A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man - Chapter 4 PresentationBy: Kendall Bradic, Nick Ciepley, Maddi Coury, Mitchell Davis, Hampton Hurt, Aidan Kockler, Sofia Lopez, Bella Macdonald, Christina Martino, and Cameron WhitfieldPeriod 6

Chapter IV Summary Stephen’s religious revival carries over into the beginning of chapter four as his fear of damnation leads him to live a devout Christian life. He leads a holy life and devotes each day of the week to a religious mystery or Catholic saint. Structuring his life around this divine schedule brings Stephen closer to God and his every move is made with the intent of being accepted into heaven. Stephen’s embracement of catholicism brings a new sense of fulfillment to his life. All the while, he begins to deprive himself of sensory pleasures in an attempt to undo his shameful past and prevent any future sins. Stephen holds a sense of pride and responsibility for his integrity in maintaining a life of devotion. He strives to be more Christ-like each day, and in his dissatisfaction with a lack of spiritual perfection, Stephen ponders the legitimacy of his last confession and his true motives for it.

Stephen is questioned before the director on his opinion of the Capuchin robes. The director refers to the robes as “les jupes”, meaning “skirts” in French. He does this as a test in order to determine the purity of Stephen, ultimately leading the director to suggest that Stephen pursue a life of honor and holiness in priesthood. After much thought, Stephen cannot imagine himself living such a life despite the knowledge and power that comes with it, and realizes that his destiny lies “among the snares of the world,” where he will learn from the wisdom of others and gain his own. As Stephen enters his home, he finds that his family is being evicted and sees the true weariness behind the mask of happiness that his siblings wear.

Summary (cont.) In the final section of chapter four, Stephen expresses his excitement for university life and the unseen experiences waiting for him. Later, as Stephen walks through towards the beach, he is lost in his thoughts and reflects upon his past spirit. Stephen encounters his schoolmates and the boys banter to one another, leaving Stephen contemplating his odd name after he is teased for it. Stephen imagines a hawk-like man flying over the water as a symbol for the great artist that he strives to be. As if his soul has taken flight, Stephen embraces his senses and realizes his true purpose, leaving behind the boyish uncertainty he once held.

Stephen’s Practices of Self-Mortification and Imprisonment

-Stephen dramatically changes his life style, imposing a new strict religious discipline upon himself.

-Examples: Praying every morning, dividing his schedule for religious practices, keeping rosary beads in his pocket, going to his room to reflect on himself, and avoiding looking at women.

-Why? Stephen does this because he is terrified of the idea of Hell depicted in Father Arnall’s sermon and feels that he must atone for his sins to avoid ending up there.

Stephen’s Attempts to Intellectualize Religion to his Benefit or Detriment

Stephen displays his intellect through his unwavering attention to detail and his systematic approach to overcoming his sins. He restructures his life, adopting a strict religious schedule. Some of the key elements of this schedule include praying three times daily to the Holy Trinity and dedicating each day of the week to a particular aspect of Catholicism. Stephen engages in his self-mortification and imprisonment in an extremely precise way, essentially attacking his individual senses one by one. Despite his finding fulfillment in his dedication to religion, this process is, in reality, detrimental to Stephen, as he continually denies his body of any sensory pleasures.

Religious Intellectualization Continued

Stephen thinks of his prayers and religious deeds as adding up, but he is unsure over the extent to which they remit the punishment for his sins, so he maintains his religious fervor.

Although immersed in his attempt at religious devotion, Stephen’s critical thinking is ever-present, and this is displayed first in his uncertainty over whether his religious deeds outweighs his sins, and later when he is asked to consider life in the Church, and ultimately rejects the idea.

References to Stephen’s Maturation from Child to Adult

Towards the end of chapter 4, Stephen experiences the epiphany that he is leaving his childhood behind. He feels that he is becoming the adult, and the artist, that he was meant to be. This transformation is present in a few different aspects of the chapter.

As Stephen reflects on his family name - Dedalus - he feels a call to create, much like how in Greek myth Dedalus is known as an amazing craftsman. Stephen feels that he has finally found his calling, and he aspires to be a great artist like Dedalus. He finds inspiration in his namesake. He exclaims that, “His soul has arisen from the grave of boyhood,” and that he will, “create proudly out of the freedom and power of his soul, as the great artificer whose name he bore” (Joyce 173). This realization is an example of Stephen’s newfound ability to think for himself and find his own inspiration. He is maturing from a boy who is often told what to do and how to feel, into a man who finds divine inspiration through his own journey to find himself.

Stephen’s Maturity Continued...

More evidence of Stephen’s newfound maturity can be found in the fact that he no longer attempts to deprive himself of pleasure and joy like he did at the beginning of the chapter. He instead views the time when he purposely tried to deny himself the beauty of the world as a waste of time. He asks himself, “where [is] his boyhood now?”, and he affirms that without his childish need to punish and deprive himself, he is, “unheeded, happy, and near to the wild heart of life” (Joyce 174). Stephen has grown past his boyhood when he used to punish himself for enjoying the world. He now clearly sees, for the first time, the wonders of life. And he feels that his first task in this new phase of adulthood should be to explore all the beauty that the world has to offer.

Symbol: Water Water is predominant symbol throughout the whole book. We are first introduced to water as a symbol when Joyce has stephen meet his old school mate Wells. Joyce uses water as a symbol to showcase the state of Stephen’s soul and the various points in his life. In Chapter 4, Stephen has a deep epiphany on the beach. The water on the beach is clean, pure, and beautifully colored. This scene is meant to signify the rebirth of Stephen’s soul. He is now cleansed and full of new life.

-“His cheeks were aflame; his body was aglow;his limbs were trembling. On and on and on he strode, far out over the sands, singing wildly to the sea, crying to greet the advent of the life that had cried to him.” (91)

Symbol:Disorder

Each stage of Stephens life holds a new area of disorder. -Strict religious belief: Devotion of life to be a servant to God with daily prayer

and active participant of church, believes actions on earth determine after life and that there is life after death

-Loss of faith and uncertainty: when he denies priesthood , “he would fall” and “his destiny was to be elusive of social or religious orders”

-Confusion : Stephen is anxious when his father and tutor find out about the university, mother is mad, shows confusion

-Back to certainty in a different calling, creative art: sees girl as symbol, facing away from Ireland and towards Europe, Stephen has an artistic awakening, ends the chapter with a victorious feeling.

Symbol:Bridge

The bridge symbolizes Stephens many transitions in his life. In Chapter 4, bridges become important in the reference of Stephens new life and his choice to neglect living a life to honor God/the church. Further in the chapter, Stephen “crossed the bridge over the stream of the Tolka and turned his eyes coldly for an instant towards the faded blue shrine of the Blessed Virgin which stood fowl wise on a pole in the middle of a hamshaped encampment of poor cottages”(176). The encounter Stephen has with the priests on the bridge shows his symbolic turn of his life away from the church.

Symbol: Icarus

In this chapter, there is a clear reference to Daedalus and the mythological story of Icarus. Stephen emerges with a new view of himself after his friends call out his name in Greek repeatedly. He thinks the occurrence is a prophecy and becomes very excited. It inspires him to pursue a more self-defining life. His focus shifts from his first name, a Christian name, to his last name depicting his loss of interest in Christianity. He idolizes the “fabulous artificer” and “hawk-like man flying sunward” and takes pride in his name’s connection to the legend. Stephen wishes he could escape the miseries of his life using skill as Icarus escaped his prison using homemade wings.

Symbol: Birds

After having the spiritual awakening, Stephen sees this girl standing in the ocean. He then describes her as a “beautiful seabird.” The bird could symbolize his flight from Christianity as he takes a long look at birdlady ultimately undoing all of his past religious disciplines. Stephen was in a state of fear and misery over his sins and it lead to his plunge into saving his soul through monotonous scrutiny. He also felt disconnected spiritually. When he sees the girl he is “unheeded, happy and near to the wild heart of life.” The birdlady could also symbolize escape from his world because Stephen seemed to have completely forgotten about his sins.

Stephen’s Visions of the Girl

Stephen spots a beautiful girl standing in the water, looking out over the ocean. The beauty of the girl causes Stephen to admire her and examine her body. Stephen feels as though the girl was an angel, the “angel of mortal youth and beauty,” and has shown Stephen the “gates of all the ways of error and glory.” Stephen feels as though this girl has allowed him to finally understand his position in life and that the meaning to life is “to live, to err, to fall, to triumph, to recreate life out of life.” This meaning to life resonates with Stephen for he has fallen from grace and sinned many times. Since he is now moving on to the “triumph” stage, Stephen is filled with “profane joy” for he feels as though he is shown a new way to reach heaven and no longer has to fear Hell.

“Angel of mortal youth and beauty”

Tone

Throughout the scene within chapter 4, with the director and Stephen, the director displays a dignified, but relaxed tone when discussing Stephen’s future in the church. They develop a conversation based on Stephen’s success in school and get into the topics of monks and their outfits. “Just imagine when I was in Belgium I used to see them out cycling in all kinds of weather with this thing up about their knees! It was really ridiculous. LES JUPES, they call them in Belgium.” (183) This conversation makes Stephen’s mind go into a spiral and he starts thinking about women’s stockings and how soft they are. The director than proposes an invitation to join the Jesuits. This causes Stephen’s mind to go in to a tangent. He thinks about all the power he will have knowing everybody’s secrets. “He would know the sins, the sinful longings and sinful thoughts and sinful acts, of others, hearing them murmured into his ears in the confessional under the shame of a darkened chapel by the lips of women and of girls.” (186) The director then states that he will offer up his mass tomorrow so that God will reveal to Stephen his will. Leaving the director, Stephen realized that priesthood was not his calling. “His soul was not there to hear and greet it and he knew now that the exhortation he had listened to had already fallen into an idle formal tale.” ()

Religious imagery during the meeting“Sunday was dedicated to the Holy Trinity, Monday to the Holy Ghost, Tuesday to the Guardian Angels,

Wednesday to saint Joseph, Thursday to the Most Blessed Sacrament of the Altar, Friday to the Suffering

Jesus, Saturday to the Blessed Virgin Mary” (Page 119).

Holy Trinity: A part of the catholic religion involving The Father, The Son, and The Holy Spirit, it represents

how there is one God in three divine spirits.

The Holy Ghost: Also known as the Holy Spirit, it’s the third member of the Godhead which is also known as

the Holy Trinity.

Guardian Angels: Both the Christian and Catholic religions believes that Guardian angels serve as protectors

as well as caregivers and it is said the each and every one of us has one. Since, according to The Bible,

guardian angels play such a big role, there should be full days dedicated to them.

Psalm 91:10-12 New International Version (NIV) “no harm will overtake you, no disaster will come near your

tent. For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways; they will lift you up in their

hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.”

Religious imagery during the meeting (continued)

Saint Joseph: Mary’s husband and Jesus’ dad, however Mary was a virgin so some religions believe that he is Jesus’

foster dad.

The Most Blessed Sacrament of the Altar: Also known as communion, it’s a is a devotional name used in the the Catholic

Church, it symbolizes the blood and flesh of Jesus Christ.

The Suffering Jesus: Also known as the crucifixion, while Jesus was nailed to the cross with two other criminals he

suffered immensely for the worldly sins of others, and in most religions that is seen as a gift to be celebrated.

1 Peter 3:18 New International Version(NIV) “For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, to

bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive in the Spirit.”

Blessed Virgin Mary: The mother of Jesus. Most catholic churches believe that the glory and power she holds puts her on

almost the same level of importance as Jesus himself. She is seen as a saint to remind those of Catholic faith how God is

continuously working in their lives.

Religious imagery during the meeting (continued)

“The director stood in the embrasure of the window, his back to the light, leaning an elbow on the brown

crossblind, and, as he spoke and smiled, slowly dangling and looping the cord of the other blind, Stephen stood

before him, following for a moment with his eyes the waning of the long summer daylight above the roofs or the

slow deft movements of the priestly fingers. The priest’s face was in total shadow, but the waning daylight from

behind him touched the deeply grooved temples and the curves of the skull” (Page 123).

This passage portrays what will eventually be Stephen’s turn on religion. Everything described in the passage is

the opposite of what religion is supposed to be. The priest is described as a skull, which represents death, when

a priest is supposed to represent life and the love of God. The room that Stephen and the priest are in is dark,

and the priest has “his back to the light” which can be interpreted as his back towards God.

Mirror Images from Chapters 1 & 2

● Chapter 4 contributes to Joyce’s chiasmic structure because both chapters 2 and 4 end with images of women, and chapters 1 and 3 end with men.

● In the end of chapter 2

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