no vision of trim front gardens or of kindly kights in the windows poured a tender influence upon him now.”[13] The desire is so great inside him that there is little room left for his dream-Mercedes who meant romance and adventure for him. The process seems unstoppable to bring carnal lust into the surface and eventually Stephen can not resist the temptation and urge of his body. His ruin is followed by a continuous decay that is only stopped during the retreat which will be dealt later on in my thesis.

[1] James Joyce, A Portrait Of The Artist As A Young Man (London: Penguin Books, 1996) 48.
[2] ibid. 40.

[3] ibid. 20.

Angol szakdolgozatom; Chapter 1-1 bejegyzés elolvasása

Angol szakdolgozatom; Introduction

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Introduction

 

Stephen Dedalus, the main character in most of James Joyce’s writings, is said to be a reflection of Joyce himself. In A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, the reader follows Stephen as he develops from a young child into a young artist, overcoming many conflicts both internally and externally, and narrowly escaping a life-long commitment to the clergy. Through Joyce’s use of free indirect style, all of Stephen’s speech, actions, and thoughts are filtered through the narrator of the story. However, since Joyce so strongly identifies with Stephen, his character’s style and personality greatly influence the narrator. This use of free indirect style makes Joyce’s use of descriptive language one of his most valuable tools in accurately depicting Stephen Dedalus’s developing ideals of feminine beauty.In my thesis my main objective is to prove the inspirative presence of the Virgin Mary that greatly helps Stephen to create his idea about the ideal beauty in his artistic mind. Naturally it cannot be done without a thorough exploration of all the references to the Virgin Mary in the novel. Yet, by following the emotional development and maturing of Stephen through the novel newer and newer approaches will become available for him and so the abstract concept of beauty is becoming more and more attainable as he knows more and more about it.Also there will be an analysis of all the female characters of the novel who seem to hold several bearings of the ideal beauty yet fail to bring Stephen satisfaction but encourage him to further search. This analysis will be in close connention with the symbols that feature the ideal beauty. In my thesis my endeavour is to collect these symbols that eventually pertain to the Virgin Mary as the manifestation of the ideal beauty.
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