Themes a Portrait of an Artist as a Young Man James Joyce

¶ … Portrait of the Artist of a Young Man by James Joyce traces the development of Stephen Dedulas as a writer from infancy to young adulthood. While Joyce shows the maturation of Stephen Deduals, he is also painting a vivid image of Dublin, Ireland and Stephen Dedulas' world. One literary device that Joyce uses throughout his novel is the repetitious appearance of numerous images. Stephen's fascination with women, both real and imaginary, is prevalent from childhood and is used by Joyce as a common strain of imagery throughout the novel.

Stephen's main love interest in the novel is Emma Clere. Emma is a girl who has such an effect on Stephen's life that he relates many events of his life back to Emma. For instance, Stephen feels guilty for his involvement with prostitutes not because it is immoral, but because of what Emma would think of him if she found out. Emma serves as a muse for Stephen early in his life when he writes his first poem about her. He is so conservative about his writing and feelings as a youngster that he doesn't even write her name in the title of the poem, opting instead to use her initials. Later in Stephen's life, she serves as a true muse by provoking Stephen's feelings so much that he is moved to write excellent, inspired poetry.

Other women appear throughout A Portrait of an Artist as a Young Man in less significant roles than Emma. The imaginary Mercedes plays an inspirational role to Stephen as well. He uses her as somewhat of a female goal of his as he imagines himself as an aged writer who is coming home to Mercedes, who is his representation of an ideal wife. There is also the image in Stephen's mind of the figure of a woman dancing on the beach. It is through these imaginary figures that James Joyce allows Stephen to escape the strictness of Catholicism and the drabness of Dublin. Stephen's image of women is representative of his image of his art. As Stephen Dedulas matures, his feelings towards women and his literary growth develop on a parallel. From the time that Joyce tells of Stephen Dedulas' misunderstanding of nursery rhymes as a child along with his childhood intentions to marry his neighbor to his Emma-inspired poetry as a young adult, James Joyce uses the woman as both imagery and interpretive literary devices.