Student Scholarship

Document Type

Research Paper

Abstract

This study examines the artistic evolution of the character Stephen Dedalus across three of James Joyce's major works, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, Ulysses, and Exiles. The progression is analyzed through the framework of Stephen’s own aesthetic theory, which categorizes art into three successive forms: the lyrical, the epical, and the dramatic. Each stage of development corresponds to the artist's shifting relationship with his subject matter and his audience. 

In A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, the narrative represents the lyrical form, characterized by an instant of emotion and a subjective, egocentric focus. Stephen is depicted as a youth searching for identity while attempting to escape the restrictive "nets" of Irish society through his imagination. However, his art remains immature and "green," lacking a necessary grounding in external reality. 

The transition to the epical form occurs in Ulysses, where the artist’s personality begins to flow into the narration, creating a more mediate relationship with the world. Through his encounter and eventual atonement with Leopold Bloom, Stephen finds the "father" figure and the "reality of experience" required for mature creation. This union allows him to move beyond his introspective lyricism toward a more universal, human perspective. 

The development culminates in the dramatic form with the play Exiles. Here, the artist reaches a level of aesthetic maturity where the work of art is entirely separated from its creator, assuming a life of its own. Stephen, as the theoretical author, becomes an invisible "ghost" behind the work. By successfully transforming the "word made flesh" into a dramatic image, Stephen achieves true artistic freedom, having learned to forge a permanent monument out of the transitory materials of life and emotion.

Research Highlights

  • The Problem: The study examines the artistic development of Stephen Dedalus across three of James Joyce's major works, correlating his evolution with a specific hierarchy of lyrical, epical, and dramatic art forms. 

  • The Method: The author employs a history of ideas methodology combined with textual explication of A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, Ulysses, and Exiles, while incorporating established criticism from Stuart Gilbert and William York Tindall. 

  • Qualitative Finding: Stephen Dedalus progresses from a subjective, egocentric "son" in the lyrical Portrait to a maturing figure in the epical Ulysses, finally reaching the objective "dramatic" stage as the theoretical author and "ghost" of Exiles; water imagery and "sea changes" symbolize the artist's necessary encounter with reality to transform the "word" from personal emotion into an immortal, independent work of art. 

  • Finding: The study concludes that the "indefinite articles" in the title of Joyce's first novel imply the possibility of multiple portraits, and that Stephen's ultimate freedom is achieved only when he creates a dramatic work that frees his characters as Joyce freed him.

Publication Date

5-1968

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License

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