Stephen Dedalus
Encyclopedia
Stephen Dedalus is James Joyce
's literary alter ego
, appearing as the protagonist
and antihero of his first, semi-autobiographical novel of artistic existence A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
and an important character in Joyce's Ulysses
. A number of critics, such as Harold Bloom
, have named a younger Stephen as the narrator of the first three stories in Dubliners
.
In Stephen Hero
, an early version of what became Portrait, Stephen's surname is spelled "Daedalus" in more precise allusion to Daedalus
, the architect in Greek myth who was contracted by King Minos
to build the Labyrinth
in which he would imprison his wife's son the Minotaur
. Buck Mulligan makes reference to the mythological namesake in Ulysses, telling Stephen, "Your absurd name, an ancient Greek!" In revising the mammoth Stephen Hero into the considerably more compact Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, Joyce shortened the name to "Dedalus".
Stephen Dedalus appears in Ulysses as the character who corresponds to Telemachus
; less overtly, he embodies aspects of Hamlet. He is the protagonist of the first three chapters. Subsequently Leopold Bloom
is introduced, and Stephen's interactions with Bloom and his wife, Molly, form much of the final chapters' substance. Mirroring his mythological namesake, Daedalus (or Daidalos in the Greek pronunciation and transliteration), whom Ovid described in the Metamorphoses (VIII:183-235) as being shut up in a tower to prevent his knowledge of the labyrinth from spreading to the public, Stephen is introduced taking breakfast in the Sandycove
Martello tower
in Dublin on the morning of 16 June 1904. Stephen shares his opinions about religion, especially as they relate to the recent death of his mother, with his quasi-friend Buck Mulligan, who manages to offend Stephen before making plans to go drinking later that evening as they part ways. In the second chapter Stephen teaches a class of boys a history lesson on ancient Rome. In the "Proteus" chapter (in Greek myth Proteus was the old man of the sea and the shepherd of sea animals who knew all things past, present, and future but disliked telling what he knew), Stephen ambles along the strand as his thoughts are related in the form of an interior monologue. Following several chapters concerning Bloom, Stephen returns to the fore of the novel in the library episode, in which he expounds at length to some acquaintances his theory of the obscurely autobiographical nature of Shakespeare's works and questions the institution of fatherhood, deeming it to be a fiction. He discredits his own ideas afterward, suggesting some lack of self-confidence.
As a character, Stephen seems to mirror many facets of Joyce's own life and personality. Joyce was a talented singer, and Bloom notes the excellence of Stephen's tenor voice after hearing him sing Johannes Jeep
's song "Von der Sirenen Listigkeit". Stephen's first name remembers the first Christian martyr
; in juxtaposition
, his surname recalls the mythological figure Daedalus, a brilliant artificer who constructed a pair of wings for himself and his son Icarus
as a means of escaping the island of Crete, where they had been imprisoned by King Minos. It is possible that Stephen's surname also reflects the labyrinthine quality of Stephen's developmental journey in Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man.
The name "Dedalus" also suggests Stephen's desire to "fly" above the constraints of religion, nationality, and politics in his own development.
A man of genius makes no mistakes. His errors are volitional and are the portals of discovery.
Welcome, O life, I go to encounter for the millionth time the reality of experience and to forge in the smithy of my soul the uncreated conscience of my race. Old father, old artificer, stand me now and ever in good stead.
History is a nightmare from which I am trying to awake.
I fear those big words that make us so unhappy.
James Joyce
James Augustine Aloysius Joyce was an Irish novelist and poet, considered to be one of the most influential writers in the modernist avant-garde of the early 20th century...
's literary alter ego
Alter ego
An alter ego is a second self, which is believe to be distinct from a person's normal or original personality. The term was coined in the early nineteenth century when dissociative identity disorder was first described by psychologists...
, appearing as the protagonist
Protagonist
A protagonist is the main character of a literary, theatrical, cinematic, or musical narrative, around whom the events of the narrative's plot revolve and with whom the audience is intended to most identify...
and antihero of his first, semi-autobiographical novel of artistic existence A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man is a semi-autobiographical novel by James Joyce, first serialised in the magazine The Egoist from 1914 to 1915, and published first in book format in 1916 by B. W. Huebsch, New York. The first English edition was published by the Egoist Press in February 1917...
and an important character in Joyce's Ulysses
Ulysses (novel)
Ulysses is a novel by the Irish author James Joyce. It was first serialised in parts in the American journal The Little Review from March 1918 to December 1920, and then published in its entirety by Sylvia Beach on 2 February 1922, in Paris. One of the most important works of Modernist literature,...
. A number of critics, such as Harold Bloom
Harold Bloom
Harold Bloom is an American writer and literary critic, and is Sterling Professor of Humanities at Yale University. He is known for his defense of 19th-century Romantic poets, his unique and controversial theories of poetic influence, and his prodigious literary output, particularly for a literary...
, have named a younger Stephen as the narrator of the first three stories in Dubliners
Dubliners
Dubliners is a collection of 15 short stories by James Joyce, first published in 1914. They were meant to be a naturalistic depiction of Irish middle class life in and around Dublin in the early years of the 20th century....
.
In Stephen Hero
Stephen Hero
Stephen Hero is a posthumously-published autobiographical novel by Irish author James Joyce. Its published form reflects only a portion of an original manuscript, part of which was lost. Many of its ideas were used in composing A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man.-External links:*...
, an early version of what became Portrait, Stephen's surname is spelled "Daedalus" in more precise allusion to Daedalus
Daedalus
In Greek mythology, Daedalus was a skillful craftsman and artisan.-Family:...
, the architect in Greek myth who was contracted by King Minos
Minos
In Greek mythology, Minos was a king of Crete, son of Zeus and Europa. Every year he made King Aegeus pick seven men and seven women to go to Daedalus' creation, the labyrinth, to be eaten by The Minotaur. After his death, Minos became a judge of the dead in Hades. The Minoan civilization of Crete...
to build the Labyrinth
Labyrinth
In Greek mythology, the Labyrinth was an elaborate structure designed and built by the legendary artificer Daedalus for King Minos of Crete at Knossos...
in which he would imprison his wife's son the Minotaur
Minotaur
In Greek mythology, the Minotaur , as the Greeks imagined him, was a creature with the head of a bull on the body of a man or, as described by Roman poet Ovid, "part man and part bull"...
. Buck Mulligan makes reference to the mythological namesake in Ulysses, telling Stephen, "Your absurd name, an ancient Greek!" In revising the mammoth Stephen Hero into the considerably more compact Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, Joyce shortened the name to "Dedalus".
Stephen Dedalus appears in Ulysses as the character who corresponds to Telemachus
Telemachus
Telemachus is a figure in Greek mythology, the son of Odysseus and Penelope, and a central character in Homer's Odyssey. The first four books in particular focus on Telemachus' journeys in search of news about his father, who has been away at war...
; less overtly, he embodies aspects of Hamlet. He is the protagonist of the first three chapters. Subsequently Leopold Bloom
Leopold Bloom
Leopold Bloom is the fictional protagonist and hero of James Joyce's Ulysses. His peregrinations and encounters in Dublin on 16 June 1904 mirror, on a more mundane and intimate scale, those of Ulysses/Odysseus in The Odyssey....
is introduced, and Stephen's interactions with Bloom and his wife, Molly, form much of the final chapters' substance. Mirroring his mythological namesake, Daedalus (or Daidalos in the Greek pronunciation and transliteration), whom Ovid described in the Metamorphoses (VIII:183-235) as being shut up in a tower to prevent his knowledge of the labyrinth from spreading to the public, Stephen is introduced taking breakfast in the Sandycove
Sandycove
Sandycove is an area of Dublin, Ireland. It is south of Dún Laoghaire and Glasthule, but north of Dalkey.Sandycove is well-known for its gentlemen's bathing place, the Forty Foot, which in the past afforded a quiet swimming haven for males only...
Martello tower
Martello tower
Martello towers are small defensive forts built in several countries of the British Empire during the 19th century, from the time of the Napoleonic Wars onwards....
in Dublin on the morning of 16 June 1904. Stephen shares his opinions about religion, especially as they relate to the recent death of his mother, with his quasi-friend Buck Mulligan, who manages to offend Stephen before making plans to go drinking later that evening as they part ways. In the second chapter Stephen teaches a class of boys a history lesson on ancient Rome. In the "Proteus" chapter (in Greek myth Proteus was the old man of the sea and the shepherd of sea animals who knew all things past, present, and future but disliked telling what he knew), Stephen ambles along the strand as his thoughts are related in the form of an interior monologue. Following several chapters concerning Bloom, Stephen returns to the fore of the novel in the library episode, in which he expounds at length to some acquaintances his theory of the obscurely autobiographical nature of Shakespeare's works and questions the institution of fatherhood, deeming it to be a fiction. He discredits his own ideas afterward, suggesting some lack of self-confidence.
As a character, Stephen seems to mirror many facets of Joyce's own life and personality. Joyce was a talented singer, and Bloom notes the excellence of Stephen's tenor voice after hearing him sing Johannes Jeep
Johannes Jeep
Johannes Jeep, also Johann Jeep, was a German organist, choirmaster and composer.Jeep , who was born in Dransfeld, Germany, is remembered for his choral writing. He collected his student songs in Studentengartlein, the first volume published in 1607, the second volume in 1609, and both published...
's song "Von der Sirenen Listigkeit". Stephen's first name remembers the first Christian martyr
Saint Stephen
Saint Stephen The Protomartyr , the protomartyr of Christianity, is venerated as a saint in the Roman Catholic, Anglican, Lutheran, Oriental Orthodox and Eastern Orthodox Churches....
; in juxtaposition
Contrast (linguistics)
In semantics, contrast is a relationship between two discourse segments. Contrast is often overtly marked by markers such as but or however, such as in the following examples:# It's raining, but I am not taking an umbrella....
, his surname recalls the mythological figure Daedalus, a brilliant artificer who constructed a pair of wings for himself and his son Icarus
Icarus (mythology)
In Greek mythology, Icarus is the son of the master craftsman Daedalus. The main story told about Icarus is his attempt to escape from Crete by means of wings that his father constructed from feathers and wax...
as a means of escaping the island of Crete, where they had been imprisoned by King Minos. It is possible that Stephen's surname also reflects the labyrinthine quality of Stephen's developmental journey in Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man.
The name "Dedalus" also suggests Stephen's desire to "fly" above the constraints of religion, nationality, and politics in his own development.
Quotations
When the soul of a man is born in this country there are nets flung at it to hold it back from flight. You talk to me of nationality, language, religion. I shall try to fly by those nets.- —A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, Chapter 5
A man of genius makes no mistakes. His errors are volitional and are the portals of discovery.
- —Ulysses, Episode 9
Welcome, O life, I go to encounter for the millionth time the reality of experience and to forge in the smithy of my soul the uncreated conscience of my race. Old father, old artificer, stand me now and ever in good stead.
- —A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
History is a nightmare from which I am trying to awake.
- —Ulysses, Episode 2
I fear those big words that make us so unhappy.
- —Ulysses, Episode 2