Heart of darkness

Part 1
Beginning through Marlows being hired as a steamboat captain.
Summary
At sundown, a pleasure ship called the Nellie lies anchored at the mouth of the Thames, waiting for the tide to go
out. Five men relax on the deck of the ship: the Director of Companies, who is also the captain and host, the
Lawer, the Accountant, !arlow, and the unnamed "arrator. The five men, old friends held together # $the #ond
of the sea,% are restless et meditative, as if waiting for something to happen. As darkness #egins to fall, and the
scene #ecomes $less #rilliant #ut more profound,% the men recall the great men and ships that have set forth from
the Thames on voages of trade and exploration, fre&uentl never to return. 'uddenl !arlow remarks that this
ver spot was once $one of the dark places of the earth.% (e notes that when the )omans first came to *ngland, it
was a great, savage wilderness to them. (e imagines what it must have #een like for a oung )oman captain or
soldier to come to a place so far from home and lacking in comforts.
This train of thought reminds !arlow of his sole experience as a $fresh+water sailor,% when as a oung man he
captained a steamship going up the Congo )iver. (e recounts that he first got the idea when, after returning from
a six+ear voage through Asia, he came across a map of Africa in a London shop window, which reinvigorated
his childhood fantasies a#out the $#lank spaces% on the map.
!arlow recounts how he o#tained a ,o# with the -elgian $Compan% that trades on the Congo )iver .the Congo
was then a -elgian territor/ through the influence of an aunt who had friends in the Compan0s administration.
The Compan was eager to send !arlow to Africa, #ecause one of the Compan0s steamer captains had recentl
#een killed in a scuffle with the natives.
Analysis
!arlow0s stor of a voage up the Congo )iver that he took as a oung man is the main narrative of Heart of
Darkness. !arlow0s narrative is framed # another narrative, in which one of the listeners to !arlow0s stor
explains the circumstances in which !arlow tells it. The narrator who #egins Heart of Darkness is unnamed, as
are the other three listeners, who are identified onl # their professional occupations. !oreover, the narrator
usuall speaks in the first+person plural, descri#ing what all four of !arlow0s listeners think and feel. The
unanimit and anonmit of !arlow0s listeners com#ine to create the impression that the represent conventional
perspectives and values of the -ritish esta#lishment.
For the narrator and his fellow travelers, the Thames con,ures up images of famous -ritish explorers who have
set out from that river on glorious voages. The narrator recounts the achievements of these explorers in a
cele#rator tone, calling them $knight+errants% of the sea, impling that such voages served a sacred, higher
purpose. The narrator0s attitude is that these men promoted the glor of 1reat -ritain, expanded knowledge of the
glo#e, and contri#uted to the civili2ation and enlightenment of the rest of the planet.
At the time Heart of Darkness was written, the -ritish *mpire was at its peak, and -ritain controlled colonies and
dependencies all over the planet. The popular saing that $the sun never sets on the -ritish *mpire% was literall
true. The main topic of Heart of Darkness is imperialism, a nation0s polic of exerting influence over other areas
through militar, political, and economic coercion. The narrator expresses the mainstream #elief that imperialism
is a glorious and worth enterprise. 3ndeed, in Conrad0s time, $empire% was one of the central values of -ritish
su#,ects, the fundamental term through which -ritain defined its identit and sense of purpose.
From the moment !arlow opens his mouth, he sets himself apart from his fellow passengers # con,uring up a
past in which -ritain was not the heart of civili2ation #ut the savage $end of the world.% Likewise, the Thames was
not the source of glorious ,ournes outward #ut the ominous #eginning of a ,ourne inward, into the heart of the
wilderness. This is tpical of !arlow as a storteller: he narrates in an ironic tone, giving the impression that his
audience0s assumptions are wrong, #ut not presenting a clear alternative to those assumptions. Throughout his
stor, distinctions such as inward and outward, civili2ed and savage, dark and light, are called into &uestion. -ut
the iron of !arlow0s stor is not as pronounced as in a satire, and !arlow0s and Conrad0s attitudes regarding
imperialism are never entirel clear.
From the wa !arlow tells his stor, it is clear that he is extremel critical of imperialism, #ut his reasons
apparentl have less to do with what imperialism does to coloni2ed peoples than with what it does to *uropeans.
!arlow suggests, in the first place, that participation in imperial enterprises degrades *uropeans # removing
them from the $civili2ing% context of *uropean societ, while simultaneousl tempting them into violent #ehavior
#ecause of the hostilit and lawlessness of the environment. !oreover, !arlow suggests that the mission of
$civili2ing% and $enlightening% native peoples is misguided, not #ecause he #elieves that the have a via#le
civili2ation and culture alread, #ut #ecause the are so savage that the pro,ect is overwhelming and hopeless.
!arlow expresses horror when he witnesses the violent maltreatment of the natives, and he argues that a kinship
exists #etween #lack Africans and *uropeans, #ut in the same #reath he states that this kinship is $ugl% and
horrifing, and that the kinship is extremel distant. "evertheless, it is not a simple matter to evaluate whether
!arlow0s attitudes are conservative or progressive, racist or $enlightened.%
3n the first place, one would have to decide in relation to whom !arlow was conservative or progressive. Clearl,
!arlow0s stor is shaped # the audience to whom he tells it. The anonmous narrator states that !arlow is
unconventional in his ideas, and his listeners0 derisive grunts and murmurs suggest that the are less inclined to
&uestion colonialism or to view Africans as human #eings than he is. (is criticisms of colonialism, #oth implicit
and explicit, are pitched to an audience that is far more smpathetic toward the colonial enterprise than an
twent+first+centur reader could #e. The framing narrative puts a certain amount of distance #etween !arlow0s
narrative and Conrad himself. This framework suggests that the reader should regard !arlow ironicall, #ut there
are few cues within the text to suggest an alternative to !arlow0s point of view.
After he hears that he has gotten the ,o#, !arlow travels across the *nglish Channel to a cit that reminds him of
a $whited sepulchre% .pro#a#l -russels/ to sign his emploment contract at the Compan0s office. First, however,
he digresses to tell the stor of his predecessor with the Compan, Fresleven. !uch later, after the events !arlow
is a#out to recount, !arlow was sent to recover Fresleven0s #ones, which he found ling in the center of a
deserted African village. Despite his reputation as mild mannered, Fresleven was killed in a scuffle over some
hens: after striking the village chief, he was sta##ed # the chief0s son. (e was left there to die, and the
superstitious natives immediatel a#andoned the village. !arlow notes that he never did find out what #ecame of
the hens.
Arriving at the Compan0s offices, !arlow finds two sinister women there knitting #lack wool, one of whom admits
him to a waiting room, where he looks at a map of Africa color+coded # colonial powers. A secretar takes him
into the inner office for a cursor meeting with the head of the Compan. !arlow signs his contract, and the
secretar takes him off to #e checked over # a doctor. The doctor takes measurements of his skull, remarking
that he unfortunatel doesn0t get to see those men who make it #ack from Africa. !ore important, the doctor tells
!arlow, $the changes take place inside.% The doctor is interested in learning anthing that ma give -elgians an
advantage in colonial situations.
4ith all formalities completed, !arlow stops off to sa good#e to his aunt, who expresses her hope that he will
aid in the civili2ation of savages during his service to the Compan, $weaning those ignorant millions from their
horrid was.% 4ell aware that the Compan operates for profit and not for the good of humanit, and #othered #
his aunt0s na5vet6, !arlow takes his leave of her. -efore #oarding the French steamer that is to take him to Africa,
!arlow has a #rief #ut strange feeling a#out his ,ourne: the feeling that he is setting off for the center of the
earth.
Analysis
This section has several concrete o#,ectives. The first of these is to locate !arlow more specificall within the
wider histor of colonialism. 3t is important that he goes to Africa in the service of a -elgian compan rather than a
-ritish one. The map that !arlow sees in the Compan offices shows the continent overlaid with #lotches of color,
each color standing for a different imperial power. 4hile the map represents a relativel neutral wa of descri#ing
imperial presences in Africa, !arlow0s comments a#out the map reveal that imperial powers were not all the
same. 3n fact, the ellow patch7$dead in the center%7covers the site of some of the most distur#ing atrocities
committed in the name of empire. The -elgian king, Leopold, treated the Congo as his private treasur, and the
-elgians had the reputation of #eing far and awa the most cruel and rapacious of the colonial powers. The
reference to -russels as a $whited sepulchre% is meant to #ring to mind a passage from the -ook of !atthew
concerning hpocris. The -elgian monarch spoke rhetoricall a#out the civili2ing #enefits of colonialism, #ut the
-elgian version of the practice was the #loodiest and most inhumane.
This does not, however, mean that Conrad seeks to indict the -elgians and praise other colonial powers. As
!arlow ,ournes into the Congo, he meets men from a variet of *uropean nations, all of whom are violent and
willing to do anthing to make their fortunes. !oreover, it must #e remem#ered that !arlow himself willingl goes
to work for this -elgian concern: at the moment he decides to do so, his personal desire for adventure far
outweighs an concerns he might have a#out particular colonial practices. This section of the #ook also
introduces another set of concerns, this time regarding women. Heart of Darkness has #een attacked # critics as
misognistic, and there is some ,ustification for this point of view. !arlow0s aunt does express a na5vel idealistic
view of the Compan0s mission, and !arlow is thus right to fault her for #eing $out of touch with truth.% (owever,
he phrases his criticism so as to make it applica#le to all women, suggesting that women do not even live in the
same world as men and that the must #e protected from realit. !oreover, the female characters in !arlow0s
stor are extremel flat and stli2ed. 3n part this ma #e #ecause !arlow uses women sm#olicall as
representatives of $home.% !arlow associates home with ideas gotten from #ooks and religion rather than from
experience. (ome is the seat of na5vet6, pre,udice, confinement, and oppression. 3t is the place of people who
have not gone out into the world and experienced, and who therefore cannot understand. "onetheless, the
women in !arlow0s stor exert a great deal of power. The influence of !arlow0s aunt does not stop at getting him
the ,o# #ut continues to echo through the Compan0s correspondence in Africa. At the Compan0s head&uarters,
!arlow encounters a num#er of apparentl influential women, hinting that all enterprises are ultimatel female+
driven.
!arlow0s departure from the world of -elgium and women is facilitated, according to him, # two eccentric men.
The first of these is Fresleven, the stor of whose death serves to #uild suspense and suggest to the reader the
transformations that *uropeans undergo in Africa. - *uropean standards, Fresleven was a good and gentle
man, not one likel to die as he did. This means either that the *uropean view of people is wrong and useless or
else that there is something a#out Africa that makes men #ehave a#errantl. -oth of these conclusions are
difficult to accept practicall or politicall, and thus the stor of Fresleven leaves the reader feeling am#ivalent and
cautious a#out !arlow0s stor to come.
The second figure presiding over !arlow0s departure is the Compan0s doctor. The doctor is perhaps the ultimate
sm#ol of futilit: he uses external measurements to tr to decipher what he admits are internal changes8
moreover, his su#,ects either don0t return from Africa or, if the do, don0t return to see him. Thus his work and his
advice are #oth totall useless. (e is the first of a series of functionaries with pointless ,o#s that !arlow will
encounter as he travels toward and then up the Congo )iver.
Part 1 (continued)
Marlows journey down the coast of Africa through his meeting with the chief accountant.
Summary
The French steamer takes !arlow along the coast of Africa, stopping periodicall to land soldiers and
customshouse officers. !arlow finds his idleness vexing, and the trip seems vaguel nightmarish to him. At one
point, the come across a French man+of+war shelling an apparentl uninha#ited forested stretch of coast. The
finall arrive at the mouth of the Congo )iver, where !arlow #oards another steamship #ound for a point thirt
miles upriver. The captain of the ship, a oung 'wede, recogni2es !arlow as a seaman and invites him on the
#ridge. The 'wede critici2es the colonial officials and tells !arlow a#out another 'wede who recentl hanged
himself on his wa into the interior.
!arlow disem#arks at the Compan0s station, which is in a terri#le state of disrepair. (e sees piles of decaing
machiner and a cliff #eing #lasted for no apparent purpose. (e also sees a group of #lack prisoners walking
along in chains under the guard of another #lack man, who wears a shodd uniform and carries a rifle. (e
remarks that he had alread known the $devils% of violence, greed, and desire, #ut that in Africa he #ecame
ac&uainted with the $fla##, pretending, weak+eed devil of a rapacious and pitiless foll.% Finall, !arlow comes
to a grove of trees and, to his horror, finds a group of ding native la#orers. (e offers a #iscuit to one of them8
seeing a #it of white *uropean arn tied around his neck, he wonders at its meaning. (e meets a nattil dressed
white man, the Compan0s chief accountant .not to #e confused with !arlow0s friend the Accountant from the
opening of the #ook/. !arlow spends ten das here waiting for a caravan to the next station. 9ne da, the chief
accountant tells him that in the interior he will undou#tedl meet !r. :urt2, a first+class agent who sends in as
much ivor as all the others put together and is destined for advancement. (e tells !arlow to let :urt2 know that
everthing is satisfactor at the 9uter 'tation when he meets him. The chief accountant is afraid to send a written
message for fear it will #e intercepted # undesira#le elements at the Central 'tation.
Analysis
!arlow0s description of his ,ourne on the French steamer makes use of an interior;exterior motif that continues
throughout the rest of the #ook. !arlow fre&uentl encounters inscruta#le surfaces that tempt him to tr to
penetrate into the interior of situations and places. The most prominent example of this is the French man+of+war,
which shells a forested wall of coastline. To !arlow0s mind, the entire coastline of the African continent presents a
solid green facade, and the spectacle of *uropean guns firing #lindl into that facade seems to #e a futile and
uncomprehending wa of addressing the continent.
$The fla##, pretending, weak+eed devil of a rapacious and pitiless foll% is one of the central images with which
!arlow characteri2es the #ehavior of the colonists. (e refers #ack to this image at a num#er of ke points later in
the stor. 3t is thus a ver important clue as to what !arlow actuall thinks is wrong a#out imperialism7!arlow0s
attitudes are usuall implied rather than directl stated. !arlow distinguishes this devil from violence, greed, and
desire, suggesting that the fundamental evil of imperialism is not that it perpetrates violence against native
peoples, nor that it is motivated # greed. The fla##, weak+eed devil seems to #e distinguished a#ove all #
#eing shortsighted and foolish, unaware of what it is doing and ineffective.
The hand of the $fla## devil% is apparent in the travesties of administration and the widespread deca in the
Compan0s stations. The colonials in the coastal station spend all their time #lasting a cliff for no apparent reason,
machiner lies #roken all around, and supplies are poorl apportioned, resting in a#undance where the are not
needed and never sent to where the are needed. 1iven the level of waste and inefficienc, this kind of colonial
activit clearl has something other than economic activit at stake, #ut ,ust what that something might #e is not
apparent. !arlow0s comments on the $fla## devil% produce a ver am#ivalent criticism of colonialism. 4ould
!arlow approve of the violent exploitation and extortion of the Africans if it was done in a more clear+sighted and
effective manner< This &uestion is difficult to answer definitivel.
9n the other hand, !arlow is appalled # the ghastl, infernal spectacle of the grove of death, while the other
colonials show no concern over it at all. For !arlow, the grove is the dark heart of the station. !arlow0s horror at
the grove suggests that the true evils of this colonial enterprise are dehumani2ation and death. All !arlow can
offer these ding men are a few pieces of #iscuit, and, despite the fact that !arlow is $not particularl tender,% the
situation trou#les him.
3n this section, !arlow finall learns the reason for the ,ourne he is to take up the Congo, although he does not
et reali2e the importance this reason will later take on. The chief accountant is the first to use the name of the
msterious !r. :urt2, speaking of him in reverent tones and alluding to a conspirac within the Compan, the
particulars of which !arlow never deciphers. Again, the name $:urt2% provides a surface that conceals a hidden
and potentiall threatening situation. 3t is appropriate, therefore, that the chief accountant is !arlow0s informant. 3n
his dress whites, the man epitomi2es success in the colonial world. (is $accomplishment% lies in keeping up
appearances, in looking as he would at home. Like everthing else !arlow encounters, the chief accountant0s
surface ma conceal a dark secret, in this case the native woman whom he has $taught%7perhaps violentl and
despite her $distaste for the work%7to care for his linens. !arlow has et to find a single white man with a valid
$excuse for #eing there% in Africa. !ore important, he has et to understand wh he himself is there.
Part 1 (continued)
Marlows journey to the entral !tation through the arri"al of the #ldorado #$ploring #$pedition.
Summary
!arlow travels overland for two hundred miles with a caravan of sixt men. (e has one white companion who falls
ill and must #e carried # the native #earers, who start to desert #ecause of the added #urden. After fifteen das
the arrive at the dilapidated Central 'tation. !arlow finds that the steamer he was to command has sunk. The
general manager of the Central 'tation had taken the #oat out two das #efore under the charge of a volunteer
skipper, and the had torn the #ottom out on some rocks. 3n light of what he later learns, !arlow suspects the
damage to the steamer ma have #een intentional, to keep him from reaching :urt2. !arlow soon meets with the
general manager, who strikes him as an altogether average man who leads # inspiring an odd uneasiness in
those around him and whose authorit derives merel from his resistance to tropical disease. The manager tells
!arlow that he took the #oat out in a hurr to relieve the inner stations, especiall the one #elonging to :urt2, who
is rumored to #e ill. (e praises :urt2 as an exceptional agent and takes note that :urt2 is talked a#out on the
coast.
%he word &i"ory rang in the air' was whispered' was sighed. (ou would think they were praying to it.
)!ee *mportant +uotations #$plained,
!arlow sets to work dredging his ship out of the river and repairing it, which ends up taking three months. 9ne
da during this time, a grass shed housing some trade goods #urns down, and the native la#orers dance
delightedl as it #urns. 9ne of the natives is accused of causing the fire and is #eaten severel8 he disappears
into the forest after he recovers. !arlow overhears the manager talking with the #rickmaker a#out :urt2 at the site
of the #urned hut. (e enters into conversation with the #rickmaker after the manager leaves, and ends up
accompaning the man #ack to his &uarters, which are noticea#l more luxurious than those of the other agents.
!arlow reali2es after a while that the #rickmaker is pumping him for information a#out the intentions of the
Compan0s #oard of directors in *urope, a#out which, of course, !arlow knows nothing. !arlow notices an
unusual painting on the wall, of a #lindfolded woman with a lighted torch8 when he asks a#out it, the #rickmaker
reveals that it is :urt20s work.
The #rickmaker tells !arlow that :urt2 is a prodig, sent as a special emissar of 4estern ideals # the
Compan0s directors and #ound for &uick advancement. (e also reveals that he has seen confidential
correspondence dealing with !arlow0s appointment, from which he has construed that !arlow is also a favorite of
the administration. The go outside, and the #rickmaker tries to get himself into !arlow0s good graces7and
:urt20s # prox, since he #elieves !arlow is allied with :urt2. !arlow reali2es the #rickmaker had planned on
#eing assistant manager, and :urt20s arrival has upset his chances. 'eeing an opportunit to use the
#rickmaker0s influence to his own ends, !arlow lets the man #elieve he reall does have influence in *urope and
tells him that he wants a &uantit of rivets from the coast to repair his ship. The #rickmaker leaves him with a
veiled threat on his life, #ut !arlow en,os his o#vious distress and confusion.
!arlow finds his foreman sitting on the deck of the ship and tells him that the will have rivets in three weeks, and
the #oth dance around exu#erantl. The rivets do not come, however. 3nstead, the *ldorado *xploring
*xpedition, a group of white men intent on $tear=ing> treasure out of the #owels of the land,% arrives, led # the
manager0s uncle, who spends his entire time at the station talking conspiratoriall with his nephew. !arlow gives
up on ever receiving the rivets he needs to repair his ship, and turns to wondering disinterestedl a#out :urt2 and
his ideals.
Analysis
As !arlow descri#es his caravan ,ourne through the depopulated interior of the colon, he remarks ironicall that
he was #ecoming $scientificall interesting%7an allusion to his conversation with the compan doctor in -russels.
1iven this, it is curious that !arlow talks so little a#out the caravan ,ourne itself. 3n part, this is #ecause it0s not
directl relevant to his stor7during this time he is neither in contact with representatives of the Compan nor
moving directl toward :urt2. "onetheless, something a#out this ,ourne renders !arlow a mster even to
himself8 he starts to think of himself as a potential case stud. Africa appears to him to #e something that happens
to a man, without his consent. 9ne wa to interpret this is that !arlow is disowning his own responsi#ilit .and
that of his fellow emploees/ for the atrocities committed # the Compan on the natives. -ecause of its merciless
environment and savage inha#itants, Africa itself is responsi#le for colonial violence. Forced to deal with his ailing
companion and a group of native porters who continuall desert and a#andon their loads, !arlow finds himself at
the top of the prover#ial slipper slope.
The men he finds at the Central 'tation allow him to regain his perspective, however. The goings+on here are
ridiculous: for example, !arlow watches a man tr to extinguish a fire using a #ucket with a hole in it. The
manager and the #rickmaker, the men in charge, are repeatedl descri#ed as hollow, $papier+m?ch6% figures. For
!arlow, who has ,ust experienced the surreal horrors of the continent0s interior, the idea that a man0s exterior ma
conceal onl a void is distur#ing. The alternative, of course, is that at the heart of these men lies not a void #ut a
vast, malevolent conspirac. The machinations of the manager and the #rickmaker suggest that, paradoxicall,
#oth ideas are correct: that these men indeed conceal #ad intentions, #ut that these intentions, despite the fact
that the lead to apparent evil, are meaningless in light of their context. The use of religious language to descri#e
the agents of the Central 'tation reinforces this paradoxical idea. !arlow calls the Compan0s rank and file
$pilgrims,% #oth for their ha#it of carring staves .with which to #eat native la#orers/ and for their mindless worship
of the wealth to #e had from ivor.
$3vor,% as it echoes through the air of the camp, sounds to !arlow like something unreal rather than a phsical
su#stance. !arlow suggests that the word echoes #ecause the station is onl a tin $cleared speck,% surrounded
# an $outside% that alwas threatens to close in, erasing the men and their pathetic am#itions. 9ver and over
again in this section of the #ook human voices are hurled against the wilderness, onl to #e thrown #ack # the
river0s surface or a wall of trees. "o matter how evil these men are, no matter how terri#le the atrocities the
commit against the natives, the are insignificant in the vastness of time and the phsical world. 'ome critics have
o#,ected toHeart of Darkness on the grounds that it #rushes aside or makes excuses for racism and colonial
violence, and that it even glamori2es them # making them the su#,ect of !arlow0s seemingl profound
ruminations.
9n a more concrete level, the events of this section move !arlow ever closer to the msterious :urt2. :urt2
increasingl appeals to !arlow as an alternative, no matter how dire, to the repellent men around him. The
painting in the #rickmaker0s &uarters, which !arlow learns is :urt20s work, draws !arlow in: the #lindfolded
woman with the torch represents for him an acknowledgment of the paradox and am#iguit of the African
situation, and this is a much more sophisticated response than he has seen from an of the other *uropeans he
has encountered. To the reader, the painting ma seem somewhat heav+handed, with its overtl allegorical
depiction of #lind and unseeing *uropean attempts to #ring the $light% of civili2ation to Africa. !arlow, however,
sees in it a level of self+awareness that offers a compelling alternative to the foll he has witnessed throughout the
Compan.
Part 2
Marlows o"erhearing of the con"ersation between the manager and his uncle through the beginning of his
"oyage up the ri"er.
Summary
9ne evening, as !arlow lies on the deck of his wrecked steamer, the manager and his uncle appear within
earshot and discuss :urt2. The manager complains that :urt2 has come to the Congo with plans to turn the
stations into #eacons of civili2ation and moral improvement, and that :urt2 wants to take over the manager0s
position. (e recalls that a#out a ear earlier :urt2 sent down a huge load of ivor of the highest &ualit # canoe
with his clerk, #ut that :urt2 himself had turned #ack to his station after coming @AA miles down the river. The
clerk, after turning over the ivor and a letter from :urt2 instructing the manager to stop sending him incompetent
men, informs the manager that :urt2 has #een ver ill and has not completel recovered.
Continuing to converse with his uncle, the manager mentions another man whom he finds trou#lesome, a
wandering trader. The manager0s uncle tells him to go ahead and have the trader hanged, #ecause no one will
challenge his authorit here. The manager0s uncle also suggests that the climate ma take care of all of his
difficulties for him, impling that :urt2 simpl ma die of tropical disease. !arlow is alarmed # the apparent
conspirac #etween the two men and leaps to his feet, revealing himself to them. The are visi#l startled #ut
move off without acknowledging his presence. "ot long after this incident, the *ldorado *xpedition, led # the
manager0s uncle, disappears into the wilderness.
*n a few days the #ldorado #$pedition went into the patient wilderness' that closed upon it as the sea closes o"er
a di"er.
)!ee *mportant +uotations #$plained,
!uch later, the crptic message arrives that all the expedition0s donkes have died. - that time, the repairs on
!arlow0s steamer are nearl complete, and !arlow is preparing to leave on a two+month trip up the river to :urt2,
along with the manager and several $pilgrims.% The river is treacherous and the trip is difficult8 the ship proceeds
onl with the help of a crew of natives the *uropeans call canni#als, who actuall prove to #e &uite reasona#le
people. The men a#oard the ship hear drums at night along the river#anks and occasionall catch glimpses of
native settlements during the da, #ut the can onl guess at what lies further inland. !arlow feels a sense of
kinship #etween himself and the savages along the river#anks, #ut his work in keeping the ship afloat and
steaming keeps him safel occupied and prevents him from #rooding too much.
Analysis
!arlow0s work ethic and professional skills are contrasted, throughout this section, with the incompetence and
la2iness of the Compan0s emploees. 4orking to repair his ship and then piloting it up the river provides a much+
needed distraction for !arlow, preventing him from #rooding upon the foll of his fellow *uropeans and the
savager of the natives. To !arlow0s mind, work represents the fulfillment of a contract #etween two independent
human #eings. )epairing the steamer and then piloting it, he convinces himself, has little to do with the
exploitation and horror he sees all around him.
"evertheless, !arlow is continuall forced to interpret the surrounding world. The description of his ,ourne
upriver is strange and distur#ing. !arlow descri#es the trip as a ,ourne #ack in time, to a $prehistoric earth.% This
remark reflects the *uropean inclination to view coloni2ed peoples as primitive, further #ack on the evolutionar
scale than *uropeans, and it recalls !arlow0s comment at the #eginning of his narrative a#out *ngland0s own
past. 4hat distur#s !arlow most a#out the native peoples he sees along the river, in his words, is $this suspicion
of their not #eing inhuman%: in some deep wa these $savages% are like *uropeans, perhaps ,ust like the *nglish
were when -ritain was coloni2ed # )ome. !arlow0s self+imposed isolation from the manager and the rest of the
pilgrims forces him to consider the African mem#ers of his crew, and he is confused a#out what he sees. (e
wonders, for example, how his native fireman .the crewman who keeps the #oiler going/ is an different from a
poorl educated, ignorant *uropean doing the same ,o#.
*t was unearthly' and the men were-No' they were not inhuman. .ell' you know' that was the worst of it-the
suspicion of their not being inhuman.
)!ee *mportant +uotations #$plained,
The msterious figure of :urt2 is at the heart of !arlow0s confusion. The manager seems to suggest that his own
resistance against the conse&uences of the tropical climate reflects not ,ust phsical constitution #ut a moral
fitness, or the approval of some higher power. That this could #e the case is terrifing to !arlow, and in his shock
he exposes his disdain of the manager to the man himself. Bet !arlow has a difficult time anal2ing what he has
overheard a#out :urt2: if the manager0s stor contains an truth, then :urt2 must #e a monomaniacal if not
pschotic individual. "ext to the pett am#itions and scophantic maneuverings of the manager, however, :urt20s
grandiose gestures and morall am#iguous successes are appealing.
Cerhaps the most remarka#le aspect of this section, though, is how little actuall happens. The ,ourne up the
river is full of threatened disasters, #ut none of them comes to pass, thanks to !arlow0s skill8 the most explosive
potential conflict arises from an act of eavesdropping. The stillness and silence surrounding this single steamer
full of *uropeans in the midst of the vast African continent provoke in !arlow an attitude of restless watchfulness:
he feels as if he has $no time% and must constantl $discern, mostl # inspiration, =hidden> signs.% 3n this wa, his
piloting a steam#oat along a treacherous river comes to sm#oli2e his finding his wa through a world of
conspiracies, msteries, and inaccessi#le #lack faces. "ow that #oth Africa and *urope have #ecome
impenetra#le to !arlow, onl the larger+than+life :urt2 seems $real.%
Part 2 (continued)
Marlows disco"ery of the stack of firewood through the attack on the steamer.
Summary
Fift miles awa from :urt20s 3nner 'tation, the steamer sights a hut with a stack of firewood and a note that sas,
$4ood for ou. (urr up. Approach cautiousl.% The signature is illegi#le, #ut it is clearl not :urt20s. 3nside the
hut, !arlow finds a #attered old #ook on seamanship with notes in the margin in what looks like code. The
manager concludes that the wood must have #een left # the )ussian trader, a man a#out whom !arlow has
overheard the manager complaining. After taking a#oard the firewood that serves as the ship0s fuel, the part
continues up the river, the steamer struggling and threatening at ever moment to give out completel. !arlow
ponders :urt2 constantl as the crawl along toward him.
- the evening of the second da after finding the hut, the arrive at a point eight miles from :urt20s station.
!arlow wants to press on, #ut the manager tells him to wait for dalight, as the waters are dangerous here. The
night is strangel still and silent, and dawn #rings an oppressive fog. The fog lifts suddenl and then falls again
,ust as a#ruptl. The men on the steamer hear a loud, desolate cr, followed # a clamor of savage voices, and
then silence again. The prepare for attack. The whites are #adl shaken, #ut the African crewmen respond with
&uiet alertness. The leader of the canni#als tells !arlow matter+of+factl that his people want to eat the owners of
the voices in the fog. !arlow reali2es that the canni#als must #e terri#l hungr, as the have not #een allowed to
go ashore to trade for supplies, and their onl food, a suppl of rotting hippo meat, was long since thrown
over#oard # the pilgrims.
The manager authori2es !arlow to take ever risk in continuing on in the fog, #ut !arlow refuses to do so, as
the will surel ground the steamer if the proceed #lindl. !arlow sas he does not think the natives will attack,
particularl since their cries have sounded more sorrowful than warlike. After the fog lifts, at a spot a mile and a
half from the station, the natives attempt to repulse the invaders. The steamer is in a narrow channel, moving
along slowl next to a high #ank overgrown with #ushes, when suddenl the air fills with arrows. !arlow rushes
inside the pilot+house. 4hen he leans out to close the shutter on the window, he sees that the #rush is swarming
with natives. 'uddenl, he notices a snag in the river a short wa ahead of the steamer.
The pilgrims open fire with rifles from #elow him, and the cloud of smoke the produce o#scures his sight.
!arlow0s African helmsman leaves the wheel to open the shutter and shoot out with a one+shot rifle, and then
stands at the open window elling at the unseen assailants on the shore. !arlow gra#s the wheel and crowds the
steamer close to the #ank to avoid the snag. As he does so, the helmsman takes a spear in his side and falls on
!arlow0s feet. !arlow frightens the attackers awa # sounding the steam whistle repeatedl, and the give off a
prolonged cr of fear and despair. 9ne of the pilgrims enters the pilot+house and is shocked to see the wounded
helmsman. The two white men stand over him as he dies &uietl. !arlow makes the repulsed and indignant
pilgrim steer while he changes his shoes and socks, which are covered in the dead man0s #lood. !arlow expects
that :urt2 is now dead as well, and he feels a terri#le disappointment at the thought.
9ne of !arlow0s listeners #reaks into his narrative at this point to comment upon the a#surdit of !arlow0s
#ehavior. !arlow laughs at the man, whose comforta#le #ourgeois existence has never #rought him into contact
with anthing the likes of Africa. (e admits that his own #ehavior ma have #een ridiculous7he did, after all,
throw a pair of #rand+new shoes over#oard in response to the helmsman0s death7#ut he notes that there is
something legitimate a#out his disappointment in thinking he will never #e a#le to meet the man #ehind the
legend of :urt2.
Analysis
!arlow makes a ma,or error of interpretation in this section, when he decides that the cries coming from the
river#ank do not portend an attack. That he is wrong is more or less irrelevant, since the steamer has no real
a#ilit to escape. The fog that surrounds the #oat is literal and metaphorical: it o#scures, distorts, and leaves
!arlow with onl voices and words upon which to #ase his ,udgments. 3ndeed, this has #een !arlow0s situation
for much of the #ook, as he has had to formulate a notion of :urt2 #ased onl on secondhand accounts of the
man0s exploits and personalit. This has #een #oth enriching and dangerous for !arlow. 9n the one hand, having
the figure of :urt2 availa#le as an o#,ect for contemplation has provided a release for !arlow, a distraction from
his unsavor surroundings, and :urt2 has also functioned as a kind of #lank slate onto which !arlow can pro,ect
his own opinions and values. :urt2 gives !arlow a sense of possi#ilit. At the same time, !arlow0s fantasi2ing
a#out :urt2 has its ha2ards. - #ecoming intrigued with :urt2, !arlow #ecomes dangerousl alienated from, and
disliked #, the Compan0s representatives. !oreover, !arlow focuses his energies and hopes on a man who
ma #e nothing like the legends surrounding him. (owever, with nothing else to go on and no other alternatives to
the manager and his ilk, !arlow has little choice.
This section contains man instances of contradictor language, reflecting !arlow0s difficult and uncomforta#le
position. The steamer, for example, $tears slowl along% the river#ank: $to tear% usuall indicates great speed or
haste, #ut the oxmoronic addition of $slowl% immediatel strips the phrase of an discerni#le meaning and
makes it ridiculous. !arlow0s companions a#oard the steamer prove e&uall paradoxical. The $pilgrims% are rough
and violent men. The $canni#als,% on the other hand, conduct themselves with &uiet dignit: although the are
malnourished, the perform their ,o#s without complaint. 3ndeed, the even show flashes of humor, as when their
leader teases !arlow # saing that the would like to eat the owners of the voices the hear coming from the
shore. The com#ination of humane canni#als and #loodthirst pilgrims, all overseen # a manager who manages
clandestinel rather than openl, creates an atmosphere of the surreal and the a#surd. Thus, it is not surprising
when the ship is attacked # 'tone Age weaponr .arrows and spears/, and it is e&uall appropriate that the
attack is not repelled with #ullets #ut # manipulating the superstitions and fears of those ashore7simpl #
#lowing the steamer0s whistle. The primitive weapons used # #oth sides in the attack reinforce !arlow0s notion
that the trip up the river is a trip #ack in time. !arlow0s response to the helmsman0s death reflects the general
atmosphere of contradiction and a#surdit: rather than immediatel mourning his right+hand man, !arlow
changes his socks and shoes.
3n the meantime, tension continues to #uild as !arlow draws nearer to :urt2. After the attack, !arlow speculates
that :urt2 ma #e dead, #ut the strange message and the #ook full of notes left with the firewood suggest
otherwise. !arlow does not need to #e told to $hurr up%: his eagerness to meet :urt2 draws him onward. To
meet :urt2 will #e to create a coherent whole in a world sorel lacking in such things8 # matching the man with
his voice, !arlow hopes to come to an understanding a#out what happens to men in places like the Congo.
Part 2 (continued)
Marlows digression about /urt0 through his meeting with the 1ussian trader.
Summary
!arlow #reaks into the narrative here to offer a digression on :urt2. (e notes that :urt2 had a fianc6e, his
3ntended .as :urt2 called her/, waiting for him in *urope. !arlow attaches no importance to :urt20s fianc6e, since,
for him, women exist in an alternate fantas world. 4hat !arlow does find significant a#out :urt20s 3ntended,
though, is the air of possession :urt2 assumed when speaking a#out her: indeed, :urt2 spoke of everthing7
ivor, the 3nner 'tation, the river7as #eing innatel his. 3t is this sense of dark master that distur#s !arlow most.
!arlow also mentions a report :urt2 has written at the re&uest of the 3nternational 'ociet for the 'uppression of
'avage Customs. The report is elo&uent and powerful, if lacking in practical suggestions. 3t concludes, however,
with a handwritten postscript: $*xterminate all the #rutesD% !arlow suggests that this coda, the $exposition of
=:urt20s> method,% is the result of :urt20s a#sorption into native life7that # the time he came to write this note he
had assumed a position of power with respect to the natives and had #een a participant in $unspeaka#le rites,%
where sacrifices had #een made in his name. At this point, !arlow also reveals that he feels he is responsi#le for
the $care of =:urt20s> memor,% and that he has no choice #ut to remem#er and continue to talk a#out the man.
At the time !arlow is telling his stor, he is still unsure whether :urt2 was worth the lives lost on his #ehalf8 thus,
at this point, he returns to his dead helmsman and the ,ourne up the river. !arlow #lames the helmsman0s death
on the man0s own lack of restraint: had the helmsman not tried to fire at the men on the river#ank, he would not
have #een killed. !arlow drags the helmsman0s #od out of the pilot+house and throws it over#oard. The pilgrims
are indignant that the man will not receive a proper #urial, and the canni#als seem to mourn the loss of a potential
meal. The pilgrims have concluded :urt2 must #e dead and the 3nner 'tation destroed, #ut the are cheered at
the crushing defeat the #elieve the dealt their unseen attackers. !arlow remains skeptical and sarcasticall
congratulates them on the amount of smoke the have managed to produce. 'uddenl, the 3nner 'tation comes
into view, somewhat decaed #ut still standing.
A white man, the )ussian trader, #eckons to them from the shore. (e wears a gaud patchwork suit and #a##les
incessantl. (e is aware the have #een attacked #ut tells them that everthing will now #e oka. The manager
and the pilgrims go up the hill to retrieve :urt2, while the )ussian #oards the ship to converse with !arlow. (e
tells !arlow that the natives mean no harm .although he is less than convincing on this point/, and he confirms
!arlow0s theor that the ship0s whistle is the #est means of defense, since it will scare the natives off. (e gives a
#rief account of himself: he has #een a merchant seaman and was outfitted # a Dutch trading house to go into
the African interior. !arlow gives him the #ook on seamanship that had #een left with the firewood, and the trader
is ver happ to have it #ack. As it turns out, what !arlow had thought were encoded notes are simpl notes
written in )ussian. The )ussian trader tells !arlow that he has had trou#le restraining the natives, and he
suggests that the steamer was attacked #ecause the natives do not want :urt2 to leave. The )ussian also offers
et another enigmatic picture of :urt2. According to the trader, one does not talk to :urt2 #ut listens to him. The
trader credits :urt2 for having $enlarged his mind.%
Analysis
The interruption and digression at the #eginning of this section suggests that !arlow has #egun to feel the need
to ,ustif his own conduct. !arlow speaks of his fascination with :urt2 as something over which he has no control,
as if :urt2 refuses to #e forgotten. This is one of a num#er of instances in which !arlow suggests that a person0s
responsi#ilit for his actions is not clear+cut. The )ussian trader is another example of this: !arlow does not
clarif whether the trader follows :urt2 #ecause of :urt20s charisma, or #ecause of the trader0s weakness or
insanit.
!arlow repeatedl characteri2es :urt2 as a voice, suggesting that elo&uence is his defining trait. -ut :urt20s
elo&uence is empt. !oreover, the picture that !arlow paints of :urt2 is extremel ironic. -oth in *urope and in
Africa, :urt2 is reputed to #e a great humanitarian. 4hereas the other emploees of the Compan onl want to
make a profit or to advance to a #etter position within the Compan, :urt2 em#odies the ideals and fine
sentiments with which *uropeans ,ustified imperialism7particularl the idea that *uropeans #rought light and
civili2ation to savage peoples. -ut when !arlow discovers him, :urt2 has #ecome so ruthless and rapacious that
even the other managers are shocked. (e refers to the ivor as his own and sets himself up as a primitive god to
the natives. (e has written a seventeen+page document on the suppression of savage customs, to #e
disseminated in *urope, #ut his supposed desire to $civili2e% the natives is strikingl contradicted # his postscript,
$*xterminate all the #rutesD% !arlow is careful to tell his listeners that there was something wrong with :urt2,
some flaw in his character that made him go insane in the isolation of the 3nner 'tation. -ut the o#vious
implication of !arlow0s stor is that the humanitarian ideals and sentiments ,ustifing imperialism are empt, and
are merel rationali2ations for exploitation and extortion.
!arlow0s #ehavior in the face of an increasingl insane situation demonstrates his refusal to give in to the forces
of madness. - throwing the dead helmsman over#oard, !arlow spares him from #ecoming dinner for the
canni#als, #ut he also saves him from what the helmsman might have found even worse: the hpocris of a
Christian #urial # the pilgrims. 3n contrast with the pilgrims0 foll and hpocris, :urt20s serene dictatorship is
more attractive to !arlow. 3n fact, as !arlow0s digression at the #eginning of this section suggests, right and
wrong, sane and insane, are indistinguisha#le in this world gone mad. Force of personalit is the onl means #
which men are ,udged. As !arlow0s a#ilit to captivate his listeners with his stor suggests, charisma ma #e his
link with :urt2. 4hat the )ussian trader sas of :urt2 is true of !arlow too: he is a man to whom people listen,
not someone with whom the converse. Thus, the darkness in :urt2 ma repel !arlow mostl #ecause it reflects
his own internal darkness.
Part 3
%he 1ussian traders description of /urt0 through the 1ussian traders departure from the *nner !tation.
Summary
The )ussian trader #egs !arlow to take :urt2 awa &uickl. (e recounts for !arlow his initial meeting with :urt2,
telling him that :urt2 and the trader spent a night camped in the forest together, during which :urt2 discoursed on
a #road range of topics. The trader again asserts that listening to :urt2 has greatl enlarged his mind. (is
connection to :urt2, however, has gone through periods of rise and decline. (e nursed :urt2 through two
illnesses #ut sometimes would not see him for long periods of time, during which :urt2 was out raiding the
countrside for ivor with a native tri#e he had gotten to follow him. Although :urt2 has #ehaved erraticall and
once even threatened to shoot the trader over a small stash of ivor, the trader nevertheless insists that :urt2
cannot #e ,udged as one would ,udge a normal man. (e has tried to get :urt2 to return to civili2ation several
times. The )ussian tells !arlow that :urt2 is extremel ill now. As he listens to the trader, !arlow idl looks
through his #inoculars and sees that what he had originall taken for ornamental #alls on the tops of fence posts
in the station compound are actuall severed heads turned to face the station house. (e is repelled #ut not
particularl surprised. The )ussian apologeticall explains that these are the heads of re#els, an explanation that
makes !arlow laugh out loud. The )ussian makes a point of telling !arlow that he has had no medicine or
supplies with which to treat :urt28 he also asserts that :urt2 has #een shamefull a#andoned # the Compan.
At that moment, the pilgrims emerge from the station+house with :urt2 on an improvised stretcher, and a group of
natives rushes out of the forest with a piercing cr. :urt2 speaks to the natives, and the natives withdraw and
allow the part to pass. The manager and the pilgrims la :urt2 in one of the ship0s ca#ins and give him his mail,
which the have #rought from the Central 'tation. 'omeone has written to :urt2 a#out !arlow, and :urt2 tells
him that he is $glad% to see him. The manager enters the ca#in to speak with :urt2, and !arlow withdraws to the
steamer0s deck. From here he sees two natives standing near the river with impressive headdresses and spears,
and a #eautiful native woman draped in ornaments pacing gracefull along the shore. 'he stops and stares out at
the steamer for a while and then moves awa into the forest. !arlow notes that she must #e wearing several
elephant tusks0 worth of ornaments. The )ussian implies that she is :urt20s mistress, and states that she has
caused him trou#le through her influence over :urt2. (e adds that he would have tried to shoot her if she had
tried to come a#oard. The trader0s comments are interrupted # the sound of :urt2 elling at the manager inside
the ca#in. :urt2 accuses the men of coming for the ivor rather than to help him, and he threatens the manager
for interfering with his plans.
The manager comes out and takes !arlow aside, telling him that the have done everthing possi#le for :urt2,
#ut that his unsound methods have closed the district off to the Compan for the time #eing. (e sas he plans on
reporting :urt20s $complete want of ,udgment% to the Compan0s directors. Thoroughl disgusted # the
manager0s hpocritical condemnation of :urt2, !arlow tells the manager that he thinks :urt2 is a $remarka#le
man.% 4ith this statement, !arlow permanentl alienates himself from the manager and the rest of the Compan
functionaries. Like :urt2, !arlow is now classified among the $unsound.% As the manager walks off, the )ussian
approaches again, to confide in !arlow that :urt2 ordered the attack on the steamer, hoping that the manager
would assume he was dead and turn #ack. After the )ussian asks !arlow to protect :urt20s reputation, !arlow
tells the )ussian that the manager has spoken of having the )ussian hanged. The trader is not surprised and,
after hitting !arlow up for to#acco, gun cartridges, and shoes, leaves in a canoe with some native paddlers.
Analysis
Entil this point, !arlow0s narrative has featured prominentl msterious signs and sm#ols, which !arlow has
struggled to interpret. "ow he confronts the realit of the 3nner 'tation, and witnesses that sm#ols possess a
distur#ing power to define $realit% and influence people. The natives perceive :urt2 as a mthical deit and think
that the guns carried # his followers are lightning #olts, sm#ols of power rather than actual weapons. !arlow
and the )ussian trader are aware of the guns0 power to kill, however, and the react nervousl at :urt20s show of
force. :urt2 himself acts as a sm#ol for all of the other characters, not onl the natives. To the )ussian trader, he
is a source of knowledge a#out everthing from economics to love. To !arlow, :urt2 offers $a choice of
nightmares,% something distinct from the hpocritical evils of the manager. To the manager and the pilgrims, he is
a scapegoat, someone the can punish for failing to uphold the $civili2ed% ideals of colonialism, there# making
themselves seem less reprehensi#le. The long+awaited appearance of the man himself demonstrates ,ust how
empt these formulations are, however. (e is little more than a skeleton, and even his name proves not to #e an
ade&uate description of him .:urt2 means $short% in 1erman, #ut :urt2 is tall/. Thus, #oth words and sm#ols are
shown to have little #asis in realit.
:urt20s African mistress provides another example of the power of sm#ols and the du#ious value of words. The
woman is never given the title $mistress,% although it seems clear that she and :urt2 have a sexual relationship.
To acknowledge through the use of the term that a white man and a #lack woman could #e lovers seems to #e
more than the manager and the )ussian trader are willing to do. Despite their desire to discredit :urt2, the
transgression implied # :urt20s relationship is not something the want to discuss. To !arlow, the woman is
a#ove all an aesthetic and economic o#,ect. 'he is $super#% and $magnificent,% dripping with the trappings of
wealth. As we have seen in earlier sections of !arlow0s narrative, he #elieves that women represent the ideals of
a civili2ation: it is on their #ehalf that men undertake economic enterprises, and it is their #eaut that comes to
sm#oli2e nations and was of life. Thus, :urt20s African mistress plas a role strikingl like that of :urt20s
fianc6e: like his fianc6e, :urt20s mistress is lavished with material goods, #oth to keep her in her place and to
displa his success and wealth.
!arlow and the )ussian trader offer alternate perspectives throughout this section. The )ussian is naive to the
point of idioc, et he has much in common with !arlow. -oth have come to Africa in search of something
experiential, and #oth end up aligning themselves with :urt2 against other *uropeans. The )ussian, who seems
to exist upon $glamour% and outh, is drawn to the sstematic &ualities of :urt20s thought. Although :urt2 #ehaves
irrationall toward him, for the trader, the great man0s philosophical mind offers a #ulwark against the even greater
irrationalit of Africa. For !arlow, on the other hand, :urt2 represents the choice of outright perversion over
hpocritical ,ustifications of cruelt. !arlow and the )ussian are distur#ingl similar to one another, as the transfer
of responsi#ilit for :urt20s $reputation% from the )ussian to !arlow suggests. The manager0s implicit
condemnation of !arlow as $unsound% is correct, if for the wrong reasons: # choosing :urt2, !arlow has, in fact,
like the cheerfull idiotic )ussian, merel chosen one kind of nightmare over another.
Part 3 (continued)
Marlows nighttime pursuit of /urt0 through the steamships departure from the *nner !tation.
Summary
)emem#ering the )ussian trader0s warning, !arlow gets up in the middle of the night and goes out to look
around for an sign of trou#le. From the deck of the steamer, he sees one of the pilgrims with a group of the
canni#als keeping guard over the ivor, and he sees the fires of the natives0 camp in the forest. (e hears a drum
and a stead chanting, which lulls him into a #rief sleep. A sudden out#urst of ells wakes him, #ut the loud noise
immediatel su#sides into a rhthmic chanting once again. !arlow glances into :urt20s ca#in onl to find that
:urt2 is gone. (e is unnerved, #ut he does not raise an alarm, and instead decides to leave the ship to search for
:urt2 himself.
(e finds a trail in the grass and reali2es that :urt2 must #e crawling on all fours. !arlow runs along the trail after
him8 :urt2 hears him coming and rises to his feet. The are now close to the fires of the native camp, and !arlow
reali2es the danger of his situation, as :urt2 could easil call out to the natives and have him killed. :urt2 tells him
to go awa and hide, and !arlow looks over and sees the imposing figure of a native sorcerer silhouetted against
the fire. !arlow asks :urt2 if he knows what he is doing, and :urt2 replies emphaticall that he does. Despite his
phsical advantage over the invalid, !arlow feels impotent, and threatens to strangle :urt2 if he should call out to
the natives. :urt2 #emoans the failure of his grand schemes, and !arlow reassures him that he is thought a
success in *urope. 'ensing the other man0s vulnera#ilit, !arlow tells :urt2 he will #e lost if he continues on.
:urt20s resolution falters, and !arlow helps him #ack to the ship.
The steamer departs the next da at noon, and the natives appear on the shore to watch it go. Three men painted
with red earth and wearing horned headdresses wave charms and shout incantations at the ship as it steams
awa. !arlow places :urt2 in the pilot+house to get some air, and :urt2 watches through the open window as his
mistress rushes down to the shore and calls out to him. The crowd responds to her cr with an uproar of its own.
!arlow sounds the whistle as he sees the pilgrims get out their rifles, and the crowd scatters, to the pilgrims0
disma. 9nl the woman remains standing on the shore as the pilgrims open fire, and !arlow0s view is o#scured
# smoke.
Analysis
!arlow descri#es his developing relationship with :urt2 in terms of intimac and #etraal. The extravagant
sm#olism of the previous section is largel a#sent here. 3nstead, !arlow and :urt2 confront one another in a
dark forest, with no one else around. !arlow seems to stand #oth phsicall and metaphoricall #etween :urt2
and a final plunge into madness and depravit, as sm#oli2ed # the native sorcerer presiding over the fire at the
native camp. 3t occurs to !arlow that, from a practical standpoint, he should strangle :urt2. The nearness of the
natives puts !arlow in danger, and :urt2 is going to die soon anwa. Bet to kill :urt2 would not onl #e
hpocritical #ut, for !arlow, impossi#le. As !arlow perceives it, :urt20s $crime% is that he has re,ected all of the
principles and o#ligations that make up *uropean societ. !arlow $could not appeal =to him> in the name of
anthing high or low.% :urt2 has #ecome an entirel self+sufficient unit, a man who has $kicked himself loose of
the earth.% 3n a wa, the )ussian trader is right to claim that :urt2 cannot #e ,udged # normal standards. :urt2
has alread ,udged, and re,ected, the standards # which other people are ,udged, and thus it seems irrelevant to
#ring such standards #ack to #ear on him.
!arlow suggests that Africa is responsi#le for :urt20s current condition. (aving re,ected *uropean societ, :urt2
has #een forced to look into his own soul, and this introspection has driven him mad. :urt20s illness, resulting from
his #od0s ina#ilit to function outside of a normal .i.e., *uropean/ environment, reflects his psche0s ina#ilit to
function outside of a normal social environment. Despite the hpocris latent in social norms, these norms provide
a framework of securit and defined expectations within which an individual can exist. 3n Freudian terms, we
might sa that :urt2 has lost his superego, and that it is the terror of limitless freedom, with no oversight or
punishment, that leads to his madness. :urt2 now knows himself to #e capa#le of anthing. !arlow claims that
his recognition of this capacit forces him to look into :urt20s soul, and that his coming face+to+face with :urt2 is
his $punishment.% !arlow0s epiphan a#out the roots of :urt20s madness does lead to a moment of profound
intimac #etween the two men, as !arlow #oth comes to understand :urt20s deepest self+awareness and in turn
is forced to appl this reali2ation to himself, as he sees that :urt20s actual depravit mirrors his own potential
depravit. 1iven this, for !arlow to #etra :urt27whether # killing him or # siding with the manager against him
7would #e to #etra himself. Later in the narrative, when !arlow speaks of his $choice of nightmares,% the
alternatives of which he speaks are social in,ustice and cruelt on the one hand, and the reali2ation that one0s
soul is empt and infinitel capa#le of depravit on the other hand.
The pilgrims0 fervent desire to use the natives for target practice as the steamer departs clearl reflects the former
choice. :urt20s mistress and, more generall, his level of control over the natives at the station are reminders that
the kind of self+immolation that :urt2 has chosen has nothing inherentl no#le a#out it. :urt20s reali2ation of his
potential for depravit has not kept him from exercising it. 'ignificantl, :urt20s mistress demonstrates that
although :urt2 has $kicked himself loose from the earth,% he cannot help #ut reenact some of the social practices
he has re,ected. There is something sentimental a#out her #ehavior, despite her hard+edged appearance, and her
relationship with :urt2 seems to have some of the same characteristics of romance, manipulation, and adoration
as a traditional *uropean male+female coupling. !oreover, as was noted in the previous section, with all her
finer she has come to sm#oli2e value and economic enterprise, much as a *uropean woman would. Critics
have often read her as a racist and misognist stereotpe, and in man was this is true. (owever, the fact that
:urt2 and !arlow #oth view her as a sm#ol rather than as a person is part of the point: we are supposed to
recogni2e that she is activel stereotped # :urt2 and # !arlow.
Part 3 (continued)
Marlows journey back down the ri"er through his falling ill.
Summary
The current speeds the steamer0s progress #ack toward civili2ation. The manager, certain that :urt2 will soon #e
dead, is pleased to have things in hand8 he condescendingl ignores !arlow, who is now clearl of the $unsound%
#ut harmless part. The pilgrims are disdainful, and !arlow, for the most part, is left alone with :urt2. As he had
done with the )ussian trader, :urt2 takes advantage of his captive audience to hold forth on a variet of su#,ects.
!arlow is alternatel impressed and disappointed. :urt20s philosophical musings are interspersed with grandiose
and childish plans for fame and fortune.
%he brown current ran swiftly out of the heart of darkness' bearing us down towards the sea with twice the speed
of our upward progress2 and /urt0s life was running swiftly' too. . . .
)!ee *mportant +uotations #$plained,
The steamer #reaks down, and repairs take some time. !arlow is slowl #ecoming ill, and the work is hard on
him. :urt2 seems trou#led, pro#a#l #ecause the dela has made him reali2e that he pro#a#l will not make it
#ack to *urope alive. 4orried that the manager will gain control of his $legac,% :urt2 gives !arlow a #undle of
papers for safekeeping. :urt20s ram#lings #ecome more a#stract and more rhetorical as his condition worsens.
!arlow #elieves he is reciting portions of articles he has written for the newspapers: :urt2 thinks it his $dut% to
disseminate his ideas. Finall, one night, :urt2 admits to !arlow that he is $waiting for death.% As !arlow
approaches, :urt2 seems to #e receiving some profound knowledge or vision, and the look on his face forces
!arlow to stop and stare. :urt2 cries out7$The horrorD The horrorD%7and !arlow flees, not wanting to watch the
man die. (e ,oins the manager in the dining hall, which is suddenl overrun # flies. A moment later, a servant
comes in to tell them, $!istah :urt27he dead.%
The pilgrims #ur :urt2 the next da. !arlow succum#s to illness and nearl dies himself. (e suffers greatl, #ut
the worst thing a#out his near+death experience is his reali2ation that in the end he would have $nothing to sa.%
:urt2, he reali2es, was remarka#le #ecause he $had something to sa. (e said it.% !arlow remem#ers little a#out
the time of his illness. 9nce he has recovered sufficientl, he leaves Africa and returns to -russels.
Analysis
-oth :urt2 and !arlow experience a #rief interlude during which the float #etween life and death, although their
final fates differ. For :urt2, the imminence of death ironicall causes him to seek to return to the world from which
he had $kicked himself loose.% 'uddenl, his legac and his ideas seem ver important to him, and he turns to
!arlow to preserve them. :urt20s final am#itions7to #e famous and feted # kings, to have his words read #
millions7suggest a desire to change the world. This is a change from his previous formulations, which posited a
choice #etween ac&uiescence to existing norms or total isolation from societ. (owever, these final schemes of
:urt20s .which !arlow descri#es as $childish%/ reflect :urt20s desire for self+aggrandi2ement rather than an
progressive social program. :urt2 dies. (is last words are paradoxicall full of meaning et totall empt. 3t is
possi#le to read them as an acknowledgment of :urt20s own misguided life and despica#le acts, as a description
of his inner darkness8 certainl, to do so is not inappropriate. (owever, it is important to note #oth their elo&uence
and their vagueness. True to form, :urt2 dies in a spasm of elo&uence. (is last words are poetic and profound,
delivered in his remarka#le voice. (owever, the are so nonspecific that the def interpretation. The #est one
can do is to guess at their meaning.
* was within a hairs3breadth of the last opportunity for pronouncement' and * found with humiliation that probably *
would ha"e nothing to say.
)!ee *mportant +uotations #$plained,
Does this mean that !arlow is wrong, that :urt2 has $nothing,% not $something to sa%< :urt20s last words could
refer to the terri#le nothingness at the heart of his soul and his ideas, the ultimate failure of his $destin.% 3n a wa
this is true: :urt20s agon seems to #e a response to a generali2ed lack of su#stance. 3n his ding words as in his
life, though, :urt2 creates an enigma, an o#,ect for contemplation, which certainl is something. (is legac, in
fact, would seem to #e !arlow, who, like the )ussian trader, seems to have had his mind $enlarged% # :urt2.
!arlow, though, finds that he himself has $nothing% to sa, and thus :urt20s life and his ding words oscillate
#etween a#solute emptiness and an overa#undance of meaning. The $horror% is either nothing or everthing, #ut
it is not simpl $something.%
The actual moment of :urt20s death is narrated indirectl. First, :urt20s words7$The horrorD The horrorD%7
anticipate and mark its #eginning. Then flies, the sm#ol of slow, mundane deca and disintegration .as opposed
to catastrophic or dramatic destruction/, swarm throughout the ship, as if to mark the actual moment. Finall, the
servant arrives to #ring the moment to its close with his surl, unpoetic words. The roughness of $!istah :urt27
he dead% contrasts with :urt20s self+generated epitaph, again #ringing a #lunt realit .death/ into conflict with a
su#,ective state .horror/. 3t is interesting to consider wh T. '. *liot might have chosen the servant0s line as the
epigraph to his poem $The (ollow !en.% The impenetra#ilit of the #rief moment of :urt20s death and his
reduction to something $#uried in a mudd hole% indicate the final impossi#ilit of descri#ing either :urt2 or his
ideas.
:urt20s death is ver nearl followed # !arlow0s demise. Although #oth men0s illnesses are #lamed on climate, it
seems as if the are #oth also the result of existential crisis. Furthermore, an element of metaphorical contagion
seems to #e involved, as :urt2 transmits #oth his memor and his poor health to !arlow. Enlike :urt2, though,
!arlow recovers. (aving $nothing to sa% seems to save him. (e does not slip into the deadl paradox of wanting
to #e #oth free of societ and an influence on it, and he will not have to sacrifice himself for his ideas. For !arlow,
guarding :urt20s legac is not inconsistent with isolation from societ. )emaining loal to :urt2 is #est done #
remaining true to his experience, and # not offering up his stor to those who will misinterpret or fail to
understand it. !arlow keeps these principles in mind once he arrives in -russels. (is reasons for telling this stor
to his audience a#oard the Nellie are more difficult to discern.
Part 3 (continued)
Marlows return to Brussels through the conclusion.
Summary
!arlow #arel survives his illness. *ventuall he returns to the $sepulchral cit,% -russels. (e resents the people
there for their pett self+importance and smug complacenc. (is aunt nurses him #ack to health, #ut his disorder
is more emotional than phsical. A #espectacled representative of the Compan comes to retrieve the packet of
papers :urt2 entrusted to !arlow, #ut !arlow will give him onl the pamphlet on the $'uppression of 'avage
Customs,% with the postscript .the handwritten $*xterminate all the #rutesD%/ torn off. The man threatens legal
action to o#tain the rest of the packet0s contents. Another man, calling himself :urt20s cousin, appears and takes
some letters to the famil. The cousin tells him that :urt2 had #een a great musician, although he does not
ela#orate further. !arlow and the cousin ponder :urt20s mriad talents and decide that he is #est descri#ed as a
$universal genius.% A ,ournalist colleague of :urt20s appears and takes the pamphlet for pu#lication. This man
#elieves :urt20s true skills were in popular or extremist politics.
Finall, !arlow is left with onl a few letters and a picture of :urt20s 3ntended. !arlow goes to see her without
reall knowing wh. :urt20s memor comes flooding #ack to him as he stands on her doorstep. (e finds the
3ntended still in mourning, though it has #een over a ear since :urt20s death. (e gives her the packet, and she
asks if he knew :urt2 well. (e replies that he knew him as well as it is possi#le for one man to know another.
(is presence fulfills her need for a smpathetic ear, and she continuall praises :urt2. (er sentimentalit #egins
to anger !arlow, #ut he holds #ack his annoance until it gives wa to pit. 'he sas she will mourn :urt2
forever, and asks !arlow to repeat his last words to give her something upon which to sustain herself. !arlow lies
and tells her that :urt20s last word was her name. 'he responds that she was certain that this was the case.
!arlow ends his stor here, and the narrator looks off into the dark sk, which makes the waterwa seem $to lead
into the heart of an immense darkness.%
Analysis
!arlow0s series of encounters with persons from :urt20s former life makes him &uestion the value he places on
his memories of :urt2. :urt20s cousin and the ,ournalist #oth offer a version of :urt2 that seems not to resem#le
the man !arlow knew. :urt2, in fact, seems to have #een all things to all people7someone who has changed
their life and now serves as a kind of sm#olic figure presiding over their existence. This makes !arlow0s own
experience of :urt2 less uni&ue and thus perhaps less meaningful. The fact that he shares :urt2 with all of these
overconfident, self+important people, most of whom will never leave -russels, causes :urt2 to seem common,
and less profound. 3n realit, !arlow0s stream of visitors do not raise an new issues: in their excessive praise of
:urt2 and their own lack of perspective, the resem#le the )ussian trader, who also took :urt2 as a kind of guru.
!arlow goes to see :urt20s 3ntended in a state of profound uncertaint. (e is unsure whether his version of :urt2
has an value either as a reflection of realit or as a philosophical construct. 3n response to the woman0s simple
&uestion as to whether he knew :urt2 well, he can onl repl that he knew him $Fas well as it is possi#le for one
man to know another.0% 1iven what the preceding narrative has shown a#out the possi#ilities for $knowing%
another person in an meaningful sense, the reader can easil see that !arlow0s repl to :urt20s 3ntended is a
&ualification, not an affirmation: !arlow #arel knows himself. - the end of !arlow0s visit with the woman, the
reader is also aware, even if !arlow is not, that the kinds of illusions and untruths which !arlow accuses women
of perpetuating are in fact not dissimilar from those fictions men use to understand their own experiences and
,ustif such things as colonialism. !arlow has much more in common with :urt20s 3ntended than he would like to
admit.
:urt20s 3ntended, like !arlow0s aunt and :urt20s mistress, is a pro#lematic female figure. !arlow praises her for
her $mature capacit for fidelit, for #elief, for suffering,% suggesting that the most valua#le traits in a woman are
passive. Conrad0s portraal of the 3ntended has thus #een critici2ed for having misognist overtones, and there is
some ,ustification for this point of view. 'he is a repositor of conservative ideas a#out what it means to #e white
and *uropean, upholding fine+sounding #ut ultimatel useless notions of heroism and romance.
Although #oth !arlow and the 3ntended construct ideali2ed versions of :urt2 to make sense out of their respective
worlds, in the end, !arlow0s version of :urt2 is upheld as the more profound one. !arlow emphasi2es his disgust
at the complacenc of the people he meets in -russels in order to validate his own store of worldl experience.
!arlow0s narrative implies that his version of :urt2, as well as his accounts of Africa and imperialism, are
inherentl #etter and truer than other people0s #ecause of what he has experienced. This notion is #ased on
traditional ideas of heroism, involving &uests and trials in the pursuit of knowledge. 3n fact, # seeming to
legitimi2e activities like imperialism for their experiential value for white men7in other words, # making it appear
that Africa is the ke to philosophical truth7the ending of Heart of Darkness introduces a much greater horror
than an !arlow has encountered in the Congo. Are the evils of colonialism excusa#le in the name of $truth% or
knowledge, even if the are not ,ustifia#le in the name of wealth< This paradox accounts at least partiall for the
novella0s frame stor. !arlow recounts his experiences to his friends #ecause doing so esta#lishes an implicit
comparison. The other men a#oard the Nellie are the kind of men who #enefit economicall from imperialism,
while !arlow has #enefited mainl experientiall. 4hile !arlow0s $truth% ma #e more profound than that of his
friends or :urt20s 3ntended, it ma not ,ustif the cost of its own ac&uisition.
< Previous Section
Part 3 (continued)
Next Section >
m!ortant "uotations #x!lained
m!ortant "uotations #x!lained
G. $The word Fivor0 rang in the air, was whispered, was sighed. Bou would think the were praing to it. A taint of
im#ecile rapacit #lew through it all, like a whiff from some corpse. - HoveD 30ve never seen anthing so unreal in
m life. And outside, the silent wilderness surrounding this cleared speck on the earth struck me as something
great and invinci#le, like evil or truth, waiting patientl for the passing awa of this fantastic invasion.%
*xplanation for Iuotation G JJ
This &uote, from the fourth section of Cart G, offers !arlow0s initial impression of the Central 'tation. The word
$ivor% has taken on a life of its own for the men who work for the Compan. To them, it is far more than the tusk
of an elephant8 it represents economic freedom, social advancement, an escape from a life of #eing an emploee.
The word has lost all connection to an phsical realit and has itself #ecome an o#,ect of worship. !arlow0s
reference to a decaing corpse is #oth literal and figurative: elephants and native Africans #oth die as a result of
the white man0s pursuit of ivor, and the entire enterprise is rotten at the core. The cruelties and the greed are
#oth part of a greater, timeless evil, et the are pett in the scheme of the greater order of the natural world.
Close
K. $3n a few das the *ldorado *xpedition went into the patient wilderness, that closed upon it as the sea closes
over a diver. Long afterwards the news came that all the donkes were dead. 3 know nothing as to the fate of the
less valua#le animals. The, no dou#t, like the rest of us, found what the deserved. 3 did not in&uire.%
*xplanation for Iuotation K JJ
During the first section of Cart K, !arlow watches the *ldorado *xploring *xpedition, a #and of freelance #andits,
ree&uip and then depart from the Central 'tation. This enigmatic report is the onl news he receives concerning
their fate. The dr iron of this &uote is characteristic of !arlow, who # this point has trul come to see white
men as the $less valua#le animals.% Although he chalks up the *xpedition0s fate to some idea of destin or ,ust
reward, !arlow has alread come to distrust such moral formulations: this is wh he does not seek further
information a#out the *xpedition. Again he mentions a $patient wilderness%: the *xpedition0s fate is insignificant in
the face of larger catastrophes and even less meaningful when considered in the scope of nature0s time frame.
Close
@. $3t was unearthl, and the men were7"o, the were not inhuman. 4ell, ou know, that was the worst of it7the
suspicion of their not #eing inhuman. 3t would come slowl to one. The howled and leaped, and spun, and made
horrid faces8 #ut what thrilled ou was ,ust the thought of their humanit7like ours7the thought of our remote
kinship with this wild and passionate uproar. Egl. Bes, it was ugl enough8 #ut if ou were man enough ou
would admit to ourself that there was in ou ,ust the faintest trace of a response to the terri#le frankness of that
noise, a dim suspicion of there #eing a meaning in it which ou7ou so remote from the night of first ages7could
comprehend. And wh not<%
*xplanation for Iuotation @ JJ
As !arlow ,ournes up the river toward the 3nner 'tation in the first section of Cart K, he catches occasional
glimpses of native villages along the river#anks. !ore often, though, he simpl hears things: drums, chants,
howls. These engage his imagination, and the fact that the do so trou#les him, #ecause it suggests, as he sas,
a $kinship% with these men, whom he has so far #een a#le to classif as $inhuman.% This moment is one of several
in the text in which !arlow seems to admit the limits of his own perception. These moments allow for a reading
of Heart of Darkness that is much more critical of colonialism and much more ironic a#out the stereotpes it
engenders. "evertheless, it is important to notice that !arlow still casts Africans as a primitive version of himself
rather than as potential e&uals.
Close
L. $The #rown current ran swiftl out of the heart of darkness, #earing us down towards the sea with twice the
speed of our upward progress8 and :urt20s life was running swiftl, too, e##ing, e##ing out of his heart into the
sea of inexora#le time. . . . 3 saw the time approaching when 3 would #e left alone of the part of Funsound
method.0%
*xplanation for Iuotation L JJ
This &uote, which comes as the steamer #egins its voage #ack from the 3nner 'tation in the third section of Cart
@, with :urt2 and his ivor a#oard, #rings together the images of the river and the $heart of darkness% which it
penetrates. The river is something that separates !arlow from the African interior: while on the river he is exterior
to, even if completel surrounded #, the ,ungle. Furthermore, despite its $#rown current,% the river inexora#l
#rings him #ack to white civili2ation. The first sentence of this &uote suggests that !arlow and :urt2 have #een
a#le to leave the $heart of darkness% #ehind, #ut :urt20s life seems to #e receding along with the $darkness,% and
!arlow, too, has #een permanentl scarred # it, since he is now ineradica#l marked as #eing of :urt20s part.
Thus, it seems that the $darkness% is in fact internali2ed, that it is part of some fundamental if ironic
$unsoundness.%
Close
M. $3 was within a hair0s+#readth of the last opportunit for pronouncement, and 3 found with humiliation that
pro#a#l 3 would have nothing to sa. This is the reason wh 3 affirm that :urt2 was a remarka#le man. (e had
something to sa. (e said it. . . . (e had summed up7he had ,udged. FThe horrorD0 (e was a remarka#le man.%
*xplanation for Iuotation M JJ
At the #eginning of the final section of Cart @, !arlow has ,ust recovered from his near+fatal illness. (is $nothing to
sa% is not reflective of a lack of su#stance #ut rather of his reali2ation that anthing he might have to sa would
#e so am#iguous and so profound as to #e impossi#le to put into words. :urt2, on the other hand, is $remarka#le%
for his a#ilit to cut through am#iguit, to create a definite $something.% Caradoxicall, though, the final formulation
of that $something% is so vague as to approach $nothing%: $ FThe horrorD0 % could #e almost anthing. (owever,
perhaps :urt2 is most fascinating to !arlow #ecause he has had the courage to ,udge, to den am#iguit. !arlow
is aware of :urt20s intelligence and the man0s appreciation of paradox, so he also knows that :urt20s ra#id
sstemati2ation of the world around him has #een an act and a lie. Bet :urt2, on the strength of his hu#ris and his
charisma, has created out of himself a wa of organi2ing the world that contradicts generall accepted social
models. !ost important, he has created an impressive legac: !arlow will ponder :urt20s words .$ FThe horrorD0 %/
and :urt20s memor for the rest of his life. - turning himself into an enigma, :urt2 has done the ultimate: he has
ensured his own immortalit.
Women in love
Ersula and 1udrun -rangwen are two sisters living in the !idlands of *ngland in the GNGAs. Ersula is
a teacher, 1udrun an artist. The meet two men who live near#, school inspector )upert -irkin and
coal+mine heir 1erald Crich. The four #ecome friends. Ersula and -irkin #ecome involved, and 1udrun
eventuall #egins a love affair with 1erald.
All four are deepl concerned with &uestions of societ, politics, and the relationship #etween men and
women. At a part at 1eraldOs estate, 1eraldOs sister Diana drowns. 1udrun #ecomes the teacher and
mentor of his oungest sister. 'oon 1eraldOs coal+mine+owning father dies as well, after a long illness.
After the funeral, 1erald goes to 1udrunOs house and spends the night with her, while her parents are
asleep in another room.
-irkin asks Ersula to marr him, and she agrees. 1erald and 1udrunOs relationship, however,
#ecomes storm. The four vacation in the Alps. 1udrun #egins an intense friendship with Loerke, a
phsicall pun #ut emotionall commanding artist from Dresden. 1erald, enraged # Loerke and
most of all # 1udrunOs ver#al a#use and re,ection of his manhood, and driven # the internal violence
of his own self, tries to strangle 1udrun. -efore he has killed her, however, he reali2es that this is not
what he wants++he leaves 1udrun and Loerke and on his skis clim#s ever upward on the mountains,
eventuall slipping into a snow valle where he falls asleep, a fro2en sleep from which he never
awakens.
The impact on -irkin of 1eraldOs death is profound8 the novel ends a few weeks after 1eraldOs death,
with -irkin tring to explain to Ersula that he needs 1erald as he needs her++her for the perfect
relationship with a woman, and 1erald for the perfect relationship with a man.
D. H. Lawrence (1885-1930) created two seemingly similar yet antithetical
characters in Ursla and !drn "rangwen in his no#el Women in
Love (19$1). %hile they seem close at the &eginning o' the no#el( the
sisters) *ersonalities &ecome +ite incom*ati&le towards the end.
!drn and Ursla start o'' in the no#el on a &ored note and discss the
idea o' marriage. ,n this discssion( Ursla comes across as a dreamer o'
sorts( a romanticist( who &elie#es that marriage is *ro&a&ly the )end o' an
e-*erience) nli.e !drn who is more *ragmatic( may&e e#en a cynic
who &elie#es that marriage )is &ond to &e an e-*erience) e#en i' an
)ndesira&le one). /hey seem to di''er in their ideas a&ot children. "t at
this stageeach other. ,n 'act( Ursla ( we can still note that they ha#e
res*ect 'or each others) #iew and lo#e )ha#e an ns*o.en &ond &etween
them when they discss their seemingly ho*eless admired her (!drn)
with all her sol). 0nd they 'amily sitation with res*ect to the relationshi*
&etween them and their 'ather( as )&eing con'ronted &y a #oid( a terri'ying
chasm). %e sense that they nderstand each other'rom the ncom'orta&le
direction o' this con#ersation and(
as they &oth wish to steer away casally agree to go to the wedding. 1ight a'ter this( we .now
Ursla identi'ies with !drn)s clastro*ho&ia in "eldo#er and )can 'eel her s''ering).
0t the wedding( we &egin to see some di''erence o' o*inion. !drn insists
)one must discriminate) &etween *eo*le who are e-ce*tional and )little 'ools)( while Ursla
seems com*elled to agree with her( e#en when she was not )in accord altogether).
0s the story *rogresses in the ne-t 'ew cha*ters( we 'ind that Ursla is a rather na#e(
n*retentios character who sees &eaty in s&tlety( and 'or whom ac+iring .nowledge is not
an ins''era&le +est. 0t this *oint she has a dichotomos e-istence( one *art hating "ir.in(
the other sensing )li&erty and radiance)( and clearly she is con'sed a&ot how she 'eels a&ot
the a'ternoon in the classroom.
2ontrast this with !drn)s character3 she is somewhat re&ellios in natre( and +estions the
rights and li&erties the norms o' society allow her (when she is en#ios o' men that they can
throw their clothes o'' and 4m* into the water whene#er they li.e). 5he also comes across as
the .ind o' woman who wishes to control and wield *ower o#er the man she is attracted to( she
also .nows it is easy 'or her to achie#e this( considering her &eaty and (seemingly
con#incing) con'idence. 6or her( not &eing a&le to wield *ower o#er the o&4ect o' her a''ection
wold &e li.e a 'ailre. !drn seems to &e nconsciosly calclati#e( and strong headed( &t
she does dis*lay honesty in all that she 'eels. 5he is *ro&a&ly as con'sed as Ursla( &t in
di''erent matters - regarding why she is where she is rather than who she is.
,n )Di#er)( we see the sisters in disagreement o#er the natre o' !erald 2rich)s intentions when
he *lled the trigger at his &rother)s head. !drn( , thin.( intiti#ely de'ends !erald 2rich
while Ursla does not seem to do so. ,n addition( Ursla does not +ite nderstand why her
sister sometimes has re&ellios tendencies or what triggers them o''. Howe#er( &y the end o'
the cha*ter they seem to con'orm to the idea o' standing as )swans &etween geese) since the
ns*o.en o*inion &etween them is that they are a&o#e the sal milie o' *eo*le in a strange
way( which they ha#e not yet disco#ered.
,n )2oal Dst)( we see the dichotomy in their o*inions again. !drn is enamored and
ca*ti#ated &y !erald)s *er'ormance on the horse as mch as Ursla is re*lsed &y it. !drn
lo#es !erald 'or the same while Ursla is li#id at his treatment o' the horse and hates him.
/his highlights another *ersonality di''erence - Ursla is sensiti#e o' other *eo*le)s 'eelings
and res*ects them( e#en i' they are &elow her le#el( while !drn cra#es *ower and control
o#er e#ery *ossi&le &eing - man or horse. /his is *ro&a&ly why !drn is 'ascinated &y !erald
- &ecase he em&odies her innate +est 'or *ower o#er others. Ursla is diametrically o**osite
- she a&hors this.
7n lo#e( the sisters) #iews are +ite di''erent too. Ursla gi#es "ir.in the chance to e-*ress
himsel'( arges with him and initially disagrees with him &ecase she cannot nderstand his
+est 'or )'reedom together). Howe#er as their relationshi* de#elo*s and goes throgh its highs
and lows( they 'inally 'ind each other( and she is ready to )srrender) to him( in the 'igrati#e
sense. !drn( howe#er( seems to gi#e the im*ression o' commitment to !erald e#en thogh
she is +ite nsre o' hersel'. /his can &e &est seen when she 'inally strays away 'rom him and
has an a''air with another artist( Loer.e( whom she thin.s will a**reciate her now re'ormed
and clear *ers*ecti#e in li'e. !erald ltimately cannot acce*t this and commits sicide. ,t is
clear that the sisters) #iews on 'idelity also di''er.
/he last word on lo#e( howe#er( is seen in the cha*ter )8oony) when "ir.in comes to *ro*ose
to Ursla. 5he does not re*ly immediately( *ro&a&ly on accont o' the row with her 'ather. 0t
this *oint( she 'eels in accord with !drn( when it comes to &oth o' them against their 'ather
and his ideology. "t the crcial trning *oint in their relationshi* is when Ursla and !drn
discss "ir.in)s *ro*osal. ,nitially( Ursla agrees with !drn( then as the con#ersation
*rogresses she 'inds hersel' &eginning to disagree and 'inally &egins )to re#olt 'orm her sister).
/his ha**ens when she realises !drn does not see *eo*le &eyond her *ers*ecti#e( and has(
in a matter o' a 'ew sentences( managed to cross ot "ir.in com*letely - )/his 'inality o'
!drn)s( this dis*atching o' *eo*le and things in a sentence( was sch a lie). /his is where
Ursla ma.es the decision to wed "ir.in( in one sense going against !drn and 'rom this
*oint their relationshi* &egins to mo#e on two di''erent trac.s and they come to identi'y less
with each other and more with their lo#ers.
/he 'inal cha*ter o' the story also highlights their di''ering #iews on li'e( lo#e and new
&eginnings. Ursla and "ir.in are getting ready to lea#e. Ursla and !drn ha#e *erha*s(
their last meaning'l con#ersation. !drn cannot nderstand why Ursla needs to se#er her
ties 'rom e#eryone else. Ursla tries to e-*lain to her( &t 'inally ends * telling !drn that i'
she 'ell in lo#e she wold nderstand. /his 'or !drn( seem to &e the ltimate moc.ery o'
e#erything &etween them( and their ties are more or less se#ered then. /here is an air o'
'inality in this scene o' the &oo.. /he last straw is !drn)s emotionless and 'rigid res*onse to
!erald)s death. /his is when Ursla realises that not only does she disagree with her sister( she
is disgsted &y her &eha#ior.
/hs( in !drn and Ursla( D. H. Lawrence has created two memora&le characters( who
while &eing related and seemingly similar( grow into two diametrically o**osite *ersonalities.
A portrait of the artist
$%a!ter 1& Section 1
'ummar
4nce upon a time and a "ery good time it was there was a moocow coming down along the road and this
moocow that was coming down along the road met a nicens little boy named baby tuckoo. . . .
'tephenOs father, 'imon Dedalus, tells his oung son an old+fashioned childrenOs stor. 'imon #egins the stor
with the traditional P=o>nce upon a timeP and uses #a#ish words like Pmoocow.P 4ith his childish et vivid
imagination, the oung 'tephen identifies with the storOs character, P#a# tuckoo.P 4e see some of 'tephenOs
impressions of earl childhood: the cold #edsheets, the pleasant smell of his mother, the applause he receives
from his governess Dante and his Encle Charles when he dances to the hornpipe.
At one point, 'tephen expresses his intention to marr the oung girl, *ileen Qance, who lives next door. *ileen
happens to #e Crotestant, however, and in response to his Catholic familOs shock, 'tephen crawls under the
ta#le. 'tephenOs mother assures the others that he will apologi2e, and Dante adds a threat that eagles will pull out
'tephenOs ees if he does not apologi2e. 'tephen turns these threatening words into a ditt in his mind.
The stor shifts to 'tephenOs experience at Clongowes 4ood College. 'tephen watches other #os plaing #all
#ut does not participate himself. The other #os are mildl antagonistic toward 'tephen, asking his name and
&uestioning what kind of a name it is. The ask a#out 'tephenOs social rank and want to know whether his father
is a magistrate. 3n class, 'tephen is forced to compete in an academic contest in which the opposing teams wear
#adges with red or white roses7em#lems of the no#le Bork and Lancaster families from *nglish histor. 'tephen
does not perform well, and wonders whether green roses are possi#le.
'tephen tries to stud, #ut instead meditates on himself, 1od, and the cosmos. (e examines his own address
written in his geograph text#ook, #eginning with himself and listing his school, cit, count, countr, and so on in
ascending order, ending in PThe Eniverse.P 'tephen wonders whether the different names for 1od in different
languages refer to the same #eing, and concludes that the names are in fact all the same #eing. 4hen the #ell
rings for night praers, 'tephen addresses 1od directl. The chaplainOs clear and formulaic praer contrasts with
'tephenOs own &uietl murmured praer for his familOs well+#eing. Dreading the cold sheets, 'tephen clim#s into
#ed and shivers. 3n a feverish vision, he thinks of a #ig #lack dog with #right ees and of a castle long ago.
Later, various people ask whether 'tephen is sick, and we find out that his sickness is pro#a#l the result of
having #een pushed into the Ps&uare ditch,P or cesspool, the da #efore. 4ells, the #o who pushed 'tephen, is
the ringleader of the school #ullies. 4ells again tormented 'tephen # asking whether 'tephen kisses his mother.
'tephen was unsure whether to answer es or no, and the #os laughed in #oth cases anwa.
'tephenOs illness ena#les him to skip class as he recovers in the infirmar. The kind and humorous -rother
!ichael cares for 'tephen, who wonders if he will die from his illness. 'tephen tells himself that death indeed
might #e possi#le, and he imagines his own funeral. Another student patient in the infirmar, Ath, asks 'tephen
riddles that he cannot solve. 'tephen dadreams a#out returning home to recover. At the end of the section,
-rother !ichael announces the death of Carnell, the 3rish patriot.
Analsis
'tephen is the hero of A 5ortrait of the Artist as a (oung Man' and, in fact, Hoce titled an earl version of the
novel !tephen Hero. The narrative is limited to 'tephenOs consciousness, so his misperceptions #ecome part of
the stor7there is no narrator who explains the difference #etween 'tephenOs realit and o#,ective realit.
'tephen is essentiall HoceOs alter ego, and there are man factual similarities #etween 'tephenOs life and
HoceOs. Clongowes, for example, had #een HoceOs #oarding school in real life. The novel is more than ,ust an
auto#iograph, however, as Hoce is not merel recounting elements of his own #ohood, #ut also meditating on
what it means to #e a oung man growing up in a confusing modern world. 'tephenOs #ewilderment a#out the
world and its strange rules reflects the sensation of alienation and confusion that Hoce and a num#er of his
literar peers felt at the #eginning of the twentieth centur. 4e see 'tephenOs alienation on the plaground, where
he watches other #os plaing #all #ut does not participate himself. 'tephenOs feeling of #eing a dissatisfied
outsider develops steadil throughout the novel.
The fact that the novel opens with a stor emphasi2es the importance of art7particularl literar art7in HoceOs
world. The fact that the stor deepl influences 'tephen demonstrates that art is not mere empt entertainment,
#ut has the power to form peopleOs identities and shape their thoughts. 'tephenOs reaction to the stor is to
imagine that P=h>e was a #a# tuckooP: he #ecomes conscious of his own existence at this oung age #
identifing with a character in a fictional stor. 'imilarl, Hoce implies that art can defend against danger or cure
wounds. 4hen 'tephen is scolded for expressing his wish to marr a Crotestant girl, he uses art to soothe his
soul, making a song out of his governessOs gruesome threat: PCull out his ees, ; Apologise. . . .P Art also has a
political dimension: in the academic competition at Clongowes, the teams take their em#lems from the 4ars of
the )oses. 'tephen, however, meditates on the red rose and the white rose onl in terms of the fact that Pthose
were #eautiful colours to think of.P 3t ma seem that 'tephen is ignoring politics and histor, focusing onl on
#eaut. -ut this feeling for #eaut actuall #rings 'tephen #ack to histor and politics, as he wonders whether a
rose could possi#l #e green, the traditional color of 3reland. 4ith this image of the green rose, Hoce ma #e sll
hinting at the possi#ilit of an independent 3rish state. A sense of #eaut ma in this regard #e &uite revolutionar.
9ne of the most nota#le features of 'tephenOs artistic development in this first section is his interest in the sounds
of language. 'tephen notices sounds even in the ver first passages, when he is oung enough to use #a#
words like PmoocowP and Ptuckoo.P 4hen he is a #it older, he ponders the intriguing sound of the word Pwine,P and
imagines that the cricket #ats are saing, Ppick, pack, pock, puck.P This interest in sounds and wordpla reveals
much a#out Hoce himself, who was one of the twentieth centurOs most important innovators of language. Hoce
was also a pioneer in pschological fiction and stream of consciousness techni&ue, capturing the illogical
associations made # the human mind and its odd ,umps from topic to topic. The montage of perceptions in
'tephenOs first memories lack traditional realistic description, giving us mental impressions instead, as if thoughts
are flowing directl onto the page. Hoce would later refine this stream of consciousness techni&ue to great effect
in his novel 6lysses.
$%a!ter 1& Sections 2'3
'ummar
$%a!ter 1& Section 2
The scene shifts to the Dedalus home, where 'tephen has returned from #oarding school for Christmas vacation.
This is the first Christmas dinner during which the oung 'tephen is allowed to sit at the adult ta#le. The Dedalus
famil, Dante, Encle Charles, and a friend of !r. Dedalus named !r. Case are waiting for the food to #e #rought
in. !r. Dedalus and !r. Case chat a#out an ac&uaintance who has #een manufacturing explosives. The turke
is #rought in, and 'tephen sas grace #efore the meal.
!r. Dedalus speaks approvingl of a mutual friend who, # confronting a priest directl, has critici2ed the
involvement of the Catholic Church in 3rish politics. Dante strongl disapproves, saing that it is not right for an
Catholic to critici2e the church. The disagreement soon turns into an angr dispute. Dante &uotes the -i#le,
saing that priests must alwas #e respected. 'he feels that, as Catholics, it is their dut to follow orders from
their priests and #ishops without &uestioning them, even when those orders might #e opposed to the 3rish patriotsO
cause.
'tephen watches the dispute with #ewilderment, not understanding wh anone would #e against priests. (e
#elieves Dante is right, #ut remem#ers his father critici2ing Dante #ecause she used to #e a nun. !r. Case tells
a stor of #eing accosted # an old Catholic woman who had degraded the name of Carnell and the name of the
woman with whom Carnell had an adulterous affair. Case had ended up spitting on the old woman. This
anecdote amuses the men #ut infuriates Dante, who cries that 1od and religion must come #efore everthing
else. !r. Case responds that if DanteOs words are true, then perhaps 3reland should not have 1od at all. Dante is
enraged and leaves the ta#le, and !r. Case weeps for his dead political leader Carnell.
$%a!ter 1& Section 3
-ack at school after Christmas vacation, 'tephen listens to a muted conversation #etween 4ells and several
other students. The are talking a#out a couple of #os who fled the school for wrongdoing and were later
na##ed. 4ells #elieves the #os stole wine from the schoolOs sacrist. The other #os fall silent at the horror of
this offense against 1od.
Ath gives a different account of the #osO crime. (e sas the were caught Psmugging,P or engaging in some sort
of homosexual pla. 'tephen reflects on this suggestion, recalling the fine white hands of one of the students, and
thinking also of the soft ivor hands of his neigh#or *ileen Qance. 9ne #o, Fleming, complains that all the
students will #e punished for the wrongdoing of two. Fleming suggests that the could mount a re#ellion against
such an in,ustice.
The #os are summoned #ack into the classroom. After the writing lesson, Father Arnall #egins the Latin lesson.
Fleming is una#le to answer a &uestion and the prefect of studies, Father Dolan, pandies him, or lashes his
hands. Afterward, the prefect notices that 'tephen is not working and demands to know wh. Father Arnall tells
Father Dolan that 'tephen has #een excused from class work #ecause his glasses are #roken and he cannot see
well. 'tephen is telling the truth, #ut the un#elieving prefect pandies him as well.
Later, the #os discuss the incident and urge 'tephen to denounce the prefect to the rector. 'tephen is reluctant.
Finall, he summons the courage to march down the long corridors filled with pictures of saints and martrs
toward the rectorOs office. 'tephen tells the rector what happened, and the rector sas he will speak to Father
Dolan. 4hen 'tephen tells the other #os he has reported on Dolan to the rector, the hoist him over their heads
as a hero.
Analsis
The Christmas dinner dispute introduces the political landscape of late nineteenth+centur 3reland into the novel.
This is the first Christmas meal at which 'tephen is allowed to sit at the grown+up ta#le, a milestone in his path
toward adulthood. The dispute that unfolds among Dante, !r. Dedalus, and !r. Case makes 'tephen &uickl
reali2e, however, that adulthood is fraught with conflicts, dou#ts, and anger. This discussion engenders no
harmonious Christmas feeling of famil togetherness. )ather, the growing #o learns that politics is often such a
charged su#,ect that it can cause huge rifts even within a single home.
DanteOs tumultuous departure from the dinner ta#le is the first in a pattern of incidents in which characters declare
independence and #reak awa from a group for political and ideological reasons. 3ndeed, the political landscape
of 3reland is deepl divided when the action of the novel occurs. 'ecularists like !r. Dedalus and !r. Case feel
that religion is keeping 3reland from progress and independence, while the orthodox, like Dante, feel that religion
should take precedence in 3rish culture. The secularists consider Carnell the savior of 3reland, #ut CarnellOs shame
at #eing caught in an extramarital affair tarnishes his political luster and earns him the churchOs condemnation.
This condemnation on the part of the church mirrors 'tephenOs shame over expressing a desire to marr *ileen
Qance, who is Crotestant. 9n the whole, however, 'tephenOs reaction to his familOs dispute is sheer #afflement.
These chapters also explore the fre&uentl ar#itrar nature of crime and punishment. The fact that the #os in
'tephenOs class at Clongowes know that the will all #e punished for the transgressions of the two caught
PsmuggingP indicates that the are accustomed to unfair retri#ution. Furthermore, none of the instances of
wrongdoing mentioned so far in the novel have #een crimes of malice: neither 'tephen when he wishes to marr
*ileen, nor the #os caught in homosexual activit, nor Carnell caught in a relationship with another woman,
demonstrates an overt ill will toward others. "one of them ro#s, kills, or wishes harm directl upon another, et
the are all punished more severel than the deserve. Hoce explores this idea of undeserved punishment
explicitl when 'tephen is painfull punished for a transgression that he has not committed. 4hen 'tephen later
defends himself and denounces the punishment as unfair, he acts as a representative of all the others who are
unfairl punished.
There is great sm#olic importance in the scene in which 'tephenOs peers lift him up over their heads and acclaim
him as a hero, as it suggests a heroic side of the oung #o that we have not seen #efore. 'tephenOs summoning
of the courage to denounce Father DolanOs in,ustice is a moral triumph, rather than a more conventional heroic
triumph in sports or fighting. Hoce highlights the difference #etween these two kinds of heroism in the pictures of
martrs that 'tephen passes on his wa to the rectorOs office. (is walk among the images of upright men
suggests that he ma #e ,oining their ranks, and his moral victor foreshadows his later am#itions to #ecome a
spiritual guide for his countr. The role of hero does not necessaril come easil to 'tephen, however. (is
schoolmates lift him up Ptill he struggled to get free,P suggesting that heroism is a #urden associated with
constraints or a lack of freedom. 'ignificantl, 'tephenOs heroic role does not ensure an new feeling of social
#elonging: after the cheers die awa, 'tephen reali2es that he is alone. Hoce implies that #ecoming a hero ma
not #ring an end to 'tephenOs outsider status or to his solitude.
$%a!ter 2& Sections 1'2
'ummar
$%a!ter 2& Section 1
'tephen spends the summer in his familOs new house in -lackrock, a town near Du#lin. (e en,os the compan
of his Encle Charles, a livel old man who smokes horri#le P#lack twistsP of to#acco and allows the #o to take
handfuls of fruit from a local vendor. *ver morning, 'tephen and Encle Charles take a walk through the
marketplace to the park, where 'tephen meets !ike Flnn, a friend of his fatherOs. Flnn tries to train 'tephen to
#e a runner, #ut 'tephen dou#ts whether he will ever #e ver successful. After training, 'tephen goes to the
chapel with Encle Charles for morning praers. 'tephen respects his uncleOs piet #ut does not share it.
'tephen takes weekend walks through the town with his father and uncle, listening to their political discussions
and their stories a#out the past. 'tephen does not understand man of their references. At home, 'tephen reads
Alexandre DumasOs novel%he ount of Monte risto' and is deepl engrossed in its adventure and romance.
'tephen imagines himself as the lover of !erc6dRs, the novelOs heroine.Ashamed of his fatherOs poor
management of the familOs finances, 'tephen uses the imaginar adventures of DumasOs novel as an escape. (e
#efriends a oung #o named Au#re !ills, who #ecomes his constant companion in reenacting the adventures
of %he ount of Monte risto.'tephen feels that he is different from the other children he knows, and that he is in
touch with a higher world. (e imagines a future moment in which he will #e transfigured # some magic
revelation.
$%a!ter 2& Section 2
The Dedalus famil #egins to feel its financial trou#les more acutel, and the moving men arrive to dismantle the
house for a move to Du#lin. 3n Du#lin, 'tephen en,os more freedom than #efore, as his father is #us and Encle
Charles has grown senile. 'tephen explores the cit and wanders along the docks, still imagining himself as the
Count of !onte Cristo. (e is taken on visits to see his aunt and to see another elderl female relative.
'tephen senses in himself a new mood of #itterness, as he critici2es his own foolish impulses #ut finds himself
una#le to control them. (is interactions with his aunt are awkward and result in misunderstandings. At a #irthda
part for another child, 'tephen feels no gaiet or fun, and merel watches the other guests silentl. Though he
sings a song with the others, he en,os feeling separate from the other children. (owever, he is attracted to one
of the girls, *. C., at the part. The leave the part together and take the same tram home, riding on different
levels #ut conversing for the entire ride. 'tephen is attracted to the #lack stockings she wears, and recalls *ileen
Qance. (e wonders whether *. C. wants him to touch her and kiss her, #ut he does nothing.
At home, 'tephen writes a love poem in his note#ook, titling it PTo *7 C7P in imitation of -ron. (e finds himself
confusingl overwhelmed # a longing for romance. As summer comes to an end, 'tephen is told that he will #e
going to a new school #ecause his father is no longer a#le to afford Clongowes.
Analsis
These earl sections of Chapter K are dominated # a sense of decline, which manifests itself in several different
forms. 'tephen sees the relia#le constanc of #ohood give wa to a new sense that people and places change,
and ver often get worse. Encle Charles is a smpathetic, eccentric figure in the first section of the chapter, #ut #
the second has #ecome senile and can no longer go out with 'tephen. 'imilarl, !ike Flnn had once #een a
great runner, #ut now looks laugha#le when he runs. !ost important, the Dedalus familOs financial situation falls
from relative prosperit to near povert. The moving menOs dismantling of the famil home mirrors the dismantling
of 'tephenOs earlier na5ve faith in the world. 3ndeed, witnessing this slow slide into mediocrit affects 'tephen
deepl and directl. (e is unhapp even in the compan of all his relatives at Christmastime. 3n part, 'tephen is
angr with himself, #ut he is also angr with his change of fortune and his own changing relationship with the
world around him. 'tephen still feels set apart from the world, #ut here we #egin to see the development of his
capacit for moral criticism.
4hile the world around him declines, 'tephenOs own sensitivities #ecome more acute. 3n particular, we see the
development of his attitude toward literature. Hust as 'tephen identifies with the protagonist of the childrenOs stor
that his father reads to him at the #eginning of the novel, he now imagines himself as the Count of !onte Cristo.
These two experiences of reading show how 'tephenOs identification with a literar character shapes his
perceptions of himself. Enlike the oung #o in the childrenOs stor, 'tephenOs new role model, the count, is
active, adventurous, heroic, and even somewhat dangerous. Like the count, who is a pursuer of vengeance and a
righter of wrongs, 'tephen is frustrated with the unfairness he sees in the world. 3n showing these relationships
that 'tephen forges with literar characters, Hoce implies that literature is not necessaril a solitar pursuit.
3ndeed, 'tephenOs friendship with Au#re !ills is largel #ased on a shared passion for imitating DumasOs novel.
Literature also helps guide 'tephenOs newl #urgeoning sexualit, which he is a#le to channel into dreams of
pursuing !erc6dRs, the heroine of %he ount of Monte risto. 'tephen finds romantic models in literature again
when he uses a love verse # Lord -ron as a model for the poem he writes to *. C., the girl after whom he lusts
at the #irthda part. The intertwining of life and literature foreshadows the later was in which the PArtistP and the
PBoung !anP of the title7one who creates art, and another who lives life7complement and reinforce each other.
'tephenOs love interests develop in a complex manner. (e experiences a tension #etween his somewhat
awkward real+life erotic encounters and his ideali2ed vision of gallantl pursuing !erc6dRs, the heroine of
DumasOs novel. Bet 'tephenOs vision of ideal love is less a desire for a perfect love o#,ect than a hope of
possessing a woman. The Count of !onte Cristo, on whom 'tephen models his own idea of love, ultimatel
re#uffs !erc6dRs with the pith re,ection, P!adam, 3 never eat muscatel grapes.P 'tephenOs fantas, then, is not
one of a love+filled romance, #ut one of repudiating a woman who desires him. The am#ivalent nature of
'tephenOs desire manifests itself again when he stares, smitten, at a girl at a part, #ut then lets nothing come of
it. 3ndeed, while he is staring, 'tephen actuall contemplates not the girl at the part #ut his first crush, *ileen
Qance, whom he had watched ears #efore. Enlike that of a traditional romantic hero, 'tephenOs desire for
women is ,um#led and confusing.
$%a!ter 2& Sections 3'(
'ummar
$%a!ter 2& Section 3
'tephen, now a teenager, is a student at -elvedere College, a Hesuit school. (e is preparing for a performance in
the pla the school is putting on for 4hitsuntide, the Christian feast of Centecost. 'tephen is to pla the role of a
farcical teacher, a role he has won #ecause of his height and his serious manners. After watching various others
get read for the performance, he wanders outdoors, where his school friend (eron and (eronOs friend 4allis
greet him. (eron encourages 'tephen to imitate the school rector when performing the role of the stodg teacher.
The two #os tease 'tephen for not smoking. 4allis and (eron also plafull mention that the saw !r. Dedalus
arrive at the theater with a oung girl. 'tephen imagines that the girl is the one 'tephen had flirted with earlier at
the #irthda part. 4allis and (eron plafull tr to force 'tephen to confess his dalliance with the girl.
'tephen suddenl recalls a dispute with (eron and two other students over the &uestion of which *nglish poet is
the #est. 'tephen had named -ron, while the other student had said that Tennson was o#viousl superior.
)emem#ering this &uarrel, 'tephen reflects on his fatherOs command for him to #e a good gentleman and a good
Catholic, #ut the words sound hollow in 'tephenOs ears now. 'tephen is shaken from his reverie # a reminder
that the curtain will go up soon. 'tephen performs his role successfull. After the pla, he does not stop to talk to
his father, #ut goes walking in the town, highl agitated.
$%a!ter 2& Section (
'tephen and his father sit in a railwa carriage #ound for the cit of Cork, where his father is auctioning off some
propert. 'tephen is #ored # his fatherOs sentimental tales of old friends and annoed # his drinking. Falling
asleep at !ar#orough, 'tephen is awakened # a frightening vision, in which he imagines the villagers asleep in
the towns passing # outside his window. After praing, he falls asleep again to the sound of the train.
'tephen and !r. Dedalus take a room at the Qictoria (otel. 'tephen lies in #ed while his father washes and
grooms, softl singing a tune from a popular variet show. 'tephen compliments his father on his singing. At
#reakfast, 'tephen listens while his father &uestions the waiter a#out old ac&uaintances, and the waiter
misunderstands which men !r. Dedalus is discussing.
Qisiting !r. DedalusOs medical school, 'tephen comes upon the startling word PFoetusP carved into the top of one
of the desks in a lecture hall. 'tephen has a vision of a mustached student carving the word ears ago, to the
amusement of onlookers. Leaving the college, 'tephen listens to his fatherOs stories of the old das. !r. Dedalus
tells 'tephen that he should alwas sociali2e with gentlemen. 'tephen feels overwhelmed # a sense of shame
and alienation, and regains his grip on himself # telling himself his own name and identit. 1oing from #ar to #ar
with !r. Dedalus, 'tephen is ashamed # his fatherOs drinking and flirtation with the #armaids. The encounter an
old friend of !r. Dedalus, a little old man who ,okingl claims to #e twent+seven ears old. 'tephen feels distant
from his father, and recalls a poem # 'helle a#out the moon wandering the sk in solitude.
Analsis
'tephen grows increasingl alienated from his father, largel #ecause of !r. DedalusOs ina#ilit to connect with
realit. 'tephen is #ored # his fatherOs tales of the old das as he rides with him in the train to Cork. (e sees how
much his father has lost touch with the world: !r. Dedalus is una#le even to talk to the hotel waiter a#out common
ac&uaintances, as he and the waiter get mixed up a#out which ac&uaintance the are discussing. !r. DedalusOs
failure to keep up with the times seems pathetic, and we sense that his constant drinking throughout this nostalgic
trip home is an attempt to protect himself from the pain he cannot face directl. !r. Dedalus revisits his former
medical school, perhaps to recapture his lost outh, #ut the visit is repulsive to 'tephen, who has a vision of a
student from his fatherOs era carving the disgustingl incongruous word he sees on the ta#le. (ere again, !r.
DedalusOs #lithel sweet memories of the past seem irrelevant to the familOs hard times in the present, and his
drunken denial of the realit around him alienates his son. 4hen 'tephen states his name for his own
reassurance, saing, P3 am 'tephen Dedalus,P we sense that he feels the need to assert his own identit #ecause
his fatherOs identit is rapidl crum#ling.
'tephenOs role in the 4hitsuntide pla foreshadows the role of hero he later aspires to fulfill. The fact that 'tephen
has #een chosen to pla a teacher is significant, #ut also ironic, as the role re&uires that 'tephen pla the teacher
comicall rather than seriousl. This parod of a teacher figure hints at the novelOs underling dou#t a#out the
validit of leading or instructing others. 'tephen performs the role successfull, and is ama2ed at how lifelike the
pla feels: the Pdis,ointed lifeless thing had suddenl assumed a life of its own. 3t seemed now to pla itself. . . .P
The life 'tephen discerns in the pla makes him aware of the importance of acting as a metaphor for living.
'tephenOs awareness of lifeOs drama #ecomes pro#lematic, however, when the things he previousl thinks real
#egin to appear false. (e reflects on the morali2ing voices of his earl ears that Phad now come to #e hollow+
sounding in his ears.P Art and life are, in a sense, switching places: while the artistic performance seems lifelike,
life itself seems artificial.
HoceOs experimentation with the techni&ue of stream of consciousness7capturing the processes and rhthms #
which characters think7is especiall evident in the sudden flash#acks of the pla scene. Hoce narrates (eronOs
and 4allisOs near violent teasing a#out 'tephenOs flirtation with the girl in the audience. Then suddenl, without
an warning, Hoce takes us #ack to 'tephenOs first ear at -elvedere, when he was accused of heres #ecause
of a mistake he made in an essa. This memor segues into another memor from a few nights after the first,
when 'tephen was forced into a ridiculous school#o argument a#out the relative merits of -ron and Tennson.
4hen this argument is finished, the narration returns to the scene of the pla in the present moment. Hoce wants
us to feel unsettled and even a #it confused # these unannounced leaps from present to past. The time shifts
represent the wa 'tephenOs mind7and the human mind in general7impulsivel makes constant connections
#etween experiences from the present and memories from the past. 4e are never told wh 'tephenOs mind links
the girl, the literar dispute, and the heres accusation, which leaves us with an impression of pschological
complexit that we cannot full unravel.
$%a!ter 2& Section )'$%a!ter 3& Section 1
'ummar
$%a!ter 2& Section )
'tephen and !r. Dedalus enter the -ank of 3reland, leaving the rest of the famil waiting outside, so that 'tephen
can cash the check for thirt+three pounds he has received as a literar pri2e. !r. Dedalus muses patrioticall
a#out the fact that the -ank of 3reland is housed in the former 3rish Carliament #uilding. 9utside, the famil
discusses where to have dinner, and 'tephen invites them to a fanc restaurant. This initiates a great spending
spree in which 'tephen regales his famil mem#ers with costl gifts, treats, and loans.
'tephenOs pri2e mone is soon depleted, leaving him upset # his foolishness. (e had hoped that spending the
mone would #ring the famil together and appease some of their animosities, #ut he reali2es it has not worked7
he feels as alienated from his famil as ever. 'tephen #egins wandering the streets at night, tormented # sexual
cravings. 9ne night, a oung prostitute dressed in pink accosts him. 'tephen follows her to her room. (e is
reluctant to kiss her at first, #ut the eventuall have sex. 3t is 'tephenOs first sexual experience.
$%a!ter 3& Section 1
3n Decem#er, 'tephen sits in his school classroom, dadreaming a#out the nice stew of mutton, potatoes, and
carrots he hopes to have later. (e imagines that his #ell is urging him to stuff himself. 'tephenOs thoughts soon
turn to the wandering he will em#ark on at night and the variet of prostitutes who will proposition him. (e is
una#le to focus on the mathematical e&uation in his note#ook, which seems to spread out #efore his ees like a
peacockOs tail. (e contemplates the universe, and imagines he hears a distant music in it. (e is aware of a Pcold
lucid indifferenceP that grips him. (earing a fellow student answer one of the teacherOs &uestions stupidl,
'tephen feels contempt for his classmates.
9n his wall, 'tephen has a scroll testifing to his leadership of a societ devoted to the Qirgin !ar. !ar
fascinates him, and with pleasure he reads a Latin passage dedicated to her, reveling in its music. At first,
'tephen does not see his veneration of !ar as #eing at odds with his sinful ha#it of visiting prostitutes, #ut he
graduall #ecomes more worried # his sins of the flesh. (e reali2es that from the sin of lust, other sins such as
glutton and greed have emerged. The school rector announces a retreat in honor of the cele#ration of 't.
Francis Savier, whom he praises as a great soldier of 1od. 'tephen feels his soul wither at these words.
Analsis
These sections explore the relationship #etween worldl pleasures and sin. The scene in which 'tephen cashes
his pri2e mone is the first of several episodes in the novel that focus intensel on mone and the thrill mone
evokes. The pri2e mone 'tephen wins seems strangel connected to his religion: the sum, thirt+three pounds,
echoes ChristOs age when he was crucified. 'tephen confuses monetar and spiritual matters when he attempts
to purchase familial harmon with mone and gifts. 3n Christian theolog, the sin of tring to exchange spiritual
things for worldl ones is known as simon, a word that recalls the name of 'tephenOs father, 'imon. This implies
that such confusion of the material with the spiritual7with concepts such as faith and love7ma #e part of
'imonOs legac to his son. 3ndeed, 'tephen does have trou#le seeing the incompati#ilit of some of his actions
with his religious #eliefs, venerating !ar even as he dadreams a#out visiting prostitutes. (owever, when
'tephen sas that his soul withers as he hears the rector praise 't. Francis Savier, it is clear that 'tephen knows
the church would view his acts as sinful.
'tephenOs relationship with women #ecomes more complex in this section. (e simultaneousl displas a fervent
devotion to the Qirgin !ar and an o#session with visiting whores. 3n #oth cases, 'tephen relates to women not
as individuals #ut as representatives of a tpe. -oth !ar and the prostitutes are descri#ed more as mths or
dreams than as an element of everda life. 'tephen portras !ar in a highl poetic and exotic manner, using
evocative words such as Pspikenard,P Pmrrh,P and Prich garmentsP to descri#e her, and associating her with the
morning star, #right and musical. (owever, when 'tephen muses that the lips with which he reads a praer to
!ar are the same lips that have lewdl kissed a whore, we see that he has msteriousl linked the images of the
whore and the Qirgin in his mind as opposite visions of womanliness. 3ndeed, 'tephen descri#es his encounter
with the prostitute in terms similar to a praer to !ar: when he kisses her, he P#ow=s> his headP and Pread=s> the
meaning of her movements.P 4hen 'tephen closes his ees, Psurrendering himself to her,P this &uiet su#mission
mimics the Christian surrender to the (ol 'pirit. !oreover, #oth the Qirgin !ar and the prostitute represent a
refuge from everda strife, dou#ts, and alienation. 'tephen attempts to flee mentall to the pure realm of the
Qirgin !ar when he is repelled # the stupidit of his classmates. 'imilarl, 'tephen flees to the prostitute after
reaching the dismal reali2ation that his financial efforts have done nothing to alla the discord in his famil. Like
!ar, the prostitute offers him a chance to escape the discord around him in an almost religious wa, if onl
momentaril.
$%a!ter 3& Section 2
'ummar
'tephen sits in the chapel as Father Arnall, appearing as a guest lecturer in 'tephenOs new school, reads a verse
from the #ook of *cclesiastes. The sight of his teacher reawakens 'tephenOs childhood memories of Clongowes,
especiall the time he was thrown into the cesspool and his su#se&uent recuperation in the infirmar. Father
Arnall announces to the students that he is there to announce a retreat marking the da of 't. Francis Savier,
patron saint of the college. The retreat, he explains, will not #e simpl a holida from classes, #ut a withdrawal
into inner contemplation of the soul, and of the soulOs need to heed the four Plast thingsP: death, ,udgment,
heaven, and hell. Father Arnall urges the #os to put aside all worldl thoughts and win the #lessing of the soulOs
salvation.
4alking home in silence with his classmates, 'tephen is aggrieved # the thought of the rich meal he has ,ust
eaten, and thinks it has made him into a #estial and greas creature. The next da he falls even deeper into
despair over the degraded state of his soul, suffering in agon and feeling a Pdeathchill.P (e imagines his weak
and rotting #od on its death#ed, una#le to find the salvation it needs. *ven worse, he pictures the Da of
Hudgment, when 1od will punish sinners with no hope of appeal or merc.
Crossing the s&uare, 'tephen hears the laugh of a oung girl. (e thinks of *mma, pained # the thought that his
filth sexual escapades with prostitutes have soiled *mmaOs innocence. 4ith feverish regret, he recalls all the
whores with whom he has committed sins of the flesh. 4hen this fit of shame passes, 'tephen feels una#le to
raise his soul from its a#,ect powerlessness. 1od and the (ol Qirgin seem too far from him to help, until he
imagines the Qirgin reaching down to ,oin his hands with *mmaOs in loving union. 'tephen listens to the rain
falling on the chapel and imagines another #i#lical flood coming.
4hen the service resumes, Father Arnall delivers a sermon a#out hell, recounting the original sin of Lucifer and
his fellow angels who fell from heaven at 1odOs command. Father Arnall descri#es the torments of hell in terrifing
detail, #eginning with the phsical horrors. (e graphicall depicts the pestilential air of the place, spoiled # the
stench of rotting #odies, and the fires of hell that rage intensel and eternall. The #lood and the #rains of the
sinner #oil with no hope of relief as he lies in hellOs lake of fire. *ven worse, warns Father Arnall, is the horrid
compan that must #e endured # the hell+dweller: devils as well as other sinners.
The sermon leaves 'tephen paral2ed with fear, recogni2ing that hell is his destination. After chapel, he num#l
listens to the trivial talk of the other students, who are not as affected # the sermon as he is. 3n *nglish class,
'tephen can think onl of his soul. 4hen a messenger arrives with news that confessions are #eing heard,
'tephen tries to imagine himself confessing, and is terrified. -ack in chapel, Father Arnall continues his tour of
hell # focusing on its spiritual torments, which horrif 'tephen no less than the phsical ones have earlier.
Together with Father Arnall, all the #os pra for 1odOs forgiveness.
Analsis
3n this section, we see Hoce #orrowing from classic works of literature in innovative was. Father ArnallOs vision
of hell, which leads to a turning point in oung 'tephenOs life, draws heavil from Dante AlighieriOs
poem *nferno'which tells the stor of DanteOs descent into hell. *nferno is a landmark in the genre of spiritual
auto#iograph7the recounting of a soulOs progression through righteous and sinful states. A 5ortrait of the Artist
as a (oung Manoffers another such spiritual auto#iograph, as Hoce explores his own spiritual histor through
the character of 'tephen Dedalus. Hoce places 'tephenOs glimpse of hell at the exact center of his novel, giving
it a structure similar to that of DanteOs Di"ine omedy' of which *nferno is the first part.*nferno places the devil at
the center of the *arth, so that the pilgrim seeking 1od must go downward #efore he ascends upward toward
salvation. 'imilarl, 'tephenOs path has #een a decline into sin and immoralit that #rings him to this fearful
central view of hell. Hust as DanteOs despair is eased # the appearance of the Qirgin !ar #eckoning him upward
to heavenl union with his #eloved -eatrice, 'tephen receives a vision of !ar placing his hand in his #eloved
*mmaOs. The visit to the inferno reveals unspeaka#le torments, #ut nonetheless offers a wa out, a path toward
ultimate hol love.
3n this chapter, 'tephen undergoes more than a mere vision or tour of hell7the agonies he suffers during the
sermon seem closer to the experience of hell itself. (e does not simpl picture hellOs flames in his mindOs ee, #ut
actuall feels the flames on his #od: P(is flesh shrank together as if it felt the approach of the ravenous tongues
of flames.P 3n addition, he does not ,ust imagine the #oiling #rains descri#ed # the preacher, #ut actuall senses
that P=h>is #rain was simmering and #u##ling within the cracking tenement of the skull.P 'tephenOs close
identification with the su#,ect of the sermon sets him apart from his fellow students, who later chat casuall a#out
it. This dissimilar reaction reiterates the fact that 'tephen is a social outsider. (e experiences spiritual earnings
more immediatel and intensel than others, even feeling them phsicall.
'tephenOs experience as he contemplates the religious sermon #inds his perceptions of past and future.
'tephenOs horror of hell is largel a horror of sufferings to come in the future, which he experiences as if the are
in the present. (e lives through his own future death: P(e, he himself, his #od to which he had ielded was
ding. 3nto the grave with itD "ail it down into a wooden #ox, the corpse.P 'tephenOs imagination carries him still
farther into the future, all the wa to the e&uall terrifing Hudgment Da. (owever, while religion forces 'tephen
to face the future, it also forces him to confront the past. Father Arnall visits the school like a figure out of
'tephenOs memor, a ghost from ears gone #. 'tephen responds to the visit with a return to infanc: P(is soul,
as these memories came #ack to him, #ecame again a childOs soul.P 'tephenOs encounter with the past is more
than ,ust memor7it is a momentar change in his ver soul. Thus, ArnallOs sermon prompts 'tephen #oth #ack
toward childhood and forward toward death, reaching out to #oth extremes of his life. The novel suggests that the
aims of auto#iograph and the aims of religion are similar, as #oth lead individuals to integrate their present, past,
and future lives in an attempt to make sense of the whole.
$%a!ter 3& Section 3'$%a!ter (& Section 1
'ummar
$%a!ter 3& Section 3
Another life7 A life of grace and "irtue and happiness7 *t was true. *t was not a dream from which he would wake.
%he past was past.
'tephen goes up to his room after dinner in order to P#e alone with his soul.P (e feels fear and despair as he
pauses at the threshold, worring that evil creatures are in the room waiting for him. 1oing in, he is relieved to find
that it is ,ust his ordinar room. 'tephen feels weak and num#. (e admits to himself the horror of all the sins he
has committed, and is ama2ed that 1od has not stricken him dead et. Ling down, 'tephen closes his ees and
has a fearful vision of a field covered in weeds and excrement, occupied # six ghoulish goatlike creatures with
gra skin. 'wishing their tails menacingl, the creatures trace ever+smaller circles around 'tephen, uttering
incomprehensi#le words.
'pringing awake from this nightmare, 'tephen rushes franticall to open the window for some fresh air. (e finds
that the rain has stopped and the skies are full of promise. (e pras to Hesus, weeping for his lost innocence.
4alking through the streets that evening, 'tephen knows he must confess. (e asks an old woman where the
nearest chapel is, and goes to it immediatel. (e anxiousl waits for his turn to enter the confessional. 4hen it is
finall 'tephenOs turn, the priest asks how long it has #een since his last confession, and 'tephen replies that it
has #een eight months. (e confesses that he has had sexual relations with a woman and that he is onl sixteen.
The priest offers forgiveness and 'tephen heads home feeling filled with grace. (e goes to sleep. The next da
he finds himself at the altar with his classmates and receives the 'acrament.
$%a!ter (& Section 1
'tephen imposes a new sstem of religious discipline upon himself that transforms his life. (e pras ever
morning #efore a hol image, et his sense of triumph is lessened # his uncertaint whether his praers are
sufficient to counteract the ill effects of all his sins. (e divides his dail schedule into parts that correspond to
particular spiritual functions. 'tephen keeps rosar #eads in his trouser pockets so that he can touch them as he
walks, and he divides each rosar into three parts devoted to the three theological virtues. )eading #ooks of
devotional literature, 'tephen learns a#out the three aspects of the (ol Trinit. Though he cannot understand the
solemn mster of the Trinit, he finds the mster easier to accept than 1odOs love for his soul.
1raduall, however, 'tephen comes to accept the fact that 1od loves him, and he #egins to see the whole world
as one vast expression of divine love. (e is careful not to get carried awa # his spiritual triumphs, and he
pursues even the lowliest devotion carefull. 'tephen avoids making ee contact with women, and sniffs the most
o#,ectiona#le odors he can find, in order to PmortifP his sense of smell. (e never consciousl changes positions
in #ed. Despite his attempts at self+discipline, he is periodicall tempted # sin and #othered # sudden fits of
impatience, as when his mother snee2es. 'tephen comforts himself, however, with the knowledge that strong
temptations prove that his fortress is holding tight against the devilOs attacks. (e asks himself whether he has
corrected his life.
Analsis
'tephen #egins ferventl to appl spiritual discipline to his own actions, in contrast to his passive status as a
mem#er of the audience listening to Father ArnallOs sermon and attempting to understand it academicall. Long
passages during the sermon make no mention of 'tephen at all, as the focus is on hell itself. (ere, however, we
focus on 'tephenOs reaction, which is no longer passive. (is withdrawal into himself is not onl descri#ed in
pschological terms, #ut in phsical ones as well, as when he goes to his room Pto #e alone with his soul.P 3n
appling the knowledge from the sermon, 'tephen #ecomes the master of his spiritual fate. *ven his dream of
hell indicates a more active relationship with the torments he undergoes, as the goatlike devils come from his own
mind as his own creations. 'ince the are products of 'tephenOs own mind, he can disown them if he wishes.
Therefore, as scar as the goat nightmare is, it is something of a release and a relief for 'tephen, who runs to the
window to #e soothed # the fresh air. (is decision to confess his sins is the next step in his gradual process of
taking control of his spiritual state.
'tephenOs rigorous program of spiritual self+discipline is impressive, and demonstrates his extraordinar
earnestness. The un#elieva#le asceticism that he willingl adopts demonstrates his strength of will and suggests
his heroism. Like some of the earl ascetics and hermits of the Christian Church, who lived in the desert and ate
locusts, 'tephen displas an astonishing a#ilit to overcome his #odil longings and to affirm the superiorit of the
soul. 3n doing so, he proves his similarit to martrs and saints.
(owever, Hoce suggests that a saintOs life ma not #e desira#le for 'tephen. HoceOs stle, which is richl
detailed and concretel sensual in earlier sections of the novel, now #ecomes extremel dr, a#stract, and
academic. This stle corresponds with 'tephenOs pschological state: as 'tephen #ecomes more ascetic and self+
depriving, HoceOs language loses its colorful ad,ectives and complex sntax. The ver difficult of reading such
dr language suggests the difficult of the life that 'tephen is leading. 'tephenOs &uestion at the end of Chapter L,
'ection G7P3 have amended m life, have 3 not<P7emphasi2es the fact that Hoce himself has amended his
prose. 3mportantl, though 'tephen explicitl acknowledges that his life has #een changed, he does not sa that it
has necessaril improved. (is heroic efforts to deprive himself are impressive, #ut do not necessaril make him a
#etter person.
$%a!ter (& Sections 2'3
'ummar
%his was the call of life to his soul not the dull gross "oice of the world of duties and despair' not the inhuman
"oice that had called him to the pale ser"ice of the altar.
$%a!ter (& Section 2
Qacation has ended and 'tephen is #ack in his Hesuit school, where he has #een msteriousl summoned to a
meeting with the director. 'tephen goes to the director and listens to his idle discussion a#out whether or not the
Capuchin priestl ro#e should #e eliminated. The director laughingl refers to the ro#e as a P,upe,P meaning PskirtP
in French. 'tephen feels awkward. The P,upeP reference calls up thoughts of womenOs undergarments in
'tephenOs mind. 'tephen wonders wh the director makes mention of skirts, and it occurs to him that the priest
ma #e testing 'tephenOs response to the mention of women. The director asks 'tephen whether he has ever felt
he has a vocation, and urges him to consider a life in the church. The director sas that the priesthood is the
greatest honor #estowed on a man, #ut adds that it is a ver serious decision to make.
At first, 'tephen is intrigued # the thought of the priesthood, and pictures himself in the admired, respected role
of the silent and serious priest carring out his duties. As he imagines the #land and ordered life awaiting him in
the church, however, he #egins to feel a deep unrest #urning inside him. (e walks #ack home from school and
passes a shrine to the Qirgin !ar, #ut feels surprisingl cold toward it.
4hen 'tephen sees his disorderl house, he knows that his fate is to learn wisdom not in the refuge of the
church, #ut Pamong the snares of the world.P Arriving home, he asks his #rothers and sisters where their parents
are. (e learns that his parents are looking for et another house #ecause the famil is a#out to #e thrown out of
its current one. 'tephen reflects on how wear his si#lings seem even #efore the have started on lifeOs ,ourne.
$%a!ter (& Section 3
'tephen impatientl waits for his father and tutor to return with news a#out the possi#ilit of his admission into the
universit. 'tephenOs mother is hostile to the idea, #ut 'tephen feels that a great fate is in store for him. (e sets
off walking toward the sea, encountering a group of teacher friars on the wa. (e considers greeting them, #ut
concludes that it is impossi#le to imagine them #eing generous toward him. (e recites snatches of poetr and
regards the light on the water. 'tephen comes upon several of his schoolmates who are swimming, and the
,okingl greet him as the sa his name in 1reek.
)eflecting on the mth of Daedalus that his name evokes, 'tephen ponders his similarit to that Pfa#ulous
artificerP who constructed wings with which he flew out of imprisonment. 'tephen is suddenl enraptured # this
thought, and feels that he will soon #egin #uilding a new soul that will allow him to rise a#ove current miseries. At
that moment, he sees a #eautiful girl wading in the water, her skirts hiked up high. (e and the girl make ee
contact for a moment. 'tephen perceives her as an angel of outh and #eaut, and he swoons inwardl. 3n the
evening, he clim#s a hill and watches the moon.
Analsis
Although 'tephenOs path through life continues to #e guided # females, the kinds of women who influence him
change as he grows older. The Qirgin !ar has #een 'tephenOs main o#,ect of devotion, #ut now she seems to
have lost her power over him. 4hen he passes # a shrine to the Qirgin on his wa home from school, he glances
at it Pcoldl,P no longer stirred # her presence. The school directorOs odd emphasis on the word P,upe,P meaning
Pskirt,P implies that some other woman ma have replaced !ar in 'tephenOs heart. 'tephenOs turn awa from the
church and toward the world is emphasi2ed when he turns from the Qirgin to the #eautiful girl he sees #athing.
3mportantl, this shift occurs directl after 'tephen contemplates DaedalusOs use of art to achieve freedom7a
suggestion that 'tephen will do the same. The #athing girl is a secular version of the Qirgin !ar, an em#lem of a
means to rise to heaven, #ut without the church.
HoceOs novels are nota#le for their allusions to classic works of literature, as seemingl insignificant comments or
phrases are often references to other novels, plas, or poems. 9ne of the primar sources on which Hoce draws
inA 5ortrait of the Artist as a (oung Man is 1reek mth. The mthic aspect of the novel emerges clearl in this
section with the reference to Daedalus. 3n 1reek mtholog, Daedalus was a renowned craftsman who #uilt a pair
of wings for himself and a pair for his son, in an attempt to escape imprisonment on the island of Crete. 3n this
novel, 'tephenOs view of himself changes when his friends address him with a 1reek version of his name. (e
suddenl #egins to reflect on certain affinities #etween himself and that mthical Pfa#ulous artificer,P no longer
defining himself through Christian doctrine # relating himself to Christ and !ar. )ather, 'tephen turns to pagan
sources and inspirations in his &uest for self+definition. (is name is significant. (is first name alludes to the first
Christian martr, 't. 'tephen. (is surname, however, alludes to a pagan character whose skill allows him to rise
high a#ove the world. 3n this section, 'tephen #egins to shift his emphasis from his first name to his last name. (e
dwells on the idea of DaedalusOs flight+giving wings, a piece of artisan handicraft that sm#oli2es the individualOs
a#ilit to create art and the possi#ilit of transcending worldl woes. !uch as Daedalus escaped prison, 'tephen
dreams of escaping the miser of his impoverished famil and narrow, sad life.
To 'tephen, the vision of his mthical namesake is not ,ust a hint of his own fate, #ut a prophec of it, a prediction
that cannot #e avoided. 'tephenOs mental image of Pa hawklike man fling sunward a#ove the seaP strikes him as
a Pprophec of the end he had #een #orn to serve and had #een following through the mists of childhood and
#ohood.P Daedalus is a Psm#ol of the artist forging anew in his workshop out of the sluggish matter of the earth
a new soaring impalpa#le imperisha#le #eing.P This vision is not simpl an image of his future, #ut of his
childhood and #ohood as well. (is vision reveals a hidden thread that connects 'tephenOs past, present, and
future into one whole. !ost important, perhaps, 'tephen reali2es that the art that he will forge is not merel a
#eautiful o#,ect, #ut an entire eternal existence. Through his art, 'tephen creates an Pimperisha#le #eingP ver
much like a soul7he will not ,ust create literature, #ut will create himself.
< Previous Section
$%a!ter 3& Section 3'$%a!ter (& Section 1
$%a!ter )& Sections 1'2
-%he language in which we are speaking is his before it is mine. How different are the
words home'hrist'ale'master' on his lips and on mine7
'ummar
$%a!ter )& Section 1
'tephen eats a poor meal and examines the pawnshop tickets upon which his increasingl impoverished famil
survives. !rs. Dedalus expresses her worr that 'tephenOs character has #een changed # universit life. From
upstairs, !r. Dedalus snaps that his son is a Pla2 #itch.P Annoed and frustrated, 'tephen leaves the house and
wanders through the rain Du#lin landscape, &uoting poems to himself and musing on the aesthetic theories of
Aristotle and A&uinas. A near# clock tolls eleven, reminding him of his friend !acCann. 'tephen reflects on
!acCannOs accusation that 'tephen is too sociall disengaged. 'tephen reali2es that he is missing his *nglish
lecture, #ut is not overl concerned8 he imagines the students meekl taking notes. 9n the whole, he is
disappointed # universit education.
As he walks to the campus, 'tephen recollects a visit to his friend Davin, a handsome and athletic #o devoted to
the 3rish cause. Davin had told 'tephen a stor a#out #eing invited to spend the night with a housewife he does
not know. 'tephen notes that it is now too late to go to his French class and decides to head for the phsics
lecture hall, where he runs into the dean of studies. The dean is tring to start a fire, and the two discuss the art of
igniting flames. 'tephen and the dean speak a#out aesthetics, #ut 'tephen is disappointed # the older manOs
spott knowledge, and the conversation is awkward. 4hen 'tephen uses the word Ptundish,P referring to a funnel
for adding oil to a lamp, the dean does not know the word, which 'tephen concludes must #e 3rish. 'tephen
reflects that *nglish will alwas #e a #orrowed language for him, Pac&uired speech.P
'tephen then attends a phsics class that is comic and ineffectual. Afterward, 'tephen chats with Cranl,
!acCann, and other classmates, ,oking with them in Latin. !acCann urges 'tephen to sign a petition for
universal peace. 4hen 'tephen seems reluctant, !acCann accuses him of #eing an antisocial minor poet.
Temple, a classmate who idoli2es 'tephen for his independent spirit, defends 'tephen. Another student, Lnch,
greets them. Davin proudl asserts his own 3rish nationalist fervor, and asks 'tephen wh he has dropped out of
3rish language class. Davin sas that 'tephen is a true 3rishman in his heart, #ut too proud.
'tephen explains that the soul takes time to #e #orn, longer than the #od. 'tephen explains his aesthetic theor
of the ideal stasis or immo#ilit evoked # a work of art, a theor he derives from Aristotle and A&uinas. (e also
explains the ideals7integrit, consonance, and radiance7that he #elieves ever artistic o#,ect must achieve.
'tephenOs concept of divinit lies in the aesthetic7his 1od has withdrawn from the world of men, Pparing his
fingernailsP in solitude. 'tephenOs point is that trul transcendent art must #e a#ove the common fra of mankind.
Lnch whispers to 'tephen that 'tephenOs #eloved, an unnamed girl, is present. 'tephen wonders whether he
has ,udged this girl too harshl, and muses upon her.
$%a!ter )& Section 2
'tephen awakens in the morning in a mood of contentment and enchantment, having dreamed of erotic union
with his #eloved. 'avoring the feeling, he undertakes to write down a romantic poem he has composed. (e
recollects #eing together with the girl in a room with a piano, singing and dancing, and remem#ers her telling him
that she feels he is not a monk, #ut a heretic.
'tephen is ,erked out of his reverie # ,ealous suspicions a#out Father !oranOs interest in the girl, *mma.
'tephen reflects that the last time he wrote verses to *mma was ten ears ago, after the rode home together on
the same tram after a #irthda part. (e accuses himself of foll, and wonders whether *mma has #een aware of
his devotion to her. 'tephen feels desire flow through his #od, and turns again to the villanelle, the poem he is
composing.
Analsis
The deanOs ina#ilit to understand 'tephenOs use of the word PtundishP ma seem like a minor detail, #ut it actuall
sm#oli2es the clash of cultures that is at the heart of the 3rish experience. The dean is *nglish, and represents to
'tephen all the institutional power and prestige *ngland has wielded throughout its colonial occupation of 3reland.
The dean is thus a representative of cultural domination. - failing to understand 'tephenOs word7which is
derived from 3rish rather than *nglish7the dean reminds us of the linguistic and cultural divide #etween *ngland
and 3reland. 4ith sadness and despair, 'tephen reflects that this divide ma #e un#ridgea#le, and his
disappointment underscores the discontent he alread feels for stale universit life. The episode with the dean
shows 'tephen the importance of creating his own language, as the *nglish he has #een using is not reall his
own. (e reali2es that *nglish Pwill alwas #e for me an ac&uired speech. 3 have not made or accepted its words.
! voice holds them at #a.P
Hoce reinforces this idea of speaking someone elseOs language throughout the novel through repeated uses of
&uoted speech from a variet of external sources. The opening lines of the novel, for instance, are a childOs stor
told # someone else. Later, we find 'tephen fre&uentl &uoting A&uinas and Aristotle. Bet despite these constant
citations, no &uotation marks are used in the novel, sometimes making it difficult to tell the difference #etween a
character #orrowing someone elseOs words and a character speaking in his or her own voice. The PtundishP
episode with the dean shows 'tephen the necessit of making this distinction and the importance of creating a
distinctive and trul 3rish voice for himself.
Hoce also uses these sections to explore the contrast #etween individualit and communit. 9n one hand,
'tephen is now more of a free+floating individual than ever #efore. (is links with his famil, whose sinking povert
level and carelessness repel him, are weaker than ever. (is mother is disappointed with the changes universit
life has #rought a#out in her son, and his father calls him a Pla2 #itch.P There seems to #e little parental pride or
affection to offset !r. DedalusOs hostilit. !oreover, 'tephenOs social life is hardl an less solitar. (e fails to
share the ideological position of an of his friends: he cannot adopt the 3rish patriotism of Davin or the
international pacifism of !acCann. *ven the flattering adulation of Temple fails to inspire 'tephen. Therefore,
having given up hope on famil, church, friends, and education, 'tephen seems to #e more alone than ever. This
assessment is onl partl true, however, as 'tephen is never completel isolated in the novel. (is famil repels
him, #ut he continues to see them and speak to them, and his warm address to his si#lings shows that he still has
famil ties. Furthermore, even when composing epitaphs to dead friendships, 'tephen is surrounded # his
friends and interacts with them in a livel and outgoing wa. The proximit of such human relationships is clearl
important, as 'tephen retains a powerful commitment to his societ until the ver end of the novel, even when
dreaming of fashioning a new soul for himself.
$%a!ter )& Sections 3'(
'ummar
$%a!ter )& Section 3
4ld father' old artificer' stand me now and e"er in good stead.
'itting on the steps of the universit li#rar, 'tephen watches a flock of #irds circling a#ove and tries to identif
their species. (e muses on the idea of flight and on the fact that men have alwas tried to fl. (is thoughts turn to
lines from a Beats pla that has recentl opened, lines that characteri2e swallows as sm#ols of freedom. (e
remem#ers having heard harsh criticism of the pla, as some oung men accused Beats of li#el and atheism.
Leaving the li#rar, 'tephen walks with Cranl and Temple, who fall into an argument. 'tephenOs #eloved *mma
leaves the li#rar and nods a greeting to Cranl, ignoring 'tephen. 'tephen feels hurt and ,ealous, and envisions
*mma walking home. A s&uat oung man named 1lnn approaches 'tephen and his friends, and Temple
engages them in a religious dispute a#out the fate of un#apti2ed children.
Leaving the rest of the students, Cranl and 'tephen walk on alone. 'tephen tells Cranl a#out an unpleasant
conversation he has had at home. 'tephenOs mother wants him to attend *aster services in the church, #ut
'tephen no longer feels religious faith and does not want to go. Cranl answers that a motherOs love is more
important than religious dou#ts, and advises 'tephen to go. Cranl gentl tests 'tephenOs new faithlessness #
insulting Hesus and closel watching his friendOs reaction. Cranl concludes that 'tephen ma still have vestiges
of faith. 'tephen sadl tells his friend that he feels he ma soon have to leave the universit and a#andon his
friends in order to pursue his artistic am#itions. 'tephen sas that he feels he must o#e the dictum P3 will not
serve,P refusing an ideolog that is imposed upon him from a#ove, even that of friends and famil. Cranl warns
'tephen of the risk of extreme solitude, #ut 'tephen does not repl.
$%a!ter )& Section (
At this point, the narrative switches to a ,ournal form, composed of dated entries written # 'tephen himself, from
a first+person perspective. 'tephen records his scattered impressions of thoughts, perceptions, and events of
each da. (e tells of his conversation with Cranl a#out leaving the universit, and mentions CranlOs father. (e
distractedl muses on the fact that Hohn the -aptist lived on locusts in the desert, and comments on his friend
LnchOs pursuit of a hospital nurse. 'tephen notes a conversation with his mother regarding the Qirgin !ar, in
which his mother accuses 'tephen of reading too much and losing his faith. 'tephen, however, sas that he
cannot repent.
'tephen speaks of a s&ua##le with a fellow student and of attempting to read three reviews in the li#rar. (e
records two dreams: one of viewing a long galler filled with images of fa#ulous kings, and another of meeting
strange mute creatures with phosphorescent faces. (e mentions meeting his father, who asks him wh he does
not ,oin a rowing clu#. 3n his entr dated April GM, 'tephen records meeting PherP7meaning *mma7on 1rafton
'treet. *mma asks 'tephen whether he is writing poems and wh he no longer comes to the universit. 'tephen
excitedl talks to her a#out his artistic plans. The following da, he has a vision of disem#odied arms and voices
that seem to call to him, urging him to ,oin them. 'tephen ends his ,ournal with a praer to his old father,
Daedalus, whom he calls Pold artificer,P to stand him in good stead.
Analsis
'tephenOs long meditation on the #irds circling overhead is an important sign of his own imminent flight. (e
cannot identif what species the #irds are, ,ust as he is not sure a#out his own nature. All he knows is that the
#irds are fling, as he too will fl. (e will #uild his wings alone, ,ust as his mthical namesake Daedalus alone
crafted the wings with which he escaped from his prison. The #irds offer 'tephen relief from his dail worries:
although their cries are harsh, the Pinhuman clamour soothed his ears in which his motherOs so#s and reproaches
murmured insistentl.P The significance of the #irds is, however, morall am#iguous. 'tephen is not sure whether
the #irds are Pan augur of good or evil,P ,ust as he cannot #e entirel sure whether his decision to leave his
famil, friends, and universit will have good or #ad conse&uences. Finall, the #irds are a sm#ol of literature
and national politics as well. The remind 'tephen of a passage from a recent Beats pla he has ,ust seen, lines
that refer to the swallow that wanders over the waters. As the nationalist pla has attracted patriotic criticism, this
swallow is a potent political sm#ol to which 'tephen responds deepl.
HoceOs transition to ,ournal entries at the end of the novel is a formal change that highlights 'tephenOs continuing
search for his own voice. The ,ournal entr form explores the pro#lem of representing a person through words.
'tephen is no longer #eing talked a#out # an external narrator, #ut is now speaking in his own voice. This form
also frames the final section of the novel with the first, which opens with a different external voice7!r. Dedalus
telling his son a stor. Throughout the novel, 'tephen has continued his search for a voice, first drawing on
othersO voices7citing A&uinas and Aristotle as authorities and &uoting *li2a#ethan poems7and later reali2ing
that he must devise a language of his own #ecause he cannot #e happ speaking the language of others. This
last section of the novel finall offers a glimpse of 'tephen succeeding in doing precisel that. 4e finall see him
imitating no one and &uoting no one, offering his own perceptions, dreams, insights, and reflections through his
words alone. 'tlisticall, this section is not as polished and structured as the earlier portions of the novel, #ut this
lack of polish indicates its immediac and sincerit in 'tephenOs mind.
'tephenOs ideas of femininit #ecome more complex in the final sections of Chapter M, when he finall confronts
*mma and talks to her on 1rafton 'treet. 'tephenOs relation to females throughout the novel has #een largel
conflicted and a#stract to this point. This meeting with *mma, however, is concrete, placing 'tephen himself in
control. The conversation with *mma emphasi2es the fact that women are no longer guiding 'tephen: his mother
no longer pushes him, the Qirgin !ar no longer shows him the wa, and prostitutes no longer seduce him.
4omen are no longer in a superior or transcendent position in his life. Finall, in actuall speaking with *mma
face+to+face, 'tephen shows that he has #egun to conceive of women as fellow human #eings rather than
ideali2ed creatures. (e no longer needs to #e mothered and guided, as his emotional, spiritual, and artistic
development has given him the vision and confidence to show himself the wa.
*lossary of +ords and ,atin P%rases
Act of Contrition 7 a traditional Catholic praer said # sinners who are repentant for their sins
Ad Majorem Dei 8loriam 7 Pto the greater glor of 1odP
in a #ake 7 angr
#all 7 a euphemism for P#lood,P a -ritish curse
#lack twist 7 a cigarette of to#acco leaves twisted together
#oat#earer 7 a participant in the Catholic !ass who carries the container of incense .the P#oatP/
Bonum est in 9uod tendit appetitus 7 PThe good is in that toward which the appetite tendsP
cachou 7 a cashew mint
camaun 7 a piece of e&uipment in the sport of hurling8 the stick used to hurl the #all
car 7 a two+wheeled horse+driven carriage
catafal&ue 7 a structure upon which a dead #od is laid for viewing
catechism 7 a set of formal &uestions and answers that sums up Catholic #eliefs
chasu#le 7 a sleeveless garment worn # a priest when leading !ass
ci#orium 7 a container for the host used during !ass
cock 7 a faucet
come+all+ou 7 a form of pu# song that #egins with the phrase PCome all ou...P
Confiteor 7 a Catholic praer said at the #eginning of !ass8 literall, P3 confessP
constitutional 7 a walk or stroll taken for health purposes
ontrahit orator' "ariant in carmine "ates 7 PAn orator concludes, poets var in their rhmingP
cope 7 a long semicircular vestment
cassock 7 a close+fitting, ankle+length garment worn # Catholic clerg
redo ut "os sanguinarius menda$ estis . . . 9uia facies "ostra monstrat ut "os in damno malo humore estis 7 P3
#elieve that ou are a #lood liar . . . #ecause our face shows that ou are in a damned #ad mood.P
Davitt, !ichael 7 a radical leader of 3rish land reform who served time in prison for tring to smuggle arms into
3reland
dead mass 7 a !ass said for the dead
Dominicans 7 a Catholic order of monks who focus on preaching the gospel
drisheen 7 a traditional 3rish dish made of sheepOs #lood, chopped mutton, #read crum#s, milk, and other
ingredients
#go credo ut "ita pauperum est simpliciter atro$' simpliciter sanguinarius atro$' in :i"erpoolio 7 P3 #elieve that the
life of the poor is simpl atrocious, simpl #lood atrocious, in LiverpoolP
ego habeo 7 P3 haveP
e,aculation 7 a short praer or exclamation
elements 7 re&uired classes, such as Latin or mathematics
#t ignotas animum dimittit in artes 7 PAnd he sent forth his spirit among the unknown artsP8 from
9vidOs Metamorphoses
#t tu cum ;esu 8alilaeo eras 7 PAnd ou were with Hesus of 1alileeP
false sleeves 7 pieces of material that hung from each shoulder of the soutane, the garment worn # Hesuits
feck 7 to steal
fender 7 a guard that keeps sparks from fling out of a fireplace
fenian movement 7 an 3rish revolutionar movement
ferule 7 a flat rod of wood used to punish children8 plural PferulaeP refers to the num#er of lashings a student gets
fireeater 7 a person who likes to argue
foxing 7 pretending
Franciscans 7 a Catholic order of monks who focus on asceticism
gallnut 7 an a#normal growth on a tree
gamecock 7 a #ird #red for cockfighting
gi##et 7 a structure for hanging
gingernuts 7 ginger#read
glass 7 a monocle
greaves 7 shin guards
hacking chestnut 7 a chestnut used in a game of #eating one chestnut against another until one #reaks
haha 7 a fence or wall around a garden that is set in a ditch so as not to #lock the view
hamper 7 a #asket of food
(ill of Allen 7 a flat+topped hill in Count :ildare, 3reland, famous for its memorial to Finn !acCool, a third+
centur 3rish hero
hoardings 7 a fence on which posters and advertisements have #een pasted
ho# 7 a shelf # a fireplace
hurling 7 a traditional Celtic sport similar to rug# and field hocke
in tanto discrimine 7 Pin so man disputesP
in "itam eternam 7 Pinto eternal lifeP
*ndia mittit ebur 7 P3ndia exports ivorP
3ndian clu# 7 a clu# used for gmnastics
*nter ubera mea commorabitur 7 P! #eloved is to me a #ag of mrrh that lies #etween m #reastsP8 from the
'ong of 'olomon in the -i#le
ipso facto 7 Po#viouslP
*te' missa est 7 P1o, the !ass is endedP8 spoken at the end of )oman Catholic !ass
Hakeen 7 a lower+class person
,ingle 7 a covered, two+wheeled wagon
:entish fire 7 strong applause, accompanied # stamping the feet
kisser 7 slang for PfaceP
lemon platt 7 lemon+flavored cand
P!adam, 3 never eat muscatel grapesP 7 a line from %he ount of Monte risto spoken # the hero, DantRs .the
count of the title/, claiming that he cannot eat an food in the house of his enem
maneen 7 an 3rish diminutive for PmenP
monstrance 7 a container in which the host, or communion, is displaed in )oman Catholic ceremonies
muff 7 a person who is awkward at sports
mulier cantat 7 Pa woman is singingP
Nos ad manum ballum jocabimus 7 PLetOs go pla hand#allP
novena 7 a Catholic devotion involving praers said over the course of nine das
num#er 7 a locker
oilsheet 7 a cotton fa#ric treated with oil to make it waterproof
pange lingua gloriosa 7 Pcele#rate with a #oastful tongueP
paten 7 in Catholic tradition, a plate on which #read is placed for consecration
5aulo post futurum 7 P3tOs going to #e a little laterP
5a$ super totum sanguinarium globum 7 PCeace over the whole #lood glo#eP
to peach on 7 to tattle or inform on
per aspera ad astra 7 Pthrough adversit to the starsP
per pa$ uni"ersalis 7 Pfor universal peaceP
pernobilis et per"etusta familia 7 Pa ver no#le and ancient familP
pierglass 7 a tall mirror #etween two windows
popeOs nose 7 the flesh part of the chicken to which the tail feathers are attached
prefect 7 a teacher who leads a class or organi2ation
press 7 a piece of furniture used for keeping clothes
provincial 7 a provincial head of a religious order
5ulcra sunt 9uae "isa placent 7 PThe #eautiful is that which pleases oneOs sightP
punch 7 a hot alcoholic drink
+uis est in malo humore . . . ego aut "os< 7 P4hich one is in #ad mood . . . me or ou<P
9uod 7 PwhatP
real All Dall 7 slang for Pthe #estP or Pthe real dealP
to redden a pipe 7 to light a pipe
refector 7 a dining hall
ripping 7 slang for Pthe #estP
risotto alla #ergamasca 7 an 3talian rice dish prepared in the stle of the cit of -ergamo
rosar 7 a series of Catholic praers usuall said with rosar #eads
sacrist 7 a room where religious vessels and clothes are kept
sailorOs hornpipe 7 a kind of dance popular with sailors
scri##ler 7 a note#ook
seawrack 7 seaweed washed up on the #each
seraphim 7 the highest order of angels, according to Catholic theolog
sick in our #read#asket 7 slang for Psick to our stomachP
side#oard 7 a piece of furniture used for keeping dining items such as ta#lecloths and silverware
singlet 7 an undershirt
slim ,im 7 a strip of cand
smugging 7 a slang term for homosexual pla
'odalit of the -lessed Qirgin !ar 7 a la religious association honoring the mother of Hesus
soutane 7 a garment worn # Hesuits
s&uare ditch 7 a cesspool
stone 7 a measure of mass, e&uivalent to fourteen pounds
suck 7 a scophant8 someone who follows without &uestion8 a #rownnoser
sums and cuts 7 math theorems
super spottum 7 Pon this ver spotP
surd 7 an irrational num#er
surplice 7 a loose white outer vestment with open sleeves, worn # Catholic clerg
!ynopsis 5hilosophiae !cholasticae ad mentem di"i %homae 7 P'ummar of the Chilosoph and 'cholastic
9pinions of 'aint ThomasP
%empora mutantur et nos mutamur in illis 7 PThe times change and we change in themP
Thoth 7 the *gptian god of wisdom, learning, writing, and the arts8 e&uivalent to the 1reek god (ermes or the
)oman god !ercur
the three theological virtues 7 faith, hope, and charit
third of grammar 7 the level of an advanced student
thuri#le 7 a container in which incense is #urned
toasted #oss 7 a heated footstool
tram 7 a horse+drawn streetcar
venial sin 7 a minor sin
=e$ila 1egis 7 Proal flagP
villanelle 7 a poetic form that is French in origin, nineteen lines long, with strict rhming conventions
in a wax 7 angr
4hitsuntide 7 the Christian feast of Centecost, which occurs the seventh 'unda after *aster
ard 7 a urinal
m!ortant "uotations #x!lained
9nce upon a time and a ver good time it was there was a moocow coming down along the road and this
moocow that was coming down along the road met a nicens little #o named #a# tuckoo. . . . (is father told him
that stor: his father looked at him through a glass: he had a hair face. (e was a #a# tuckoo. The moocow
came down the road where -ett -rne lived: she sold lemon platt.
4' the wild rose blossoms 4n the little green place.
(e sang that song. That was his song.
4' the green wothe botheth.
4hen ou wet the #ed first it is warm then it gets cold. (is mother put on the oilsheet. That had the &ueer smell.
*xplanation for Iuotation G JJ
These first lines of A 5ortrait of the Artist as a (oung Man represent HoceOs attempt to capture the perceptions of
a ver oung #o. The language is childish: Pmoocow,P Ptuckoo,P and PnicensP are words a child might sa, or
words that an adult might sa to a child. 3n addition to using childlike speech, Hoce tries to emulate a childOs
thought processes through the sntax of his sentences and paragraphs. (e ,umps from thought to thought with no
apparent motivation or sense of time. 4e have no idea how much time goes # #etween 'tephenOs father telling
him the stor and 'tephen wetting the #ed. !oreover, the wa 'tephenOs thoughts turn inward reflects the wa
children see themselves as the center of the universe. 'tephen is the same -a# Tuckoo as the one in the stor
his father tells, and the song 'tephen hears is Phis song.P As 'tephen ages, HoceOs stle #ecomes less childish,
tracking and emulating the thoughts and feelings of the maturing 'tephen as closel as possi#le.
Close
7orpus Domini nostri. Could it #e< (e knelt there sinless and timid: and he would hold upon his tongue the host
and 1od would enter his purified #od.7*n "itam eternam. Amen. Another lifeD A life of grace and virtue and
happinessD 3t was true. 3t was not a dream from which he would wake. The past was past.7orpus Domini
nostri. The ci#orium had come to him.
*xplanation for Iuotation K JJ
9ne techni&ue Hoce uses to indicate the development of 'tephenOs consciousness is to end each of the five
chapters with a moment of epiphan in which 'tephen recogni2es the fallac of one wa of life and the truth of
another. This passage is the epiphan that ends Chapter @, the moment in which 'tephen understands that he
must turn to a religious life. The passage demonstrates one of the most revolutionar aspects of HoceOs narrative
stle: whereas other confessional novels usuall involve narrators looking #ack at the events of their outh with an
adult perspective, A 5ortrait of the Artist as a (oung Man is not mediated # such a detached voice. 4hen
'tephen declares, PAnother lifeDP and PThe past was past,P we are given no indication that 'tephenOs religious life
is eventuall replaced # a calling to an artistic life. )ather, ,ust like 'tephen, we are led to #elieve that he will
remain religious for the rest of his life and that the arrival of the ci#orium sm#oli2es the arrival of his true calling.
3n this sense, we experience the successive epiphanies in 'tephenOs life ,ust as he experiences them, knowing
that a change is #eing made to life as he has lived it up to this point, #ut not knowing where this change will take
him in the future.
Close
(is throat ached with a desire to cr aloud, the cr of a hawk or eagle on high, to cr piercingl of his deliverance
to the winds. This was the call of life to his soul not the dull gross voice of the world of duties and despair, not the
inhuman voice that had called him to the pale service of the altar. An instant of wild flight had delivered him and
the cr of triumph which his lips withheld cleft his #rain.
*xplanation for Iuotation @ JJ
This passage, from Chapter L, demonstrates HoceOs contention that #ecoming a true artist involves a calling, not
a conscious decision the artist can make himself. These thoughts fl through 'tephenOs mind ,ust #efore he sees
a oung girl wading at a #each. The sight of her image leads to one of the most important epiphanies in the novel.
'tephen sees her not long after he has refused the priesthood, a time when he is unsure of what to do now that
he has relin&uished his religious devotion. At this moment, 'tephen finall feels a strong calling, and determines
to cele#rate life, humanit, and freedom, ignoring all temptations to turn awa from such a cele#ration. (e has
alread succum#ed to temptation twice: first, a Pdull gross voiceP causes him to sin deepl when he succum#s to
the s&ualor of Du#lin8 second, an Pinhuman voiceP invites him into the cold, dull, unfeeling world of the priesthood.
-oth of these temptations, as well as the calling to #ecome an artist, are forces through which the outside world
acts upon 'tephen. 3n this context, the passage suggests that it is as much fate as 'tephenOs own free will that
leads him to #ecome an artist.
Close
7The language in which we are speaking is his #efore it is mine. (ow different are the
words home'hrist'ale'master' on his lips and on mineD 3 cannot speak or write these words without unrest of
spirit. (is language, so familiar and so foreign, will alwas #e for me an ac&uired speech. 3 have not made or
accepted its words. ! voice holds them at #a. ! soul frets in the shadow of his language.
*xplanation for Iuotation L JJ
This &uotation, from Chapter M, indicates the linguistic and historical context of A 5ortrait of the Artist as a (oung
Man. 'tephen makes this comment during his conversation with the dean of studies. The dean, who is *nglish,
does not know what PtundishP means, and assumes it is an 3rish word. 3n a moment of patriotism, 'tephen
smpathi2es with the 3rish people, whose ver language is #orrowed from their *nglish con&uerors. The words
'tephen chooses as examples in this passage are significant. PAleP and PhomeP show how a #orrowed language
can suddenl make even the most familiar things feel foreign. PChristP alludes to the fact that even the 3rish
religion has #een altered # *nglish occupation. Finall, PmasterP refers to the su#ordination of the 3rish to the
*nglish. 'tephenOs new awareness of the #orrowed nature of his language has a strong effect on him, as he
knows that language is central to his artistic mission. - the end of the novel, 'tephen acknowledges that 3rish
*nglish is a #orrowed language, and resolves to use that knowledge to shape *nglish into a tool for expressing
the soul of the imprisoned 3rish race.
Close
>? April@ 3 go to encounter for the millionth time the realit of experience and to forge in the smith of m soul the
uncreated conscience of m race.
>A April@ 9ld father, old artificer, stand me now and ever in good stead.
*xplanation for Iuotation M JJ
These final lines of the novel proclaim 'tephenOs aim to #e an artist for the rest of his life. The phrase Pthe smith
of m soulP indicates that he strives to #e an artist whose individual consciousness is the foundation for all of his
work. The reference to Pthe uncreated conscience of m raceP implies that he strives to #e an artist who uses his
individual voice to create a voice and conscience for the communit into which he has #een #orn. The final diar
entr, with its references to Pold fatherP and Pold artificer,P reinforces 'tephenOs twofold mission. (e invokes his
Pold fatherP7which can #e read as either 'imon Dedalus or 3reland itself7to acknowledge his de#t to his past.
(e invokes the Pold artificerP7his namesake, Daedalus, the master craftsman from ancient mtholog7to
emphasi2e his role as an artist. 3t is through his art that 'tephen will use his individualit to create a conscience
for his communit.
Close
The Waves
Plot -vervie.
%he .a"es is a portrait of the intertwined lives of six friends: -ernard, "eville, Louis, Hinn, 'usan, and )hoda.
The novel is divided into nine sections, each of which corresponds to a time of da, and, sm#olicall, to a period
in the lives of the characters. *ach section #egins with a detailed description of the course of this sm#olic da.
The first section deals with earl morning, or childhood, when the six main characters are attending a da+school
together. As each of the children awakens, he or she #egins an internal monologue composed of thoughts,
feelings, and impressions. The children interact in various was throughout the da, and each #egins to take
shape as an individual in response to the stimulus provided # the world and # the presence of one another.
Although their thoughts are somewhat incoherent and mostl fixated on immediate experience, their distinct
personalities #egin to emerge: -ernard0s lo&uacit and o#session with language8 "eville0s desire for order and
#eaut8 Louis0s insecurit and am#ition8 Hinn0s phsicalit8 'usan0s intensit and attachment to nature8 and
)hoda0s dreamlike a#straction from ordinar life.
The second section deals with adolescence, after the #os and girls have #een sent off to their separate #oarding
schools. -ernard, Louis, and "eville differ in their reactions to the school0s authorit and traditions, and the all
form friendships with Cercival, a popular, handsome #o who is to #ecome a central figure in the lives of the six
main characters. All three #os develop literar am#itions of some sort, though the differ markedl in their goals
and expressions. The girls mostl want school to #e over and done with: Hinn desires to #egin her real life in
societ, 'usan longs to return home to her father and her farm, and )hoda wants an escape from the disruptions
to her mental solitude caused # school. At the close of the section, each character sets out, whether for college,
work, or otherwise, on a more solitar track.
The third section traces the characters through oung adulthood. -ernard and "eville are at college together and
remain close friends. The #oth admire Cercival, #ut "eville has fallen in love with him. Cercival has #ecome the
focus of "eville0s desire for #eaut and perfection. -ernard is concerned with his own gregarious nature and
thinks deepl a#out the wa his personalit is constructed out of his relationships with others. "eville shares one
of his poems with -ernard, and the moment is important for #oth of them. Louis is working as a mid+level clerk at
a shipping firm in London. (e spends his lunch hour reading at a diner and people+watching, hoping to make
poetr out of his o#servations of everda life. 'usan is at home on her farm and communes with the rhthm of
natural life. 'he walks across the fields #efore dawn and senses growth all around her, though she #egins to
su#merge her own active will. -ack in London, Hinn and )hoda attend the same part, though their experiences
are ver different. Hinn comes full alive in the social setting, and she takes a great, sensual pleasure in the
#eaut of her surroundings and in her own personal attractiveness. )hoda, on the other hand, feels negated #
the others around her and longs to disappear.
The fourth section is set later in adulthood and centers on a dinner part, meant to honor Cercival, who is leaving
for a position in the colonial government in 3ndia. At the part, the six characters are united again. At first, the
group is tense and uneas in one another0s compan, and the primaril notice their differences. 4hen Cercival
arrives, however, these tensions are relaxed and the group comes together. -riefl, the friends are united in a
moment of true communion, and their individual voices seem to #lend. All too soon, however, the moment ends
and the group dissolves #ack into its singular parts.
The fifth section takes place not long after the dinner part, when the friends have learned that Cercival has #een
killed in 3ndia. "eville is devastated # the news, overwhelmed # a sense of death and the fragilit of life.
-ernard is torn #etween ,o and sorrow: his child has ,ust #een #orn and his friend has ,ust died. -ernard goes to
a museum to look at paintings and finds a kind of solace, even as he is aware that his memories of Cercival must
inevita#l fade. )hoda finds a similar solace in music when she attends an opera soon after she learns of
Cercival0s death, and she finds the strength to go on for a time.
3n the sixth section, the characters have entered full maturit. Louis is rising in his firm and leads a sort of dou#le
life. Although he is a respecta#le #usinessman, he is drawn to the seamier side of life and spends his time
roaming around poorer neigh#orhoods. Louis and )hoda have #ecome lovers. 'usan is a mother now, #oth
deepl gratified and stifled # her chosen life. 9n one hand, she is full a part of the ccle of natural life8 on the
other, her own life has #ecome su#ordinate to the lives of her children and the ongoing life of the farm. Hinn
continues her purel phsical existence, taking lovers #ut never settling down, content to revel in her own #eing.
"eville also moves from lover to lover, #ut in his case, he is tring to keep the intensit of first desire alive7it is
the source of his creativit.
The seventh section deals with midlife, as the characters #egin to age. -ernard has traveled to )ome, where he
o#serves the ruins and tries to come to terms with his own sense of failure, as he has #egun to dou#t #oth his
own a#ilities and the a#ilit of stories to capture realit. As 'usan sinks deeper into her rural and domestic life,
she regrets what she has lost even as she finds a measure of contentment in what she has gained. Hinn has a
moment of dread in which she sees that she is aging and her #eaut is fading. 'he reconciles herself to the
inevita#le passage of time, however, and resolves to make the most of her remaining ears. "eville is #ecoming a
successful writer. (e is mellowing a #it, #ut he continues to shift the focus of his desire from lover to lover. Louis
rises ever higher in his firm #ut still returns to his attic room to write. Literature seems to him an ideali2ed realm
even as his ee is continuall drawn to the street. )hoda has left Louis and travels to 'pain, where she too has a
moment in which she comes face to face with death7here in the form of the vast sea seen from the cliffs.
3n the eighth section, the friends once again gather for a dinner, though this time the meeting is shadowed #
death, thanks #oth to their increasing age and to the a#sence of Cercival. Although there is tension among the
friends, as at the earlier meeting, this tension is resolved as the #egin to share their common experiences. The
characters have lived long enough to know that this meeting is one such common experience, and the have
another moment of silent communion, though the moment is elegiac rather than triumphant. )hoda and Louis
have a &uiet moment together as the others walk into the park, #ut it inevita#l comes to an end.
The ninth and final section is told entirel from -ernard0s point of view. -ernard speaks to a casual ac&uaintance
over dinner, and tries to give a $summing up% of his life. -ernard is still dou#tful a#out the accurac of an
representation of realit through language. (e tries to give a sense of the texture of his life, rather than making
sweeping statements a#out it. -ernard discusses the others and how things have turned out for them, including
the fact that )hoda has killed herself. The most profound moment -ernard descri#es is one in which he himself
seems to move #eond language into a direct perception of realit. 3n the end, however, -ernard sees his life as
an attempt to use language to fight against death, and he sees how the others have, in their individual was, #een
part of the same struggle. -ernard vows to keep fighting until the end.
m!ortant "uotations #x!lained
G. 3 oppose to what is passing this ramrod of #eaten steel. 3 will not su#mit to this aimless passing of #illcock hats
and (om#urg hats and all the plumed and variegated head+dresses of women . . . and the words that trail drearil
without human meaning8 3 will reduce ou to order.
*xplanation for Iuotation G JJ
As Louis sits in the eating+shop in the third section, he watches the people around him, contrasting their lives with
the ideali2ed world of the poems he reads. (is own poetic pro,ect is conceived in terms of resistance, order, and
rigidit. (e thinks of poetr as a steel ramrod that he will use to straighten out the crookedness of realit. Louis0s
tone is defiant, almost angr. (e refuses to $su#mit% to the chaos around him and will $reduce% it to order.
(owever, he still desires to include the details of modern life in his art. 3n contrast, -ernard #ecomes dissatisfied
with stories precisel #ecause the $reduce% life too much, while $reduction,% in the sense of the elimination of the
ugl or mundane, is the secret of "eville0s creativit. Louis, meanwhile, intends to take a ramrod to realit. The
human activit he is so captivated with seems like an ocean of chaos8 the people are $aimless,% and their $drear%
words lack meaning. Louis wants to state the meaning these passers# will never see for themselves.
Close
K. 'hould 3 seek out some tree< 'hould 3 desert these form rooms and li#raries, and the #road ellow page in
which 3 read Catullus, for woods and fields< 'hould 3 walk under #eech trees, or saunter along the river #ank,
where the trees meet united like lovers in the water< -ut nature is too vegeta#le, too vapid. 'he has onl
su#limities and vastitudes and water and leaves. 3 #egin to wish for firelight, privac, and the lim#s of one person.
*xplanation for Iuotation K JJ
"eville asks these &uestions in the second section, while he is at school. "eville is distancing himself from the
natural world and turning toward his own private domain. The pro#lem "eville has with nature is similar to what
Louis sees in the cit7it is full of disorder and emptiness. "eville longs for #oth human warmth and for an ideal
state of perfection. These two desires are contradictor, of course, #ut at this point in the novel, Cercival is still
alive and "eville has et to learn of the incompati#ilit of perfection and temporal existence. Another pro#lem
"eville sees with nature is simpl that it is too #ig. "eville wants #eaut, including harmon, grace, and
proportion, rather than su#limit, which is awe+inspiring, forceful, and huge. The perfection "eville seeks is #
definition to #e found on a smaller, more intimate scale. 3n "eville0s desire for form and organi2ation, we can see
the #eginnings of his future life of #ooks and seclusion with a chosen lover, as well as his fondness for classical
poets and orderliness.
Close
@. -eneath us lie the lights of the herring fleet. The cliffs vanish. )ippling small, rippling gre, innumera#le waves
spread #eneath us. 3 touch nothing. 3 see nothing. 4e ma sink and settle on the waves. The sea will drum in m
ears. The white petals will #e darkened with sea water. The will float for a moment and then sink. )olling me
over the waves will shoulder me under. *verthing falls in a tremendous shower, dissolving me.
*xplanation for Iuotation @ JJ
3n the seventh section, )hoda travels to 'pain, where she has this vision of the ocean from high atop a cliff. The
scene is #eautiful #ut ominous, and there is a dou#le meaning to )hoda0s statements a#out touching and seeing
$nothing.% That is, what she is seeing and touching in this scene isnothingness, nonexistence. )hoda is imagining
the dissolution of her #od into the larger #od of the sea. The sm#olic value of the $waves% is clearl active here
as well7)hoda knows she is constantl #eing dissolved # the passage of time anwa, and she is strongl
tempted to give in to the process. As it happens, )hoda does not give in to the temptation here, #ut this scene is
a kind of har#inger of future events and a portrait of the drift of )hoda0s mind. 3t also serves as a kind of
counterpoint to the scene in which -ernard, also looking down upon the ocean, sees the porpoise #reak the
surface. 3n his case, meaning and life come welling up from #elow, while )hoda imagines herself #eing sucked
under # meaninglessness and death.
Close
L. (ow tired 3 am of stories, how tired 3 am of phrases that come down #eautifull with all their feet on the groundD
Also, how 3 distrust neat designs of life that are drawn upon half sheets of notepaper. . . . 4hat delights me . . . is
the confusion, the height, the indifference, and the fur. 1reat clouds alwas changing, and movement8 something
sulphurous and sinister, #owled up, helter+skelter8 towering, trailing, #roken off, lost, and 3 forgotten, minute, in a
ditch. 9f stor, of design, 3 do not see a trace then.
*xplanation for Iuotation L JJ
As -ernard #egins his $summing up,% he expresses again his distrust of stories. As he sas, the pro#lem with
stories is that the tr to s&uee2e realit into a kind of straight,acket, forcing it into a predetermined shape.
-ernard is alwas interested in what gets left out of the $neat designs of life.% For -ernard, stories have trou#le
accommodating the wild, formless nature of realit7illustrated # the roiling, shifting mass of clouds he sees
overhead from his ditch. -ernard0s last sentence, which links the words $stor% and $design,% suggests that he
sees neither narrative meaning nor pattern in nature. 3mplicitl, -ernard is dening the presence of 1od in the
world and saing that whatever meaning is found in the universe has #een made # us in the act of tring to
comprehend it. 4oolf is clearl explaining her own procedure in %he .a"es in this passage. The novel tries to
find meaning in human lives while staing true to the shifting, formless nature of realit.
Close
M. 9ur friends, how seldom visited, how little known7it is true8 and et, when 3 meet an unknown person, and tr
to #reak off, here at this ta#le, what 3 call Fm life,0 it is not one life that 3 look #ack upon8 3 am not one person8 3 am
man people8 3 do not altogether know who 3 am7Hinn, 'usan, "eville, )hoda, or Louis: or how to distinguish
m life from theirs.
*xplanation for Iuotation M JJ
Late in the last section, -ernard returns to his idea of the fluidit of identit. For -ernard, all personalities are
multiple: we are not self+sufficient, self+created entities. -ernard seems to suggest that we should #e #oth
hum#led and comforted # the extent to which we have #een shaped # others. This idea is ke to a kind of
ethical dimension in 4oolf0s writing. 3f we can see others as connected to ourselves, as part of ourselves, we will
#e less likel to o#,ectif or exploit others to suit our own desires. - the end of the novel, -ernard is a#le to put
his own desires, and even his own thoughts, to the side and to look upon others with a compassionate
detachment #orn of the certaint that we all share in the same life, and are all ,ourneing toward the same end.
1984
Plot -vervie.
4 3"'T9" '!3T( 3' A L94+)A":3"1 !*!-*) 9F the ruling Cart in London, in the nation of 9ceania.
*verwhere 4inston goes, even his own home, the Cart watches him through telescreens8 everwhere he looks
he sees the face of the Cart0s seemingl omniscient leader, a figure known onl as -ig -rother. The Cart
controls everthing in 9ceania, even the people0s histor and language. Currentl, the Cart is forcing the
implementation of an invented language called "ewspeak, which attempts to prevent political re#ellion #
eliminating all words related to it. *ven thinking re#ellious thoughts is illegal. 'uch thoughtcrime is, in fact, the
worst of all crimes.
As the novel opens, 4inston feels frustrated # the oppression and rigid control of the Cart, which prohi#its free
thought, sex, and an expression of individualit. 4inston dislikes the part and has illegall purchased a diar in
which to write his criminal thoughts. (e has also #ecome fixated on a powerful Cart mem#er named 90-rien,
whom 4inston #elieves is a secret mem#er of the -rotherhood7the msterious, legendar group that works to
overthrow the Cart.
4inston works in the !inistr of Truth, where he alters historical records to fit the needs of the Cart. (e notices a
coworker, a #eautiful dark+haired girl, staring at him, and worries that she is an informant who will turn him in for
his thoughtcrime. (e is trou#led # the Cart0s control of histor: the Cart claims that 9ceania has alwas #een
allied with *astasia in a war against *urasia, #ut 4inston seems to recall a time when this was not true. The
Cart also claims that *mmanuel 1oldstein, the alleged leader of the -rotherhood, is the most dangerous man
alive, #ut this does not seem plausi#le to 4inston. 4inston spends his evenings wandering through the poorest
neigh#orhoods in London, where the proletarians, or proles, live s&ualid lives, relativel free of Cart monitoring.
9ne da, 4inston receives a note from the dark+haired girl that reads $3 love ou.% 'he tells him her name, Hulia,
and the #egin a covert affair, alwas on the lookout for signs of Cart monitoring. *ventuall the rent a room
a#ove the secondhand store in the prole district where 4inston #ought the diar. This relationship lasts for some
time. 4inston is sure that the will #e caught and punished sooner or later .the fatalistic 4inston knows that he
has #een doomed since he wrote his first diar entr/, while Hulia is more pragmatic and optimistic. As 4inston0s
affair with Hulia progresses, his hatred for the Cart grows more and more intense. At last, he receives the
message that he has #een waiting for: 90-rien wants to see him.
4inston and Hulia travel to 90-rien0s luxurious apartment. As a mem#er of the powerful 3nner Cart .4inston
#elongs to the 9uter Cart/, 90-rien leads a life of luxur that 4inston can onl imagine. 90-rien confirms to
4inston and Hulia that, like them, he hates the Cart, and sas that he works against it as a mem#er of the
-rotherhood. (e indoctrinates 4inston and Hulia into the -rotherhood, and gives 4inston a cop of *mmanuel
1oldstein0s #ook, the manifesto of the -rotherhood. 4inston reads the #ook7an amalgam of several forms of
class+#ased twentieth+centur social theor7to Hulia in the room a#ove the store. 'uddenl, soldiers #arge in and
sei2e them. !r. Charrington, the proprietor of the store, is revealed as having #een a mem#er of the Thought
Colice all along.
Torn awa from Hulia and taken to a place called the !inistr of Love, 4inston finds that 90-rien, too, is a Cart
sp who simpl pretended to #e a mem#er of the -rotherhood in order to trap 4inston into committing an open
act of re#ellion against the Cart. 90-rien spends months torturing and #rainwashing 4inston, who struggles to
resist. At last, 90-rien sends him to the dreaded )oom GAG, the final destination for anone who opposes the
Cart. (ere, 90-rien tells 4inston that he will #e forced to confront his worst fear. Throughout the novel, 4inston
has had recurring nightmares a#out rats8 90-rien now straps a cage full of rats onto 4inston0s head and prepares
to allow the rats to eat his face. 4inston snaps, pleading with 90-rien to do it to Hulia, not to him.
1iving up Hulia is what 90-rien wanted from 4inston all along. (is spirit #roken, 4inston is released to the
outside world. (e meets Hulia #ut no longer feels anthing for her. (e has accepted the Cart entirel and has
learned to love -ig -rother.
m!ortant "uotations #x!lained
G. 4A) 3' C*AC*
F)**D9! 3' 'LAQ*)B
31"9)A"C* 3' 'T)*"1T(
*xplanation for Iuotation G JJ
These words are the official slogans of the Cart, and are inscri#ed in massive letters on the white pramid of the
!inistr of Truth, as 4inston o#serves in -ook 9ne, Chapter 3. -ecause it is introduced so earl in the novel, this
creed serves as the reader0s first introduction to the idea of dou#lethink. - weakening the independence and
strength of individuals0 minds and forcing them to live in a constant state of propaganda+induced fear, the Cart is
a#le to force its su#,ects to accept anthing it decrees, even if it is entirel illogical7for instance, the !inistr of
Ceace is in charge of waging war, the !inistr of Love is in charge of political torture, and the !inistr of Truth is
in charge of doctoring histor #ooks to reflect the Cart0s ideolog.
That the national slogan of 9ceania is e&uall contradictor is an important testament to the power of the Cart0s
mass campaign of pschological control. 3n theor, the Cart is a#le to maintain that $4ar 3s Ceace% #ecause
having a common enem keeps the people of 9ceania united. $Freedom 3s 'laver% #ecause, according to the
Cart, the man who is independent is doomed to fail. - the same token, $'laver 3s Freedom,% #ecause the man
su#,ected to the collective will is free from danger and want. $3gnorance 3s 'trength% #ecause the ina#ilit of the
people to recogni2e these contradictions cements the power of the authoritarian regime.
Close
K. 4ho controls the past controls the future. 4ho controls the present controls the past.
*xplanation for Iuotation K JJ
This Cart slogan appears twice in the novel, once in -ook 9ne, Chapter 333, when 4inston is thinking a#out the
Cart0s control of histor and memor, and once in -ook Three, Chapter 33, when 4inston, now a prisoner in the
!inistr of Love, talks to 90-rien a#out the nature of the past. The slogan is an important example of the Cart0s
techni&ue of using false histor to #reak down the pschological independence of its su#,ects. Control of the past
ensures control of the future, #ecause the past can #e treated essentiall as a set of conditions that ,ustif or
encourage future goals: if the past was idllic, then people will act to re+create it8 if the past was nightmarish, then
people will act to prevent such circumstances from recurring. The Cart creates a past that was a time of miser
and slaver from which it claims to have li#erated the human race, thus compelling people to work toward the
Cart0s goals.
The Cart has complete political power in the present, ena#ling it to control the wa in which its su#,ects think
a#out and interpret the past: ever histor #ook reflects Cart ideolog, and individuals are for#idden from
keeping mementos of their own pasts, such as photographs and documents. As a result, the citi2ens of 9ceania
have a ver short, fu22 memor, and are willing to #elieve anthing that the Cart tells them. 3n the second
appearance of this &uote, 90-rien tells 4inston that the past has no concrete existence and that it is real onl in
the minds of human #eings. 90-rien is essentiall arguing that #ecause the Cart0s version of the past is what
people #elieve, that past, though it has no #asis in real events, has #ecome the truth.
Close
@. 3n the end the Cart would announce that two and two made five, and ou would have to #elieve it. 3t was
inevita#le that the should make that claim sooner or later: the logic of their position demanded it. "ot merel the
validit of experience, #ut the ver existence of external realit was tacitl denied # their philosoph.
*xplanation for Iuotation @ JJ
This &uote occurs in -ook 9ne, Chapter Q33, as 4inston looks at a children0s histor #ook and marvels at the
Cart0s control of the human mind. These lines pla into the theme of pschological manipulation. 3n this case,
4inston considers the Cart0s exploitation of its fearful su#,ects as a means to suppress the intellectual notion of
o#,ective realit. 3f the universe exists onl in the mind, and the Cart controls the mind, then the Cart controls
the universe. As 4inston thinks, $For, after all, how do we know that two and two make four< 9r that the force of
gravit works< 9r that the past is unchangea#le< 3f #oth the past and the external world exist onl in the mind,
and if the mind itself is controlla#le7what then<% The mathematical sentence K T K U M thus #ecomes a motif
linked to the theme of pschological independence. *arl in the novel, 4inston writes that $Freedom is the
freedom to sa that two plus two make four.% The motif comes full circle at the end of the novel after the torture
4inston suffers in the !inistr of Love #reaks his soul8 he sits at the Chestnut Tree Caf6 and traces $K T K U M% in
the dust on his ta#le.
Close
L. And when memor failed and written records were falsified7when that happened, the claim of the Cart to
have improved the conditions of human life had got to #e accepted, #ecause there did not exist, and never again
could exist, an standard against which it could #e tested.
*xplanation for Iuotation L JJ
This &uote from -ook 9ne, Chapter Q333, emphasi2es how one0s understanding of the past affects one0s attitude
a#out the present. 4inston has ,ust had a frustrating conversation with an old man a#out life #efore the
)evolution, and he reali2es that the Cart has deli#eratel set out to weaken people0s memories in order to render
them una#le to challenge what the Cart claims a#out the present. 3f no one remem#ers life #efore the
)evolution, then no one can sa that the Cart has failed mankind # forcing people to live in conditions of
povert, filth, ignorance, and hunger. )ather, the Cart uses rewritten histor #ooks and falsified records to prove
its good deeds.
Close
M. And perhaps ou might pretend, afterwards, that it was onl a trick and that ou ,ust said it to make them stop
and didn0t reall mean it. -ut that isn0t true. At the time when it happens ou do mean it. Bou think there0s no other
wa of saving ourself and ou0re &uite read to save ourself that wa. Bou want it to happen to the other
person. Bou don0t give a damn what the suffer. All ou care a#out is ourself.
*xplanation for Iuotation M JJ
Hulia speaks these lines to 4inston in -ook Three, Chapter Q3, as the discuss what happened to them in )oom
GAG. 'he tells him that she wanted her torture to #e shifted to him, and he responds that he felt exactl the same
wa. These acts of mutual #etraal represent the Cart0s final pschological victor. 'oon after their respective
experiences in )oom GAG, 4inston and Hulia are set free as the no longer pose a threat to the Cart. (ere, Hulia
sas that despite her efforts to make herself feel #etter, she knows that in order to save herself she reall did want
the Cart to torture 4inston. 3n the end, the Cart proves to 4inston and Hulia that no moral conviction or
emotional loalt is strong enough to withstand torture. Chsical pain and fear will alwas cause people to #etra
their convictions if doing so will end their suffering.
4inston comes to a similar conclusion during his own stint at the !inistr of Love, #ringing to its culmination the
novel0s theme of phsical control: control over the #od ultimatel grants the Cart control over the mind. As with
most of the Cart0s techni&ues, there is an extremel ironic strain of dou#lethink running underneath: self+love and
self+preservation, the underling components of individualism and independence, lead one to fear pain and
suffering, ultimatel causing one to accept the principles of anti+individualist collectivism that allows the Cart to
thrive.
nice work
The setting is the industrial heartland of Thatcherite -ritain in the earl
GNVAOs. The managing director of an engineering compan and a universit
lecturer are thrown together against their will. The 3ndustr Bear 'hadow
'cheme is a government initiative to help academic thinkers to understand
the practical industries. Qic 4ilcox is allocated )o#n Cenrose from the
Eniversit of )ummidge for a term .semester/ and the do not get off to a
good start, especiall since Qic was expecting a man .P)o#inP/.
'he #ecomes a thorn in his side, particularl when she interferes with a
human resourcing pro#lem, resulting in industrial action. 1raduall the
come to appreciate each otherOs point of view and it #ecomes a case of
opposites attracting one another. Qic has never met anone like )o#n and
he #ecomes somewhat infatuated with her after a #usiness trip to Frankfurt,
where her linguistic skills helps him to clinch an important #usiness deal.
The #oth need to sort out their lives and the repercussions of the 'hadow
'cheme help them to see things in a different wa and make important
decisions a#out their future.
/evie.
A voage of discover for )o#n and Qic as the tr to make sense of each
others worlds. David Lodge cleverl uses the ver su#stance of )o#nOs
literar teaching on the industrial novel as the #asis for her own discover of
the sometimes harsh world of industr. - the end of the #ook each is
transformed into a more rounded and thoughtful person, using opportunities
that present themselves to escape from the comforta#le rut the are in at
the start.
Qic has alread #egun to realise that he is #ored with his life. Although he is
proud of his house+with+four+toilets, his status and his car with personalised
num#er plates he is dissatisfied with his famil. (is wife is no longer
phsicall attractive to him and the seem to have nothing of importance to
talk a#out. (e is in the throes of a mid+life crisis when )o#n comes along.
A most unlikel person, Qic would have said, to have set his pulse racing.
The author is a#le to use )o#n to develop a range of themes including
literar semantics, feminism and a whole range of #iases including race,
class and gender.
David Lodge has admitted that he was somewhat disillusioned with what
was happening in literar theor, particularl the de#ate a#out structuralism
versus deconstructionism. The 'ilk Cut advertisement allows the author,
through )o#n, to explore the distinction #etween metaphor and metonm.
Qic, ,ust an ordinar person, is overwhelmed # the imager and is certainl
most uncomforta#le a#out the sexual connotations. (e asks P4h canOt ou
people take things at face value.P
)o#n #elieves that there is a strong link #etween the rise of the novel and
of capitalism, hence the deconstruction of the classic novel in the KAth
centur reflects a terminal crisis in capitalism. 'he uses a range of GNth
centur *nglish novels in her lectures and tutorials and David Lodge uses
extracts from these same novels to preface each of the six sections of Nice
.ork. The include -en,amin DisraeliOs Sy0il& or t%e t.o
nations,S%irley # Charlotte -ronte and Hard times # Charles Dickens.
David Lodge saw that these older works were tring to do what he, through
)o#n and Qic, was also attempting, to recognise and do something a#out
a divided societ. The two protaganists come to realise that their main goals
in life are not necessaril shared # others and, in fact, are &uite alien to
them. )o#n tells Charles that NN.NW of the population could not care less
a#out their literar research and de#ate .their whole world/. To Lodge, this
is the power of fiction, to record and examine thoughts, new perspectives
and consciousness.
The factor scenes in Nice +ork help to consolidate )o#nOs feminist
stance. 3t is a manOs world, the few women on the shop floor seem to #e
sexless, or, rather, ro##ed of their sex. -rian *verthorpe is portraed as a
somewhat shallow ladies man .or so he would pro#a#l like to #e
descri#ed/ and his idea for a girl calendar is ideal ammunition for )o#n in
focusing on all that is wrong with the factor management. (e is genuinel
surprised when his plan for P... the usual sort of thing. -irds with #oo#s ...
tasteful ... nothing crudeP is met with anger from )o#n. 'he asks Qic if he
is reall proposing to advertise his products with a calendar that degrades
women.
Vic Wilcox este unul dintre directorii unei fabrici, n timp ce doctoria (n literatur
feminist) Robyn Penrose face parte din spaiul nchis al universitilor. Cred c este necesar s
amintesc despre perioada Doamnei de Fier, o perioad n care s-a plusat mult pe industrie i pe
privatiare, motiv pentru care multe alte ramuri, printre care i cele academice, au avut de suferit
prin restructurri i nchiderea porilor.
!i bine, este Anul Industriei n "area #ritanie, motiv pentru care are loc o Schem de
Schimb ntre spaiul academic i cel industrial. Cine sunt prota$onitii% Doctoria &ob'n
(enrose (pe cale s fie dat afar) i industriaul dur )ic *ilco+. ,nc de la prima nt-lnire cei doi
nu se plac, dar pe parcursul romanului, )ic i &ob'n a.un$ s /mprumute/ unul de la cellat i s
devin mai buni oameni.
0u este necesar s v povestesc cunotinele pe care &ob'n le dob-ndete n urma 1chemei de
1chimb i asta pentru c, mai mult ca si$ur, nu asta a fost nici scopul autorului. 1cris cu mult
umor, cartea vorbete despre lumile diferite care e+ist n acelai timp, ntre diferene i despre
cooperare i acceptare. Dac &ob'n a.un$e s accepte felul dur de a face afaceri, la fel i *ilco+
nva ce nseamn sensibilitatea.
) spun sincer c m ateptam la o fresc a societii en$leeti, transpus c-t se poate de sincer
i frust. Cu toate acestea, dac privesc n spatele cuvintelor, vd totui o anumit empatie a lui
2od$e fa de msurile destul de dure ale Doamnei de Fier i asta tocmai prin mutaia care se
produce n interiorul persona.elor.
3mportante n construcia romanului sunt tocmai bac4$round-ul persona.elor, dar i credinele
acestora. Dac )ic *ilco+ a fost crescut n spiritul muncii fiice i a banului c-ti$at cu $reu,
&ob'n (enrose este fiica unor intelectuali care-i fundamentea e+istena pe ne$area
capitalismului i promovarea culturii.
5i cu ce am rmas n urma 1chemei de 1chimb% Cu dou persona.e diametral opuse care i la
sf-rit i menin valorile e+isteniale, dar care au acceptat i cealalt lume fr s o mai ne$e.
1unt dou universuri aflate n lupt crunt (datorit vremurilor) care a.un$ s se ntreptrund ca
mai apoi s se mi+ee. "eserie, scris de David 2od$e este primul roman din 6778 pe care vi-l
recomand.
The French Lieutenants Woman .GNXN/, # Hohn Fowles, is a
period novel inspired # the GVK@ novel 4urika, # Claire de Duras,
which Fowles translated into *nglish in GNYY .and revised in GNNL/.
Fowles was a great aficionado of Thomas (ard, and, in particular,
likened his heroine, 'arah 4oodruff, to Tess Dur#efield, the
protagonist of (ard0s popular novel %ess of the dB6rber"illes .GVNG/.
3n GNVG, director :arel )eis2 and writer (arold Cinter adapted the
novel as a film. During KAAX, it was adapted for the stage, # !ark
(eal, in a version which toured the E: that ear.
=G>=K>
3n KAAM, the
novel was chosen # %*M# maga2ine as one of the one hundred #est
*nglish+language novels from GNK@ to present.
=@>
1edit2Plot summary
The novelOs protagonist is 'arah 4oodruff, the .oman of the title, also
known unkindl as $Traged% and # the unfortunate nickname $The
French Lieutenant0s 4hore%. 'he lives in the coastal town of Lme
)egis, as a disgraced woman, supposedl a#andoned # a French
naval officer named Qarguennes 7 married, unknown to her, to
another woman 7 with whom she had supposedl had an affair and
who had returned to France.
'he spends her limited time off at the Co## =sea wall>, staring at the
sea. 9ne da, she is seen there # the gentleman Charles 'mithson
and his fianc6e, *rnestina Freeman, the shallow+minded daughter of a
wealth tradesman. *rnestina tells Charles something of 'arah0s
stor, and he develops a strong curiosit a#out her. *ventuall, he and
she #egin to meet clandestinel, during which times 'arah tells
Charles her histor, and asks for his support, mostl emotional.
Despite tring to remain o#,ective, Charles eventuall sends 'arah to
*xeter, where he, during a ,ourne, cannot resist stopping in to visit
and see her. At the time she has suffered an ankle in,ur8 he visits her
alone and after the have made love he realises that she had #een,
contrar to the rumours, a virgin. 'imultaneousl, he learns that his
prospective inheritance from an elder uncle is in ,eopard8 the uncle
has #ecome engaged to a woman oung enough to #ear him an heir.
From there, the novelist offers three different endings for %he Crench
:ieutenants .oman.
3irst endin4: Charles marries *rnestina, and their marriage is
unhapp8 'arah0s fate is unknown. Charles tells *rnestina a#out an
encounter which he implies is with the $French Lieutenant0s
4hore%, #ut elides the sordid details, and the matter is ended. This
ending, however, might #e dismissed as a dadream, #efore the
alternative events of the su#se&uent meeting with *rnestina are
descri#ed.
-efore the second and third endings, the narrator 7 who the novelist
wants the reader to #elieve is Hohn Fowles himself 7 appears as a
minor character sharing a railwa compartment with Charles. (e flips
a coin to determine the order in which he will portra the two, other
possi#le endings, emphasising their e&ual plausi#ilit.
Second endin4: Charles and 'arah #ecome intimate8 he ends
his engagement to *rnestina, with unpleasant conse&uences. (e is
disgraced, and his uncle marries, then produces an heir. 'arah
flees to London without telling the enamoured Charles, who
searches for her for ears, #efore finding her living with several
artists .seemingl the )ossettis/, en,oing an artistic, creative life.
(e then learns he has fathered a child with her8 as a famil, their
future is open, with possi#le reunion implied.
5%ird endin4: the narrator re+appears, standing outside the
house where the second ending occurred8 at the aftermath. (e
turns #ack his pocket watch # fifteen minutes, #efore leaving in his
carriage. *vents are the same as in the second+ending version #ut,
when Charles finds 'arah again, in London, their reunion is sour. 3t
is possi#le that their union was childless8 'arah does not tell
Charles a#out a child, and expresses no interest in continuing the
relationship. (e leaves the house, deciding to return to America,
and sees the carriage, in which the narrator was thought gone.
)aising the &uestion: is 'arah a manipulating, ling woman of few
morals, exploiting Charles0s o#vious love to get what she wants<
*n route, Fowles the novelist discourses upon the difficulties of
controlling the characters, and offers analses of differences in GNth+
centur customs and class, the theories ofCharles Darwin, the poetr
of !atthew Arnold, Alfred, Lord Tennson, and the literature
of Thomas (ard. (e &uestions the role of the author 7 when
speaking of how the Charles character $diso#es% his orders8 the
characters have discrete lives of their own in the novel.
Chilosophicall, *xistentialism is mentioned several times during the
stor, and in particular detail at the end, after the portraals of the two,
apparent, e&uall possi#le endings.
1edit2
:*B L3T*)A)B *L*!*"T'
'*TT3"1
The setting throughout the novel is predominantl Qictorian. !ost of the
novel0s action takes place at Lme
)egis, Dorset, *ngland. Lme )egis was one of man small villages in
southwest *ngland scattered along the
coast. 3t consisted largel of small houses surrounded # hills on one side
and the sea on the other. The Co##
was #uilt along the shore and it is a promenade where people could en,o
the sea air while taking a walk. A
section of the hills, known as the 4are Commons, was a meeting ground
for most oung couples and ZZ
C(A)ACT*) L3'T
!a,or Characters
'arah 4oodruff + The #earer of the #ook0s title FThe French Lieutenant0s
4oman.0 'he is also referred to as
$Traged% or $The French Loot0n0nt0s Tenant0s (ore.% 'he is the scarlet
woman of Lme, the outcast
dismissed # societ #ecause of her affair with a French sailor. 'he is a
figure of intrigue due toZZ.
Charles 'mithson + !ale protagonist of the novel. (e is a wealth Qictorian
gentlemen and heir to a title. (e
is interested in Darwin and paleontolog and considers himself to #e
intellectuall superior toZZ
*rnestina Freeman + Charles0 fianc6e. 'he is prett, co and intelligent, #ut
at times she tends to reveal her
outh and naivete. 'he likes to think of herself as a modern woman #ut her
attitudes areZZ.
Aunt Tranter + *rnestina0s mother0s sister. 'he is a kind woman who is
loved # her Z..
!rs. Coultene + A cruel old woman, she takes great delight in harassing
her domestic staff. (er temperament
is exactl opposite to that of !rs. Tranter0s. 'he #elieves herself to #e an
upholder ofZZ
!rs. Fairle + !rs. Coultene0s housekeeper. 'he pretends to #e virtuous
#ut is aZZ.
Dr. 1rogan + An intelligent, friendl man who #efriends Charles. The
ounger man finds him to #e a
smpathetic listener. Dr. 1rogan empathi2es with 'arah #ut finds her
#ehavior tooZZ
Additional characters are identified in the complete stud guide.
C9"FL3CT
Crotagonists + The protagonist of a stor is the main character who
traditionall undergoes some sort of change.
The novel has two protagonists, 'arah 4oodruff and Charles 'mithson.
-oth of them are character tpes
commonl found in a nineteenth centur romantic novel. These lovers are
doomed from the #eginning. 'arah is
an outcast, re,ected # Qictorian societ. Charles is an aristocratic Qictorian
gentleman alreadZZ
Antagonist + The antagonist of a stor is the force that provides an o#stacle
for the protagonist. The antagonist
does not alwas have to #e a single character or even a character at all.
The novel0s antagonist is the Qictorian
societ, which spurns women like 'arah who do not conform to normalZZ.
Climax + The climax of a plot is the ma,or turning point that allows the
protagonist to resolve the conflict.
Charles #reaks his engagement with *rnestina when he reali2es that he
loves 'arah #ut when he goes to *xeter
to meet her, he does not find her. Finall, in despair he leaves *ngland to
tr andZZ
9utcome + The finall meet after a two+ear separation period at the
)ossettis. 'arah has changed drasticall
and Charles cannot adapt himself to this new version. To complicate
mattersZZ. The French Lieutenant0s 4oman # Hohn Fowles +
!onke"otes # Cink!onke.com
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'(9)T CL9T;C(ACT*) 'E!!A)B .'nopsis/
At the #eginning of the novel, Charles 'mithson and *rnestina Freeman are
engaged to #e married. Charles is
an upper+class aristocrat and *rnestina is a wealth heiress. The meet
'arah 4oodruff, an unemploed
governess and the scarlet woman of Lme. Charles is struck # this
woman who $had #een dumped # her
French lover and now wandered the shores in the hope that he would return
someda.%
'arah is emploed as a lad0s companion # !rs. Coultene of !al#orough
(ouse. (er sta is misera#le due
to !rs. Coultene and the housekeeper, !rs. Fairle, who keeps sping on
'arah. The attempt to restrict her
freedom in the name of making her repent for her sins. !eanwhile, Charles
is intrigued # the outcast. (is
interest in her grows to #e an o#session. An amateur paleontologist, he
meets her on several occasions at 4are
Commons. (e wants to help her #ut his interest is routed in the fact that he
finds her singularl different from
other Qictorian woman. As on outcast, 'arah does not follow societal
norms et she insists on Charles help.
Dr. 1rogan, Charles friend, smpathi2es with her situation #ut #elieves that
'arah wantsZZ.
T(*!*'
!a,or Theme
3n this novel, Fowles is interested in the literar genre of the nineteenth+
centur romantic or gothic novel and
succeeds in reproducing tpical Qictorian characters, situations and
dialogue. -ut Fowles perception of the
genre is touched with tpical twentieth+centur iron. (is thematic concerns
range from the relationship
#etween life and art and the artist and his creation to the isolation that
results from an individual struggling for
selfhood.
!inor Theme
Fowles0 aim is to #ring to light those aspects of Qictorian societ that would
ZZ

!99D
The general mood throughout the novel is som#er and tur#ulent. From the
initial chapter, the mood is set. A
strong easterl wind is #lowing and a storm is coming in. 3t is in such a
setting that Charles and 'arah meet.
The atmosphere suits 'arah0s enigmatic personalit. Throughout the novel,
she isZZ.
-AC:1)9E"D 3"F9)!AT39" + -391)AC(B
Hohn )o#ert Fowles .GNKX/, novelist, was educated at -edford 'chool and
"ew College, 9xford, where he read
French. After serving in the )oal !arines, he worked as a schoolteacher
#efore em#arking on a career as a
full+time writer. (e spent some time on the 1reek island of 'petsai #efore
the success of his first novel, The
Collector, ena#led him to write full+time.
The Collector is a pschological thriller in which a girl, !iranda, is
kidnapped # a pschologicall possessive
repressed clerk and #utterfl+collector who keeps her as one of the man
specimens of his #utterfl collection.
The novel ends with her death and his plans to add another specimen to his
collection.
This novel was followed # Aristos .GNXM/, an idiosncratic collection of
notes and aphorisms aimed at a
Fpersonal philosoph.0 3t is a self+portrait, revised in GNVA, on ideas that set
forth theZZ..
L3T*)A)B; (3'T9)3CAL 3"F9)!AT39"
3n this novel, Fowles is interested in the genre of the nineteenth+centur
romantic or gothic novel and
successfull recreates tpical characters, situations and even dialogue. Bet
his perspective is that of the
twentieth centur as can #e noted in the authorial intrusions and opening
&uotations drawn from the works of
Qictorian writers whose o#servations were uni&uel different from the
assumptions that most Qictorians held
a#out their world. 3n this wa, he attempts to criti&ue those values that
Qictorians most heralded. The French Lieutenant0s 4oman # Hohn Fowles
+ !onke"otes # Cink!onke.com
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Cink!onke.com Copright [ GNNY+GNNN, All )ights )eserved. "o further
distri#ution without written consent.
Entil toda, the Qictorian Age was seen to #e a 1olden Age where )eason
and )ationalit were proclaimed as
dogma and faith. Ceople were #eginning to &uestion the claims that religion
made a#out the existence of 1od
and the #eginning of man. Anthing that could not #e proven through
experimentation andZZ.
C(ACT*) 'E!!A)3*' 43T( "9T*'
C(ACT*) G
'ummar
The initial chapter #egins with an extensive description of Lme -a in
GVXY. The narrator o#server informs
the reader that since that time ver little has changed in Lme. (e
compares it to a tin 1reek island, Ciraeus.
3t is pictures&ue place a do2en or so houses, sloping meadows and wooded
hills. From the perspective of an
outsider looking in, the narrator informs the reader that he is the local sp.
(e uses his telescope to sp on two
people taking a walk along the Co##. The two people seem to #e well+
dressed and from the upper class. The
oung lad is dressed in the height of fashion, which the narrator sas was
a revolt against the crinoline and
large #onnet commonl worn # Qictorian women. The man too is
expensivel clothed.
The narrator;sp then shifts his telescope to the other figure standing at the
end of the Co##. Dressed in #lack,
the figure is staring out to sea. 'he is a woman who appears distressed.
"otes
The novel #egins with a &uote from Thomas (ard0s $The )iddle% and is an
apt description of the French
Lieutenant0s 4oman and the reader. 'he is portraed as a singular figure,
alone against a desolate landscape.
This image pi&ues the reader0s curiosit.
Chapter G gives an extensive, detailed description of Lme -a. The
narrator makes it a point to insist that ver
little has changed in Lme )egis since the nineteenth centur to the present
da. The narrator deftl moves
#etween the two centuries and comments on the present da events in the
same tone in which he comment on
the Qictorian period. That is, he adopts a rather formal, stiff Qictorian tone
while narrating the events in the
novel et the content of what he sas is contemporar.
The narrator is in the persona of Hohn Fowles, the author. (is authorial
intrusions are ver pointed and
sometimes #iased. (e comments on Charles and *rnestina0s dress sense,
saing #oth appeared fashiona#le,
especiall *rnestina who has adopted a more provocative stle of dress.
For instance, *rnestina0s skirt is
shorter than the accepted length, and she wears a pork+pie hat instead of a
large #onnet. (er sense of fashion is
alien to a place like Lme )egis, which is provincial and rooted in
conventions. This gives the reader a sense
that *rnestina ma #e less conventional than a tpical Qictorian woman et
whether her adventurous dress
sense matches her ideas will soon #e seen.
The narrator plas the role of participant and o#server. 3t is through his lens,
metaphoricall seen in the use of
his telescope, that the characters and situations are wrought. (e provides
insight and information a#out the
characters as well as providing authorial commentar a#out the setting.
C(ACT*) K
'ummar
Fowles gives a &uotation from *. )oston Cike0s $(uman Documents of the
Qictorian 1olden Age% which is a
commentar on the role of Qictorian women.
The chapter introduces the reader to *rnestina Freeman and Charles
'mithson, the two people walking along
the Co##. The couple are engaged to #e married. Their conversation is
largel small talk and rather trite. The French Lieutenant0s 4oman # Hohn
Fowles + !onke"otes # Cink!onke.com
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distri#ution without written consent.
*rnestina appears to #e livel, romantic and co, tpical of Qictorian
women. (er fianc6e, Charles is interested
in the theories of Darwin. (e likes to think of himself as rational and
scientific. (is aim is to #e different from
other Qictorian gentlemen.
The wind is #lowing rather hard and a gale is coming in when Charles sees
the women in #lack standing at the
far end of the Co##. (e is concerned for her safet. *rnestina tells him
that the woman is nicknamed
$Traged% and that she is awaiting the return of her lover who has
a#andoned her. Charles is intrigued # the
stor and curious to meet the woman. (e attempts to warn her a#out the
storm #ut the woman simpl turns
around and stares at him. The look has a strong impact on Charles. (e
finds her face is unforgetta#le and
tragic. 4hen she turns awa from them, Charles and *rnestina leave.
"otes
Chapter K starts out with a &uotation from *. )oston Cike0s $(uman
Documents of the Qictorian 1olden Age%
which comments on the population of women #eing higher than that of men.
Cikes implies that #ecause of
these statistics the set role of Qictorian women is that of a wife and mother.
Bet #ecause there are more women
than men, not all women can fulfil their role as wives and mothers8
therefore, the &uote #ecomes ironic in the
context of the French Lieutenant0s 4oman. Although 'arah0s epithet
appears to attach her to a man, he is in
fact not present so far in the novel and she is free of the conventional role
societ attempts to impose on her.
The reader is introduced to Charles 'mithson and his fianc6e, *rnestina
Freeman. Their conversation is #anal.
*rnestina tpifies a Qictorian woman in that all of her energ is expended
on captivating a man0s attention et
what she sas is insu#stantial. !uch of this has to do with her sociali2ation
and she cannot #e ,udged too
harshl. Bet the differences #etween her and Charles is significant here.
4hereas she has no interest in 'ara
other than the stor of misfortune, Charles finds her odd and disconcertingl
attractive #ecause she is outside
the norm. (e has a predilection for scientific in&uiries and theories such as
Darwinism et *rnestina shares
none of this. (e #elieves himself to #e rational and analtical as he is
scientificall inclined, #ut in realit, he is
like an other Qictorian gentleman: romantic, idealistic and conventional.
4hen *rnestina informs him a#out
'arah, he is attracted # her unconventionalit et repelled # her
strangeness. 3t is as though he is looking at
some exotic specimenZZZ
9Q*)ALL A"ALB'*'
C(A)ACT*) A"ALB'3'
!a,or Characters
'arah 4oodruff + From the ver #eginning, she has #een introduced as the
French Lieutenant0s 4oman. -eing
the scarlet woman of Lme, she has #een ostraci2ed # the entire
communit. Charles learns of her through the
rumors that a#ound a#out her. To him, she presents a picture of dark
intrigue and mster. 3n fact, her
portraal is supposed to match the mold of the dark, msterious woman of
the tpical Qictorian romantic novel.
'uch a character tpe either plaed the heroine or the villain #ut alwas
stood as a sm#ol of all that was
for#idden. Charles paints his own idealistic picture of her and his attraction
for 'arah stems mainl from the
aura of strangeness that the local rumors have #uilt around her as well as
his own imaginings.
'arah0s $strangeness% should #e considered in the light of the Qictorian era.
'he is ver different from her
Qictorian counterparts in dress, #ehavior and attitude. (er unconventional
attitude makes her stand out from
the conventional communit of Lme. 'he deli#eratel chooses to def
convention asZZ..
Charles 'mithson + (e is the male protagonist of the novel and his
character is supposed to represent that of a
Qictorian gentleman tpicall found in a Qictorian romantic novel. Charles is
an educated, wealth gentleman
and heir to his uncle0s title. (e is interested in Darwin and the scientific
theories of his age. (e desires to #e The French Lieutenant0s 4oman #
Hohn Fowles + !onke"otes # Cink!onke.com
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distri#ution without written consent.
different from other Qictorian men # keeping himself occupied in scientific
pursuits, #ut it soon #ecomes
evident that Charles is more interested in keeping himself from getting
#ored than an real scientific interest.
(is interest in Darwin is rather superficial. Also, his interest in paleontolog
servesZZZ
Additional characters are anal2ed in the complete stud guide.
CL9T 'T)ECTE)* A"ALB'3' .'tle \ 'tructure/
- recreating a nineteenth centur literar genre, Hohn Fowles is doing
much more than simpl paroding it. 3n
its capacit to recreate and redefine an older fictional life, The French
Lieutenant0s 4omen acts as a ke to
understanding the #est of contemporar -ritish novelists whose relations
with Qictorian fiction and culture,
although less conspicuous than here, are often e&uall intimate and
complex. The novel recreates an older sort
of realism to serve the old purpose of studing societ. Fowles is interested
in cultural continuit, in how our
social conditions evolved. (e deli#eratel works within the tradition of the
Qictorian novel and consciousl
uses its conventions to suit his own purpose. At the same time, the reader
is made aware of Fowles0 intentions
through his authorial intrusions.
4hen the reader is first introduced to Charles and *rnestina, their
relationship is tpical of those found in
Qictorian romantic novels. -eing Qictorian and at least middle class, the
#oth are #ound to each other # their
sense of dut and propriet. Their engagement is more or less contractual
in nature. *rnestina willZZ.
T(*!*' + T(*!* A"ALB'3'
!a,or Theme + The Qictorian world was not as sta#le and solid as it
seemed. 3t was a period of transition and
change. 9ld social norms were no longer applica#le to the changing order.
Thomas (ard, the novelist, and
poets like !atthew Arnold and Alfred Lord Tennson were sensitive enough
to feel this change and raise their
dou#ts a#out the so+called Fsta#ilit0 proclaimed # prominent leaders of the
era. Fowles has picked up this
theme and used it in the novel. The French Lieutenant0s 4oman is
deli#eratel written in the literar genre of
the nineteenth centur as it ena#les Fowles to explore this theme further.
Also, it ena#les Fowles to test the conditions of fiction #ut within the world
of the Qictorian novel, with its solid
narrative comforts. This novel allows one to understand the #est of
contemporar -ritish novelists, whose
relations with Qictorian fiction and culture are often e&uall intimate and
complex. Thus, Fowles is a#le to
explore the relationship #etween life and art. An artist is expected to #e
aloof from his creation. T. '. *liot
insisted on non+personal involvement #etween the writer and his creation.
Fowles is attempting toZZZ
'TEDB IE*'T39"' + -99: )*C9)T T9C3C' ; 3D*A'
G. Compare the characters of 'arah and *rnestina and the roles the pla
within Qictorian societ. (ow are
their actions and #ehaviors influenced or affected # Qictorian attitudes
towards women< (ow do their
varied social and economic status affect their experiences< *xplain.
Compare several mem#ers of the working class with those of their
emploers. 4hat are their differences in
social attitudes towards courting, work or professions, success, and
marriage<ZZ.

Chronolo$icall', 1hame falls bet9een 1alman &ushdie:s most acclaimed novel ("idni$ht:s Children)
and his most controversial (;he 1atanic )erses). 3t has subse<uentl' been the most i$nored b' critics,
as if its title predestined it to slip into the bac4$round, blushin$. Fortunatel' 3 read 1hame as an
under$raduate, and in those 677 or so pa$es 3 9itnessed nothin$ less than a comin$-bac4-to-life, a
resurrection that has affected me and m' 9ritin$ ever since. 3 had become li4e the t9o "ar's = that
biblical pair = 9ho on !aster mornin$ 9ent and found the tomb empt'.
;his time it 9as the author 9hom 3 believed 9as dead and buried. 2iterature students the 9orld over
heard, as 3 did, an obituar' 9hich proclaims /the death of the author/. For a lon$ 9hile, 3 believed in
this critical stance, and also its parallel aesthetics popularised lon$ before b' Flaubert, 9ho told us the
author must ma4e no moral .ud$ement, must slip into the bac4$round and allo9 the stor' to tell itself.
3t seemed to me a ver' sensible privile$in$ of the stor', and not the stor'teller. >n author:s name on
the cover is the onl' appearance he or she 9ould be allo9ed.
3n 1hame, &ushdie rebels. ?e 9ill not be confined to the dust-.ac4et, and readin$ this novel 9ith all
the $iddiness of 9itnessin$ ma$ic, 3 realised this 9as not /authorial intrusion/ = that pe.orative
invented b' critics to 4eep authors safel' mute behind their tombs = but rather, this 9as /authorial
inclusion/. &ushdie had invited himself to his o9n part'. >nd 3 9as $lad he 9as there, because 9hat a
charmin$ and entertainin$ host he 9as@ "an' are alarmed that, in 1hame, &ushdie stops the narrative
to tell us 9h' he is in fact 9ritin$ it, to comment on the deficiencies of his hero, to tell us ho9 and 9h'
a character is invented.
3t is the stren$th and pla'fulness of his voice that ma4e these interruptions never feel li4e
interruptions, and in fact the' aren:t. ;he' al9a's add la'ers and te+ture to the stor' he is buildin$ and
are an inte$ral part. ;he character 9e fall in love 9ith is not #il<uis in her blac4 shrouds, or 1uffi'a
9ho blushed at birth, or Amar 9ho is fat and peripheral. 3nstead, it is &ushdie, and nothin$ is 9ron$
9ith that.
Bro9in$ up in the Caribbean, and ever'9here 3 have been since, 3:ve met incredible stor'tellers, and
on some level had al9a's realised that a teller 9as as important as the tales = that it 9as in the t9in4le
of their e'es, the places the' paused, the man' 9onderful re$isters of their voice, ho9 the' smiled, that
combined to ma4e a stor' 9or4. #ut it 9as 1hame that $ave me the coura$e, 9hen 3 be$an to 9rite m'
o9n stories and poems and novels, to allo9 m'self in, to smile at the reader, to 9in4, to be resurrected
and become a teller of tales.
First released in GNV@, the #ook covers a period in Cakistan histor where tensions #etween the 4est
and Cakistan were ver high. The families of two men + one a warrior, the other a pla#o get woven
inextrica#l together which eventuall affects the politics of the countr. 'et in the fictitious cit of I
)ushdie weaves a tale of fact, fiction and high passion that is ama2ing though for me sometimes the
stor seems to leap too far into the future too soon and then takes a step #ack.
The #ook seems to highlight the oppression of women in Cakistan along with the sense of ine&ualit
that exists. At the same time the women portraed in the #ook cannot #e said to #e the average HaneD
"one of the women are average. The either seem to #e #igger than life or fade into the #ackground
completel so that the do not give us the view of #eing a tpical Cakistani woman.
The oung woman 'ufia ]eno#ia who em#odies the perception of 'hame, is from #irth different. First
expected as the son to replace the still#orn son her #irth is not accepted # her father who insists that
she is a #o. An illness whilst a child gives her the mental age of a seven ear old throughout her life
#ut at the same time empowers her with magical powers of #rute force and strength. 3magined and
supernatural #oth intermix in the telling of the stor which also keeps ou turning the page expecting
something more from each page ou turn. Bou never know how this stor is going to turn out and that
is )ushdieOs cleverness.
4hen this #ook first came out it was considered ground #reaking. 3t is used as a text for Advanced
Level *nglish literature in 'ri Lanka and 3 am glad of this. Female ine&ualit and oppression have not
existed fortunatel in our countr for decades and though some minor form of discrimination ma still
exist it is minimal. 3t is good that students are a#le to learn that such ine&ualities exist speciall in the
region itself and are aware of how luck we areDDD
C9*T)B
6,eda and t%e S.an7
Summary
The speaker retells a stor from 1reek mtholog, the rape of the girl Leda # the god ]eus, who had assumed
the form of a swan. Leda felt a sudden #low, with the $great wings% of the swan still #eating a#ove her. (er thighs
were caressed # $the dark we#s,% and the nape of her neck was caught in his #ill8 he held $her helpless #reast
upon his #reast.% (ow, the speaker asks, could Leda0s $terrified vague fingers% push the feathered glor of the
swan from #etween her thighs< And how could her #od help #ut feel $the strange heart #eating where it lies%< A
shudder in the loins engenders $The #roken wall, the #urning roof and tower, and Agamemnon dead.% The
speaker wonders whether Leda, caught up # the swan and $mastered # the #rute #lood of the air,% assumed his
knowledge as well as his power $-efore the indifferent #eak could let her drop.%
3orm
$Leda and the 'wan% is a sonnet, a traditional fourteen+line poem in iam#ic pentameter. The structure of this
sonnet is Cetrarchan with a clear separation #etween the first eight lines .the $octave%/ and the final six .the
$sestet%/, the dividing line #eing the moment of e,aculation7the $shudder in the loins.% The rhme scheme of the
sonnet is A-A- CDCD *F1*F1.
$ommentary
Like $The 'econd Coming,% $Leda and the 'wan% descri#es a moment that represented a change of era in
Beats0s historical model of gres, which he offers in A =ision' his mstical theor of the universe. -ut where $The
'econd Coming% represents .in Beats0s conception/ the end of modern histor, $Leda and the 'wan% represents
something like its #eginning8 as Beats understands it, the $histor% of Leda is that, raped # the god ]eus in the
form of a swan, she laid eggs, which hatched into Cltemnestra and (elen and the war+gods Castor and
Coldeuces7and there# #rought a#out the Tro,an 4ar .$The #roken wall, the #urning roof and tower, ; And
Agamemnon dead%/. The details of the stor of the Tro,an 4ar are &uite ela#orate: #riefl, the 1reek (elen, the
most #eautiful woman in the world, was kidnapped # the Tro,ans, so the 1reeks #esieged the cit of Tro8 after
the war, Cltemnestra, the wife of the 1reek leader Agamemnon, had her hus#and murdered. (ere, however, it is
important to know onl the war0s lasting impact: it #rought a#out the end of the ancient mthological era and the
#irth of modern histor.
Also like $The 'econd Coming,% $Leda and the 'wan% is valua#le more for its powerful and evocative language7
which manages to imagine vividl such a #i2arre phenomenon as a girl0s rape # a massive swan7than for its
place in Beats0s occult histor of the world. As an aesthetic experience, the sonnet is remarka#le8 Beats com#ines
words indicating powerful action .sudden #low, #eating, staggering, #eating, shudder, mastered, #urning,
mastered/ with ad,ectives and descriptive words that indicate Leda0s weakness and helplessness .caressed,
helpless, terrified, vague, loosening/, thus increasing the sensor impact of the poem.
A sudden blow: the great wings beating still
Above the staggering girl, her thighs caressed
By the dark webs, her nape caught in his bill,
He holds her helpless breast upon his breast.
How can those terrified vague fingers push
The feathered glory from her loosening thighs?
And how can body, laid in that white rush,
But feel the strange heart beating where it lies?
A shudder in the loins engenders there
The broken wall, the burning roof and tower!"#
And Agamemnon dead.
Being so caught up,
$o mastered by the brute blood of the air,
%id she put on his knowledge with his power
Before the indifferent beak could let her drop?
65%e Second $omin47
Summary
The speaker descri#es a nightmarish scene: the falcon, turning in a widening $gre% .spiral/, cannot hear the
falconer8 $Things fall apart8 the center cannot hold%8 anarch is loosed upon the world8 $The #lood+dimmed tide is
loosed, and everwhere ; The ceremon of innocence is drowned.% The #est people, the speaker sas, lack all
conviction, #ut the worst $are full of passionate intensit.%
'urel, the speaker asserts, the world is near a revelation8 $'urel the 'econd Coming is at hand.% "o sooner
does he think of $the 'econd Coming,% then he is trou#led # $a vast image of the!piritus Mundi' or the collective
spirit of mankind: somewhere in the desert, a giant sphinx .$A shape with lion #od and the head of a man, ; A
ga2e as #lank and pitiless as the sun%/ is moving, while the shadows of desert #irds reel a#out it. The darkness
drops again over the speaker0s sight, #ut he knows that the sphinx0s twent centuries of $ston sleep% have #een
made a nightmare # the motions of $a rocking cradle.% And what $rough #east,% he wonders, $its hour come round
at last, ; 'louches towards -ethlehem to #e #orn<%
3orm
$The 'econd Coming% is written in a ver rough iam#ic pentameter, #ut the meter is so loose, and the exceptions
so fre&uent, that it actuall seems closer to free verse with fre&uent heav stresses. The rhmes are likewise
hapha2ard8 apart from the two couplets with which the poem opens, there are onl coincidental rhmes in the
poem, such as $man% and $sun.%
$ommentary
-ecause of its stunning, violent imager and terrifing ritualistic language, $The 'econd Coming% is one of Beats0s
most famous and most anthologi2ed poems8 it is also one of the most thematicall o#scure and difficult to
understand. .3t is safe to sa that ver few people who love this poem could paraphrase its meaning to
satisfaction./ 'tructurall, the poem is &uite simple7the first stan2a descri#es the conditions present in the world
.things falling apart, anarch, etc./, and the second surmises from those conditions that a monstrous 'econd
Coming is a#out to take place, not of the Hesus we first knew, #ut of a new messiah, a $rough #east,% the
slouching sphinx rousing itself in the desert and lum#ering toward -ethlehem. This #rief exposition, though
intriguingl #lasphemous, is not terri#l complicated8 #ut the &uestion of what it should signif to a reader is
another stor entirel.
Beats spent ears crafting an ela#orate, mstical theor of the universe that he descri#ed in his #ook A
=ision. This theor issued in part from Beats0s lifelong fascination with the occult and mstical, and in part from
the sense of responsi#ilit Beats felt to order his experience within a structured #elief sstem. The sstem is
extremel complicated and not of an lasting importance7except for the effect that it had on his poetr, which is
of extraordinar lasting importance. The theor of histor Beats articulated in A =ision centers on a diagram made
of two conical spirals, one inside the other, so that the widest part of one of the spirals rings around the narrowest
part of the other spiral, and vice versa. Beats #elieved that this image .he called the spirals $gres%/ captured the
contrar motions inherent within the historical process, and he divided each gre into specific regions that
represented particular kinds of historical periods .and could also represent the pschological phases of an
individual0s development/.
$The 'econd Coming% was intended # Beats to descri#e the current historical moment .the poem appeared
in GNKG/ in terms of these gres. Beats #elieved that the world was on the threshold of an apocalptic revelation,
as histor reached the end of the outer gre .to speak roughl/ and #egan moving along the inner gre. 3n his
definitive edition of Beats0s poems, )ichard H. Finneran &uotes Beats0s own notes:
%he end of an age' which always recei"es the re"elation of the character of the ne$t age' is represented by the
coming of one gyre to its place of greatest e$pansion and of the other to its place of greatest contraction... %he
re"elation DthatE approaches will... take its character from the contrary mo"ement of the interior gyre...
3n other words, the world0s tra,ector along the gre of science, democrac, and heterogeneit is now coming
apart, like the franticall widening flight+path of the falcon that has lost contact with the falconer8 the next age will
take its character not from the gre of science, democrac, and speed, #ut from the contrar inner gre7which,
presuma#l, opposes msticism, primal power, and slowness to the science and democrac of the outer gre.
The $rough #east% slouching toward -ethlehem is the sm#ol of this new age8 the speaker0s vision of the rising
sphinx is his vision of the character of the new world.
This seems &uite sill as philosoph or prophec .particularl in light of the fact that it has not come true as et/.
-ut as poetr, and understood more #roadl than as a simple reiteration of the mstic theor of A =ision' $The
'econd Coming% is a magnificent statement a#out the contrar forces at work in histor, and a#out the conflict
#etween the modern world and the ancient world. The poem ma not have the thematic relevance of Beats0s #est
work, and ma not #e a poem with which man people can personall identif8 #ut the aesthetic experience of its
passionate language is powerful enough to ensure its value and its importance in Beats0s work as a whole.
TURNING and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and eerywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lac! all coniction, while the worst
"re full of passionate intensity#
$urely some reelation is at hand;
$urely the $econd %oming is at hand#
The $econd %oming& 'ardly are those words out
(hen a ast image out of $piritus Mundi
Troubles my sight) somewhere in sands of the desert
" shape with lion body and the head of a man,
" ga*e blan! and pitiless as the sun,
Is moing its slow thighs, while all about it
Reel shadows of the indignant desert birds#
The dar!ness drops again; but now I !now
That twenty centuries of stony sleep
(ere e+ed to nightmare by a roc!ing cradle,
"nd what rough beast, its hour come round at last,
$louches towards ,ethlehem to be born-
68y9antium7
Summary
At night in the cit of -2antium, $The unpurged images of da recede.% The drunken soldiers of the *mperor are
asleep, and the song of night+walkers fades after the great cathedral gong. The $starlit% or $moonlit dome,% the
speaker sas, disdains all that is human7%All mere complexities, ; The fur and the mire of human veins.% The
speaker sas that #efore him floats an image7a man or a shade, #ut more a shade than a man, and still more
simpl $an image.% The speaker hails this $superhuman% image, calling it $death+in+life and life+in+death.% A golden
#ird sits on a golden tree, which the speaker sas is a $miracle%8 it sings aloud, and scorns the $common #ird or
petal ; And all complexities of mire or #lood.%
At midnight, the speaker sas, the images of flames flit across the *mperor0s pavement, though the are not fed
# wood or steel, nor distur#ed # storms. (ere, $#lood+#egotten spirits come,% and die $into a dance, ; An agon
of trance, ; An agon of flame that cannot singe a sleeve,% leaving #ehind all the complexities and furies of life.
)iding the #acks of dolphins, spirit after spirit arrives, the flood #roken on $the golden smithies of the *mperor.%
The mar#les of the dancing floor #reak the $#itter furies of complexit,% the storms of images that #eget more
images, $That dolphin+torn, that gong+tormented sea.%
3orm
The pronounced differences in $-2antium% 0s line lengths make its stan2as appear ver hapha2ard8 however,
the are actuall &uite regular: each stan2a constitutes eight lines, and each rhmes AA--CDDC. !etricall,
each is &uite complicated8 the lines are loosel iam#ic, with the first, second, third, fifth, and eighth lines in
pentameter, the fourth line in tetrameter, and the sixth and seventh line in trimeter, so that the pattern of line+
stresses in each stan2a isMMMLM@@M.
$ommentary
4e have read Beats0s account of $'ailing to -2antium%8 now he has arrived at the cit itself, and is a#le to
descri#e it. 3n $'ailing to -2antium% the speaker stated his desire to #e $out of nature% and to assume the form of
a golden #ird8 in $-2antium,% the #ird appears, and scores of dead spirits arrive on the #acks of dolphins, to #e
forged into $the artifice of eternit%7ghostlike images with no phsical presence .$a flame that cannot singe a
sleeve%/. The narrative and imagistic arrangement of this poem is highl am#iguous and complicated8 it is unclear
whether Beats intends the poem to #e a register of sm#ols or an actual mthological statement. .3n classical
mtholog, dolphins often carr the dead to their final resting+place./
3n an event, we see here the same preference for the artificial a#ove the actual that appeared in $'ailing to
-2antium%8 onl now the speaker has encountered actual creatures that exist $in the artifice of eternit%7most
nota#l the golden #ird of stan2a three. -ut the preference is now tinged with am#iguit: the #ird looks down upon
$common #ird or petal,% #ut it does so not out of existential necessit, #ut rather #ecause it has #een coerced into
doing so, as it were7$# the moon em#ittered.% The speaker0s demonstrated preoccupation with $fresh images%
has led some critics to conclude that the poem is reall an allegor of the process # which fantasies are
rendered into art, images arriving from the $dolphin+torn, the gong+tormented sea,% then #eing made into
permanent artifacts # $the golden smithies of the *mperor.% 3t is impossi#le to sa whether this is all or part of
Beats0s intention, and it is difficult to see how the prevalent sm#ols of the afterlife connect thematicall to the
topic of images .how could images #e dead</. For all its difficult and almost unfixed &ualit of meaning7the
poem is difficult to place even within the context of A =ision7the intriguing imager and sensual language of the
poem are tokens of its power8 simpl as the evocation of a fascinating imaginar scene, $-2antium% is
unmatched in all of Beats.
/he n*rged images o' day recede9
/he :m*eror)s drn.en soldiery are a&ed9
;ight resonance recedes( night wal.ers) song
0'ter great cathedral gong9
0 starlit or a moonlit dome disdains
0ll that man is(
0ll mere com*le-ities(
/he 'ry and the mire o' hman #eins.
"e'ore me 'loats an image( man or shade(
5hade more than man( more image than a shade9
6or Hades) &o&&in &ond in mmmy-cloth
8ay nwind the winding *ath9
0 moth that has no moistre and no &reath
"reathless moths may smmon9
, hail the s*erhman9
, call it death-in-li'e and li'e-in-death.
8iracle( &ird or golden handiwor.(
8ore miracle than &ird or handiwor.(
<lanted on the star-lit golden &ogh(
2an li.e the coc.s o' Hades crow(
7r( &y the moon em&ittered( scorn alod
,n glory o' changeless metal
2ommon &ird or *etal
0nd all com*le-ities o' mire or &lood.
0t midnight on the :m*eror)s *a#ement 'lit
6lames that no 'aggot 'eeds( nor steel has lit(
;or storm distr&s( 'lames &egotten o' 'lame(
%here &lood-&egotten s*irits come
0nd all com*le-ities o' 'ry lea#e(
Dying into a dance(
0n agony o' trance(
0n agony o' 'lame that cannot singe a slee#e.
0straddle on the dol*hin)s mire and &lood(
5*irit a'ter 5*irit= /he smithies &rea. the 'lood.
/he golden smithies o' the :m*eror=
8ar&les o' the dancing 'loor
"rea. &itter 'ries o' com*le-ity(
/hose images that yet
6resh images &eget(
/hat dol*hin-torn( that gong-tormented sea.
65%e ,ove Son4 of :; Alfred Prufrock7
Summary
This poem, the earliest of *liot0s ma,or works, was completed in GNGA orGNGG #ut not pu#lished until GNGM. 3t is
an examination of the tortured psche of the prototpical modern man7overeducated, elo&uent, neurotic, and
emotionall stilted. Crufrock, the poem0s speaker, seems to #e addressing a potential lover, with whom he would
like to $force the moment to its crisis% # somehow consummating their relationship. -ut Crufrock knows too much
of life to $dare% an approach to the woman: 3n his mind he hears the comments others make a#out his
inade&uacies, and he chides himself for $presuming% emotional interaction could #e possi#le at all. The poem
moves from a series of fairl concrete .for *liot/ phsical settings7a citscape .the famous $patient etherised
upon a ta#le%/ and several interiors .women0s arms in the lamplight, coffee spoons, fireplaces/7to a series of
vague ocean images conveing Crufrock0s emotional distance from the world as he comes to recogni2e his
second+rate status .$3 am not Crince (amlet0/. $Crufrock% is powerful for its range of intellectual reference and also
for the vividness of character achieved.
3orm
$Crufrock% is a variation on the dramatic monologue, a tpe of poem popular with *liot0s predecessors. Dramatic
monologues are similar to solilo&uies in plas. Three things characteri2e the dramatic monologue, according to
!.(. A#rams. First, the are the utterances of a specific individual .not the poet/ at a specific moment in time.
'econdl, the monologue is specificall directed at a listener or listeners whose presence is not directl
referenced #ut is merel suggested in the speaker0s words. Third, the primar focus is the development and
revelation of the speaker0s character. *liot moderni2es the form # removing the implied listeners and focusing on
Crufrock0s interiorit and isolation. The epigraph to this poem, from Dante0s *nferno' descri#es Crufrock0s ideal
listener: one who is as lost as the speaker and will never #etra to the world the content of Crufrock0s present
confessions. 3n the world Crufrock descri#es, though, no such smpathetic figure exists, and he must, therefore,
#e content with silent reflection. 3n its focus on character and its dramatic sensi#ilit, $Crufrock% anticipates *liot0s
later, dramatic works.
The rhme scheme of this poem is irregular #ut not random. 4hile sections of the poem ma resem#le free verse,
in realit, $Crufrock% is a carefull structured amalgamation of poetic forms. The #its and pieces of rhme #ecome
much more apparent when the poem is read aloud. 9ne of the most prominent formal characteristics of this work
is the use of refrains. Crufrock0s continual return to the $women =who> come and go ; Talking of !ichelangelo% and
his recurrent &uestionings .$how should 3 presume<%/ and pessimistic appraisals .$That is not it, at all.%/ #oth
reference an earlier poetic tradition and help *liot descri#e the consciousness of a modern, neurotic individual.
Crufrock0s o#sessiveness is aesthetic, #ut it is also a sign of compulsiveness and isolation. Another important
formal feature is the use of fragments of sonnet form, particularl at the poem0s conclusion. The three three+line
stan2as are rhmed as the conclusion of a Cetrarchan sonnet would #e, #ut their pessimistic, anti+romantic
content, coupled with the despairing inter,ection, $3 do not think the .the mermaids/ would sing to me,% creates a
contrast that comments #itterl on the #leakness of modernit.
$ommentary
$Crufrock% displas the two most important characteristics of *liot0s earl poetr. First, it is strongl influenced #
the French 'm#olists, like !allarm6, )im#aud, and -audelaire, whom *liot had #een reading almost constantl
while writing the poem. From the 'm#olists, *liot takes his sensuous language and ee for unnerving or anti+
aesthetic detail that nevertheless contri#utes to the overall #eaut of the poem .the ellow smoke and the hair+
covered arms of the women are two good examples of this/. The 'm#olists, too, privileged the same kind of
individual *liot creates with Crufrock: the mood, ur#an, isolated+et+sensitive thinker. (owever, whereas the
'm#olists would have #een more likel to make their speaker himself a poet or artist, *liot chooses to make
Crufrock an unacknowledged poet, a sort of artist for the common man.
The second defining characteristic of this poem is its use of fragmentation and ,uxtaposition. *liot sustained his
interest in fragmentation and its applications throughout his career, and his use of the techni&ue changes in
important was across his #od of work: (ere, the su#,ects undergoing fragmentation .and reassem#l/ are
mental focus and certain sets of imager8 in %he .aste :and' it is modern culture that splinters8 in the Cour
+uartets we find the fragments of attempted philosophical sstems. *liot0s use of #its and pieces of formal
structure suggests that fragmentation, although anxiet+provoking, is nevertheless productive8 had he chosen to
write in free verse, the poem would have seemed much more nihilistic. The kinds of imager *liot uses also
suggest that something new can #e made from the ruins: The series of hpothetical encounters at the poem0s
center are iterated and discontinuous #ut nevertheless lead to a sort of epiphan .al#eit a dark one/ rather than
,ust leading nowhere. *liot also introduces an image that will recur in his later poetr, that of the scavenger.
Crufrock thinks that he $should have #een a pair of ragged claws ; 'cuttling across the floors of silent seas.%
Cra#s are scavengers, gar#age+eaters who live off refuse that makes its wa to the sea floor. *liot0s discussions
of his own poetic techni&ue .see especiall his essa $Tradition and the 3ndividual Talent%/ suggest that making
something #eautiful out of the refuse of modern life, as a cra# sustains and nourishes itself on gar#age, ma, in
fact, #e the highest form of art. At the ver least, this notion su#verts romantic ideals a#out art8 at #est, it suggests
that fragments ma #ecome reintegrated, that art ma #e in some wa therapeutic for a #roken modern world.
3n %he .aste :and' cra#s #ecome rats, and the optimism disappears, #ut here *liot seems to assert onl the
limitless potential of scavenging.
$Crufrock% ends with the hero assigning himself a role in one of 'hakespeare0s plas: 4hile he is no (amlet, he
ma et #e useful and important as $an attendant lord, one that will do ; To swell a progress, start a scene or
two...% This implies that there is still a continuit #etween 'hakespeare0s world and ours, that Hamlet is still
relevant to us and that we are still part of a world that could produce something like 'hakespeare0s plas. 3mplicit
in this, of course, is the suggestion that *liot, who has created an $attendant lord,% ma now go on to create
another (amlet. 4hile $Crufrock% ends with a devaluation of its hero, it exalts its creator. 9r does it< The last line
of the poem suggests otherwise7that when the world intrudes, when $human voices wake us,% the dream is
shattered: $we drown.% 4ith this single line, *liot dismantles the romantic notion that poetic genius is all that is
needed to triumph over the destructive, impersonal forces of the modern world. 3n realit, *liot the poet is little
#etter than his creation: (e differs from Crufrock onl # retaining a #it of hu#ris, which shows through from time
to time. *liot0s poetic creation, thus, mirrors Crufrock0s solilo&u: -oth are an expression of aesthetic a#ilit and
sensitivit that seems to have no place in the modern world. This realistic, anti+romantic outlook sets the stage for
*liot0s later works, including %he .aste :and.
Ted Hughes, The Horses
I climbed through woods in the hour-before-dawn dark.
Evil air, a frost-making stillness,
Not a leaf, not a bird -
A world cast in frost. I came out above the wood
Where my breath left tortuous statues in the iron light.
ut the valleys were draining the darkness
!ill the moorline - blackening dregs of the brightening grey -
"alved the sky ahead. And I saw the horses#
"uge in the dense grey - ten together -
$egalith-still. !hey breathed, making no move,
with draped manes and tilted hind-hooves,
$aking no sound.
I passed# not one snorted or %erked its head.
&rey silent fragments
'f a grey silent world.
I listened in emptiness on the moor-ridge.
!he curlew(s tear turned its edge on the silence.
)lowly detail leafed from the darkness. !hen the sun
'range, red, red erupted
)ilently, and splitting to its core tore and flung cloud,
)hook the gulf open, showed blue,
And the big planets hanging -
I turned
)tumbling in the fever of a dream, down towards
!he dark woods, from the kindling tops,
And came to the horses.
!here, still they stood,
ut now steaming and glistening under the flow of light,
!heir draped stone manes, their tilted hind-hooves
)tirring under a thaw while all around them
!he frost showed its fires. ut still they made no sound.
Not one snorted or stamped,
!heir hung heads patient as the hori*ons,
"igh over valleys in the red levelling rays -
In din of crowded streets, going among the years, the faces,
$ay I still meet my memory in so lonely a place
etween the streams and the red clouds, hearing the curlews,
"earing the hori*ons endure
5%eolo4y
P"o, the serpent did not
'educe *ve to the apple.
All thatOs simpl
Corruption of the facts.
Adam ate the apple.
*ve ate Adam.
The serpent ate *ve.
This is the dark intestine.
The serpent, meanwhile,
'leeps his meal off in Caradise +
'miling to hear
1odOs &uerulous calling.P
Ted (ughes :
P%ili! ,arkin < $%urc% *oin4
9nce 3 am sure thereOs nothing going on
3 step inside, letting the door thud shut.
Another church: matting, seats, and stone,
And little #ooks8 sprawlings of flowers, cut
For 'unda, #rownish now8 some #rass and stuff
Ep at the hol end8 the small neat organ8
And a tense, must, unignora#le silence,
-rewed 1od knows how long. (atless, 3 take off
! ccle+clips in awkward reverence.
!ove forward, run m hand around the font.
From where 3 stand, the roof looks almost new +
Cleaned, or restored< 'omeone would know: 3 donOt.
!ounting the lectern, 3 peruse a few
(ectoring large+scale verses, and pronounce
O(ere endethO much more loudl than 3Od meant.
The echoes snigger #riefl. -ack at the door
3 sign the #ook, donate an 3rish sixpence,
)eflect the place was not worth stopping for.
Bet stop 3 did: in fact 3 often do,
And alwas end much at a loss like this,
4ondering what to look for8 wondering, too,
4hen churches will fall completel out of use
4hat we shall turn them into, if we shall keep
A few cathedrals chronicall on show,
Their parchment, plate and px in locked cases,
And let the rest rent+free to rain and sheep.
'hall we avoid them as unluck places<
9r, after dark, will du#ious women come
To make their children touch a particular stone8
Cick simples for a cancer8 or on some
Advised night see walking a dead one<
Cower of some sort will go on
3n games, in riddles, seemingl at random8
-ut superstition, like #elief, must die,
And what remains when dis#elief has gone<
1rass, weed pavement, #ram#les, #uttress, sk,
A shape less recognisa#le each week,
A purpose more o#scure. 3 wonder who
4ill #e the last, the ver last, to seek
This place for what it was8 one of the crew
That tap and ,ot and know what rood+lofts were<
'ome ruin+#i##er, rand for anti&ue,
9r Christmas+addict, counting on a whiff
9f gown+and+#ands and organ+pipes and mrrh<
9r will he #e m representative,
-ored, uninformed, knowing the ghostl silt
Dispersed, et tending to this cross of ground
Through su#ur# scru# #ecause it held unspilt
'o long and e&ua#l what since is found
9nl in separation + marriage, and #irth,
And death, and thoughts of these + for which was #uilt
This special shell< For, though 3Ove no idea
4hat this accoutred frowst #arn is worth,
3t pleases me to stand in silence here8
A serious house on serious earth it is,
3n whose #lent air all our compulsions meet,
Are recogni2ed, and ro#ed as destinies.
And that much never can #e o#solete,
'ince someone will forever #e surprising
A hunger in himself to #e more serious,
And gravitating with it to this ground,
4hich, he once heard, was proper to grow wise in,
3f onl that so man dead lie round.
Church 1oing,% a poem of seven nine+line stan2as, is a first+person description of a visit to an
empt *nglish countr church. The narrator is apparentl on a ccling tour .he stops to remove
his #iccle clips/, a popular activit for -ritish workers on their summer holida. (e has come
upon a church and stopped to look inside. "ot wishing to participate in a worship service, the
visitor checks first to make $sure there0s nothing going on.% (e will eventuall reveal that he is an
agnostic and that his interest in churches is not derived from...
A poetr analsis of PChurch 1oingP # Chillip Larkin can first look at the title, meaning, message
and themes of the poem. The free Pthinking aloudP tone of the poem is also worth a mention in an
essa, as it contri#utes to the reader experience of the poem.
Firstl, the title is worth of examination. Deceptivel simple, the title PChurch 1oingP is ver
clever as it has two interpretations. The first refers to the act of weekl worship, usuall on a
'unda, and Chillip Larkin will go on to consider the traditions and future potential of this practice.
The second interpretation in the word PgoingP refers to the action of the #uildings and institutions
themselves and which wa the will #e going in the future. Larkin las out his thoughts a#out this
as the poem develops, and his prognosis is not good. (e views the churches as falling into
disrepair as societ moves on from #lind adherence to religion, and wonders where it will all lead.
(e imagines in his mindOs ee, the churches as ruins with weeds and grass growing up #etween
the floor sla#s and wonders whether anone will want to #u them and what use the might put
the #uildings to.
The tone of the poem engages the reader in a sort of conversation with the poet as he thinks
aloud in the inhi#iting silence of the must old #uilding. 4e are deli#eratel told that, even for
Larkin himself, his visit to the church is ,ust an add+on, a convenient stop+off on a ccling trip.
4ith the first words of the poem #eing:P9nce 3 am sure thereOs nothing going on 3 step inside,
letting the door thud shut. PLarkin puts readers in a particular spot in time, as if the too, had
come along with the poet for the ride, and are #reaking their ,ourne with him. (e uses a
curiousl detached and o#,ective tone, however, as if he is an outsider in the church looking in at
the practice of religious o#servation as if he has no role in it. (e emphasi2es this with the word
PhatlessP as he disregards this mark of respect. Language such as P#rownishP and PmustP
illustrate his view that the church is past its #est, and ma one da #e totall o#solete, and
contri#ute to the themes of Time, )eligion, Function and 'ociet.
9verall, Chillip LarkinOs message seems to #e that in the future churches will either deca into
ruins or #e put to other more materialistic uses such as homes or retail outlets. *ven in the
present time, he wonders whether their onl authorit and atmosphere of awe comes from the
fact that there are so man dead in the vicinit.
A poetr analsis of PChurch 1oingP # Chillip Larkin can first look at the title, meaning, message
and themes of the poem. The free Pthinking aloudP tone of the poem is also worth a mention in an
essa, as it contri#utes to the reader experience of the poem.
Firstl, the title is worth of examination. Deceptivel simple, the title PChurch 1oingP is ver
clever as it has two interpretations. The first refers to the act of weekl worship, usuall on a
'unda, and Chillip Larkin will go on to consider the traditions and future potential of this practice.
The second interpretation in the word PgoingP refers to the action of the #uildings and institutions
themselves and which wa the will #e going in the future. Larkin las out his thoughts a#out this
as the poem develops, and his prognosis is not good. (e views the churches as falling into
disrepair as societ moves on from #lind adherence to religion, and wonders where it will all lead.
(e imagines in his mindOs ee, the churches as ruins with weeds and grass growing up #etween
the floor sla#s and wonders whether anone will want to #u them and what use the might put
the #uildings to.
The tone of the poem engages the reader in a sort of conversation with the poet as he thinks
aloud in the inhi#iting silence of the must old #uilding. 4e are deli#eratel told that, even for
Larkin himself, his visit to the church is ,ust an add+on, a convenient stop+off on a ccling trip.
4ith the first words of the poem #eing:P9nce 3 am sure thereOs nothing going on 3 step inside,
letting the door thud shut. PLarkin puts readers in a particular spot in time, as if the too, had
come along with the poet for the ride, and are #reaking their ,ourne with him. (e uses a
curiousl detached and o#,ective tone, however, as if he is an outsider in the church looking in at
the practice of religious o#servation as if he has no role in it. (e emphasi2es this with the word
PhatlessP as he disregards this mark of respect. Language such as P#rownishP and PmustP
illustrate his view that the church is past its #est, and ma one da #e totall o#solete, and
contri#ute to the themes of Time, )eligion, Function and 'ociet.
9verall, Chillip LarkinOs message seems to #e that in the future churches will either deca into
ruins or #e put to other more materialistic uses such as homes or retail outlets. *ven in the
present time, he wonders whether their onl authorit and atmosphere of awe comes from the
fact that there are so man dead in the vicinit.
(oetr' >nal'sis - :(unishment: - b' 1eamus ?eane'
CD
rate or flag
- Hen,ohn
OCunishmentO # 'eamus (eane
'ource: 9penDemocrac
Ads # 1oogle
3n his poem FCunishment0 'eamus (eane writes of the discover of a fourteen ear old girl0s
#od exhumed from a #og in 1erman, GNMG. 9n further analsis of the poetr, it is revealed that
this preserved #od was two thousand ears old, and she was executed # her societ on
account of adulter. Although (eaneOs poem is initiall concerned with the girl from the #og, it
appears to transfer its meaning halfwa through to include a particular 3rish woman whom
(eane had seen receive punishment from other women as a result of having a relationship with
a -ritish soldier. 9n the other hand, it could #e interpreted as #eing a more am#iguous idea of
Fsisters0 and thus multiple women.
(eane0s perspectives and time frames appear to shift from past to present, and # using his
imagination, presumptions and his own memories, in OCunishmentO he attempts to investigate the
nature of the human #eing, and to answer the &uestion of whether we still remain as tri#all and
#ar#aricall motivated as we once were.
The poem instantl addresses the past # descri#ing the death of the #og girl in the first half of
the poem, concentrating on visual and anatomical detail. 3t explicitl descri#es her feminine
vulnera#ilit # using corresponding #od parts with which we associate sensitivit8 her Fneck0,
Fnipples0 and Fri#s0 all promote a sense of sensuous suscepti#ilit. 3t then moves from the past
through to the present in the second half where the speaker addresses the trou#les within
3reland. (e compares the punishment of the #og girl to the 3rish women who were covered in tar
and their hair shaved off. This movement from past to present within the form of the poem could
suggest that the #og girl has in effect, phsicall and metaphoricall travelled through time from
the past to modern da, in order to remind us of the cruelt of human nature. The Ffrail rigging of
her ri#s0 contrast sharpl with her violent death that leaves her also with a Fshaved head0. 3t is this
frailt that reminds us of how delicate the human #od is. (owever, this onl emphasises that as
her #od has withstood the ravages of time and natural deca, it could #e sm#olic of the
unchanging and resilient aspect of the manner with which humans regard one another.
3nitiall, the narrator places himself in the poem in order to imagine what the #og girl might have
experienced during her execution, #ut he also explores his possi#le feelings as if he were a
witness to the event. (e does not envisage em#oding the victim herself, #ut possi#l someone
who loved her, so feels great pain at her suffering, so much so that he appears to Ffeel the tug0 of
the noose himself. (e calls her his Fpoor scapegoat0 suggesting in the first half of the poem that
he holds the role of the #og girl0s lover and the role of the smpathiser towards the 3rish woman in
the second half. (owever, whereas he can onl imagine the circumstances surrounding the #og
girl0s death, he has #een witness to the events in 3reland and, like the speaker in the first half of
the poem he stands and watches8 he is an Fartful voeur0. (e admits to have Fstood dum#0 whilst
watching the ill treatment of the 3rish women at the hands of their F#etraing sisters0. This
compounds his feelings that as he stood # in this situation, he would also have viewed the
execution of the girl in Fcivilised outrage0, #ut he too would Fhave castZthe stones of silence0 as
he understands Fthe exact tri#al, and intimate revenge through cruelt that seems so Fstamped0 in
our nature and thus transcends time.
3n FCunishment0, the speaker and the reader are forced to address the &uestion of whether
anthing has altered since this ancient girl0s death, and whether we do now live in a Fcivilised0
societ. The time differences serve not as a window to a strange world that we know nothing
a#out, #ut in fact, worringl, the similarities #ecome more prevalent as the two parts of the
poem, past and present appear to merge effortlessl, aided # (eane0s use of en,am#ment. The
idea of preserved #odies and the information a#out the past we can learn from them exists also in
!ar 'helle0s, )oger Dodsworth: The )eanimated *nglishman. Hust as in Cunishment, the #og
allows us to witness a moment captivated in time, the ice that preserves the #od of )oger
Dodsworth serves an e&uivalent purpose. Additionall, although OCunishmentO was a poem #ased
on the factual events of the discover of a real #od and )oger Dodsworth the product of
'helleOs imagination, #oth O#odiesO have had contemporar voices given to them # each writer.
This seems to suggest that as humans we are eternall curious a#out our past #ehaviours and
societies8 however, an contemplation on our past reveals that we can answer man &uestions
ourselves # looking at our present #ehaviour. )oger Dodsworth will have Othe same character
which he #ore a couple of hundred ears ago, =and> will influence him nowO. Furthermore -rian
Friel states that, Fthe onl merit in looking #ack is to understand how ou are and where ou are
at the momentO. This is a point that 3 #elieve #oth (eane and 'helle were intending to make
clear in these literar pieces.
Summary
Two men, Qladimir and *stragon, meet near a tree. The converse on various topics and reveal that the are
waiting there for a man named 1odot. 4hile the wait, two other men enter. Co22o is on his wa to the market to
sell his slave, Luck. (e pauses for a while to converse with Qladimir and *stragon. Luck entertains them #
dancing and thinking, and Co22o and Luck leave.
After Co22o and Luck leave, a #o enters and tells Qladimir that he is a messenger from 1odot. (e tells Qladimir
that 1odot will not #e coming tonight, #ut that he will surel come tomorrow. Qladimir asks him some &uestions
a#out 1odot and the #o departs. After his departure, Qladimir and *stragon decide to leave, #ut the do not
move as the curtain falls.
The next night, Qladimir and *stragon again meet near the tree to wait for 1odot. Luck and Co22o enter again,
#ut this time Co22o is #lind and Luck is dum#. Co22o does not remem#er meeting the two men the night #efore.
The leave and Qladimir and *stragon continue to wait.
'hortl after, the #o enters and once again tells Qladimir that 1odot will not #e coming. (e insists that he did not
speak to Qladimir esterda. After he leaves, *stragon and Qladimir decide to leave, #ut again the do not move
as the curtain falls, ending the pla.
Summary
*stragon is tring to take off his #oot when Qladimir enters. The two men greet each other8 Qladimir examines his
hat while *stragon struggles with his #oot. The discuss the versions of the stor of the two thieves in the
1ospels, and Qladimir wonders wh one version of the stor is considered more accurate than the others.
*stragon wants to leave, #ut Qladimir tells him that the cannot #ecause the are waiting for 1odot, who the are
supposed to meet # the tree. The wonder if the are waiting in the correct spot, or if it is even the correct da.
*stragon falls asleep, #ut Qladimir wakes him #ecause he feels lonel. *stragon starts to tell Qladimir a#out the
dream he was having, #ut Qladimir does not want to hear his Pprivate nightmares.P *stragon wonders if it would
#e #etter for them to part, #ut Qladimir insists that *stragon would not go far. The argue and Qladimir storms off
the stage, #ut *stragon convinces him to come #ack and the make up.
The discuss what to do next while the wait, and *stragon suggests hanging themselves from the tree. (owever,
after a discussion of the logistics, the decide to wait and see what 1odot sas.
*stragon is hungr, and Qladimir gives him a carrot. The discuss whether the are tied to 1odot when the hear
a terri#le cr near# and huddle together to await what is coming.
$ommentary
The #eginning of the pla esta#lishes Qladimir and *stragonOs relationship. Qladimir clearl reali2es that *stragon
is dependent on him when he tells *stragon that he would #e Pnothing more than a little heap of #onesP without
him. Qladimir also insists that *stragon would not go far if the parted. This dependenc extends even to minute,
everda things, as *stragon cannot even take off his #oot without help from Qladimir.
The #eginning of the pla makes Qladimir and *stragon seem interchangea#le. For example, one of the
characters often repeats a line that the other has previousl said. This happens in the ver #eginning when the
two characters switch lines in the dialogue, with each asking the other, P3t hurts<P and responding, P(urtsD (e
wants to know if it hurtsDP 3n addition to demonstrating the wa that the two characters can #e seen as
interchangea#le, this textual repetition will #e found throughout the pla as an indicator of the repetitiveness of life
in general for Qladimir and *stragon.
QladimirOs discussion of the stor of the two thieves #rings up the &uestion of textual uncertaint. (e points out
that the four gospels present entirel different versions of this stor, and wonders wh one of these versions is
accepted as definitive. This &uestion a#out the relia#ilit of texts might cause the reader .or audience/ of this pla
to &uestion the relia#ilit of this particular text. Also, the repetition of the stor # the four gospels might allude to
the repetitiveness of the action of the pla.
The repetitiveness of the pla is #est illustrated # *stragonOs repeated re&uests to leave, which are followed
each time # Qladimir telling him that the cannot leave #ecause the are waiting for 1odot. The exact repetition
of the lines each time this dialogue appears, including the stage directions, reinforces the idea that the same
actions occur over and over again and suggests that these actions happen more times than the pla presents.
3n this #eginning section we get the onl clue of the nature of Qladimir and *stragonOs relationship with 1odot.
The mention that the asked 1odot for Pa kind of praer...a vague supplication,P which he is currentl
considering. This creates a parallel #etween 1odot and 1od, also suggested # their similar names, and it seems
that Qladimir and *stragon do consider 1odot a kind of religious figure when the mention coming in on their
hands and knees.
Act = Po99o and ,ucky Scene
Summary
Co22o enters, driving Luck ahead of him # a rope around his neck. Qladimir and *stragon wonder if Co22o is
1odot, #ut he tells them that he is Co22o and asks if the have heard of him. The tell him that the have not.
Co22o commands Luck to put down his stool, and sits down and #egins to eat some chicken. 4hile he eats,
Qladimir and *stragon circle around Luck, inspecting him. The notice a sore on his neck and #egin to ask him a
&uestion, #ut Co22o tells them to leave him alone.
*stragon asks Co22o if he can have the #ones from his chicken, and Co22o tells him that Luck gets priorit over
them. *stragon asks Luck if he wants the #ones, #ut he does not repl, and Co22o tells *stragon that he can
have the #ones. (e comments that he has never known Luck to refuse a #one and hopes that he is not sick.
Qladimir suddenl explodes with anger at Co22oOs treatment of Luck, #ut then seems em#arrassed at his
out#urst. Co22o decides to go, #ut then decides to sta and smoke another pipe. Qladimir wants to leave, #ut
Co22o reminds him of his appointment with 1odot.
*stragon #egins to wonder aloud wh Luck does not put down his #ags. Co22o #egins to answer the &uestion,
after much preparation involving his vapori2er spra, #ut gives a convoluted and contradictor response. Qladimir
asks Co22o if he wants to get rid of Luck8 Co22o responds that he does and is taking him to the fair to sell him.
Luck #egins to cr, and Co22o hands *stragon a handkerchief to wipe awa his tears. *stragon approaches
Luck, #ut Luck kicks him in the shins. Co22o tells Qladimir and *stragon that he has learned a lot from Luck,
and that Luck has #een serving him for nearl sixt ears. Qladimir #ecomes angr that Co22o is going to get rid
of Luck after so much time, and Co22o gets upset. Qladimir then gets angr at Luck for mistreating Co22o.
Co22o calms down, #ut he reali2es that he has lost his pipe and #egins to get upset again. 4hile *stragon laughs
at Co22o, Qladimir exits, apparentl to go to the #athroom. (e returns, in a #ad mood, #ut soon calms down.
Co22o sits down again and #egins to explain the twilight. 4hen he finishes, he asks them to evaluate his
performance and then offers to have Luck perform for them. *stragon wants to see Luck dance, while Qladimir
wants to hear him think, so Co22o commands him to dance and then think.
Luck dances, and *stragon is not ver impressed. Co22o tells them that he used to dance much #etter. Qladimir
asks him to tell Luck to think, #ut Co22o sas that he cannot think without his hat. Qladimir puts LuckOs hat on
his head and he #egins to think aloud, spouting a long stream of words and phrases that amount to gi##erish. As
he goes on, the other three suffer more and more and finall throw themselves on him and sei2e his hat to make
him stop. Co22o tramples on the hat, and the men help Luck up and give him all the #ags.
Co22o is a#out to leave, #ut finds that he cannot. (e decides that he needs a running start, so he starts from the
opposite end of the stage and drives Luck across as the exchange good+#es.
$ommentary
Co22oOs statement a#out his pipe, that the second pipe is never as PsweetP as the first, can appl to experience in
general7it suggests that feelings and events dull with repetition.
)epetition of events in the pla is emphasi2ed # further textual repetition. 4hen Qladimir and *stragon alternate
short lines #ack and forth, *stragon often repeats himself at the end of a string of lines. This occurs for the first
time in this exchange: P#stra4on: The circus. >ladimir: The music+hall.#stra4on: The circus.P This same trope
will recur several times in a row at the #eginning of the second act, alwas with *stragon repeating himself.
4e see here that Qladimir supports *stragon after *stragon is kicked # Luck: when he cries that he cannot
walk, Qladimir offers to carr him, if necessar. This illustrates QladimirOs attempt to protect and take care of
*stragon.
Qladimir is often ver &uick to change his mind. 4hen he learns of LuckOs long term of service to Co22o, he
#ecomes angr with Co22o for mistreating his servant. (owever, when Co22o gets upset and sas that he cannot
#ear it an longer, Qladimir &uickl transfers his anger to Luck, whom he reproaches for mistreating his master
after so man ears. This illustrates how QladimirOs opinion can #e easil swaed # a change in circumstances.
3n this section we see the first suggestions that Qladimir and *stragon might represent all of humanit. 4hen
Co22o first enters, he notes that Qladimir and *stragon are of the same species as he is, Pmade in 1odOs image.P
Later, when Co22o asks *stragon what his name is, he replies PAdam.P This comparison of *stragon to Adam, the
first man, suggests that he ma represent all of mankind8 and this link #etween *stragon and Adam also relates to
the idea of 1odot as 1od.
Co22oOs in&uir a#out how Qladimir and *stragon found him suggests that Co22o is giving a performance. This
notion is reinforced when he has Luck perform for them. 3t seems that Co22o and Luck appear primaril to
entertain Qladimir and *stragon7after Co22o and Luck leave, the other two men comment that their presence
helped the time pass more rapidl.
Co22oOs failure to depart anticipates the wa that Qladimir and *stragon remain waiting at the end of each of the
acts, after saing the will depart. (owever, even after saing, P3 donOt seem to #e a#le to depart,P Co22o does
actuall manage to leave. Co22o moves on while Qladimir and *stragon remain fixed even as the curtain falls at
the end of each act.
Act = Po99o and ,ucky?s #xit to $onclusion
Summary
After Co22o and Luck depart, Qladimir once again tells *stragon that the cannot leave #ecause the are waiting
for 1odot. The argue a#out whether Co22o and Luck have changed, and *stragon suddenl complains of pain
in his other foot.
A #o enters timidl, saing that he has a message from !r. 1odot. *stragon #ullies the #o, who reveals that he
has #een waiting a while #ut was afraid of Co22o and Luck. 4hen *stragon shakes the #o, #adgering him to
tell the truth, Qladimir ells at him and sits down and #egins to take off his #oots.
!eanwhile, Qladimir talks to the #o. (e asks him if he is the one who came esterda, #ut the #o tells him that
he is not. The #o tells Qladimir that !r. 1odot will not come this evening, #ut that he will surel come tomorrow.
Qladimir then asks the #o if he works for !r. 1odot, and the #o tells him that he minds the goats. The #o sas
that !r. 1odot does not #eat him, #ut that he #eats his #rother who minds the sheep.
Qladimir asks the #o if he is unhapp, #ut the #o does not know. (e tells the #o that he can go, and that he is
to tell !r. 1odot that he saw them. The #o runs off the stage and, as he goes, it suddenl #ecomes night.
*stragon gets up and puts his #oots down at the edge of the stage. Qladimir tells him that the #o assured him
that 1odot will come tomorrow. (e tries to drag *stragon offstage to shelter, #ut *stragon will not go. *stragon
wonders if the should part, #ut the decide to go together. As the curtain falls, the remain still.
$ommentary
This section #egins with the most commonl repeated dialogue in the pla, in which *stragon wants to go and
Qladimir tells him that the are waiting for 1odot. This section provides evidence for a religious reading of the pla
as *stragon compares himself to Christ when he decides to go #arefoot. 4hen Qladimir tells him not to compare
himself to Christ, *stragon responds that Pall m life 3Ove compared mself to him.P
QladimirOs statement that he pretended not to recogni2e Co22o and Luck suggests that he has met them #efore.
This indicates that the actions presented in the first act of the pla ma have happened #efore, calling attention to
events that occur outside the frame of the pla. The same thing occurs when Qladimir asks the #o if he came
esterda, revealing that the were waiting esterda with the same result. This suggests that the same events
have #een going on for some time8 the two acts of the pla are merel two instances in a long pattern of
ceaselessl repeating events.
The end of Act 3 esta#lishes Qladimir and *stragonOs hopelessness. *ven when the #oth agree to go, and
Qladimir sas PBes, letOs go,P the two men do not move. *ven their resolution to go is not strong enough to
produce action. This ina#ilit to act renders Qladimir and *stragon una#le to determine their own fates. 3nstead of
acting, the can onl wait for someone or something to act upon them.
Act = ntroduction @ Po99o and ,ucky?s #ntrance
Summary
Act 33 takes place the next evening, at the same time and place. The tree now has four or five leaves on it.
*stragonOs #oots and LuckOs hat remain onstage when Qladimir enters, looks around, and #egins to sing.
*stragon enters and suggests that Qladimir seemed happier without him. (e sas that he does not know wh he
keeps returning to Qladimir, since he too is happier alone, #ut Qladimir insists that itOs #ecause *stragon does not
know how to defend himself.
Qladimir suggests that things have changed since esterda, #ut *stragon does not remem#er esterda.
Qladimir reminds him a#out Co22o and Luck, and the #egin to argue a#out whether *stragon has ever #een in
the !acon countr. *stragon once again sas that it would #e #etter if the parted, #ut Qladimir reminds him that
he alwas comes crawling #ack. The decide to converse calml #ut soon run out of things to sa, and Qladimir
grows uncomforta#le with the silence.
Qladimir looks at the tree and notices that it is now covered with leaves, although esterda it was #are. *stragon
sas that it must #e spring, #ut also insists that the were not here esterda. Qladimir reminds him of the #ones
that Co22o gave him and the kick that Luck gave him and shows him the wound on his leg. (e asks *stragon
where his #oots are and7when *stragon replies that he must have thrown them awa7points out the #oots on
the stage triumphantl. *stragon, however, examines the #oots and sas that the are not his. Qladimir reasons
that someone must have come # and exchanged his #oots for *stragonOs.
Qladimir gives *stragon a #lack radish, #ut since he onl likes the pink ones, he gives it #ack. *stragon sas he
will go and get a carrot, #ut he does not move. Qladimir suggests tring the #oots on *stragon, and the fit, #ut
*stragon does not want them laced. *stragon sits down on the mound and tries to sleep. Qladimir sings him a
lulla#, and he falls asleep, #ut soon wakes up from a nightmare.
Qladimir is pleased to find LuckOs hat on the ground #ecause he #elieves it confirms that the are in the correct
place. (e puts on LuckOs hat and hands his to *stragon, who takes off his hat and hands it to Qladimir. This
switch occurs several times until once again Qladimir wears LuckOs hat, and *stragon wears his own hat.
Qladimir decides that he will keep LuckOs hat, since his #othered him. The #egin to pla Co22o and LuckOs
roles, with Qladimir imitating Luck and telling *stragon what to do to imitate Co22o. *stragon leaves, #ut &uickl
returns #ecause he hears someone coming.
Qladimir is sure that 1odot is coming, and *stragon hides #ehind the tree. (e reali2es that he is not hidden and
comes out, and the two men #egin a watch with one stationed on each side of the stage. 4hen the #oth #egin to
speak at once, the get angr and #egin insulting each other. After the finish their insults, the decide to make
up and em#race. The #riefl do some exercises and then do Pthe tree,P staggering around on one foot.
$ommentary
QladimirOs song a#out the dog who stole a crust of #read repeats itself perpetuall. The two verses follow each
other in succession so that it can #e sung forever, although here Qladimir onl sings each verse twice. This song
is a representation of the repetitive nature of the pla as a whole and of Qladimir and *stragonOs circular lives.
Like the verses of the song, the events of their lives follow one after another, again and again, with no apparent
#eginning or end.
The hat switching incident is another illustration of the endless, often mindless, repetition that seems to
characteri2e the pla. Like QladimirOs song at the #eginning of Act 33, the hat switching could go on perpetuall and
onl stops when Qladimir decides ar#itraril to put an end to it.
Qladimir and *stragonOs discussion a#out the noise made # Pall the dead voicesP #rings #ack the theme of
*stragon repeating himself to end a string of conversation. Three times in a row, *stragon repeats his phrase,
with silence following each repetition. *stragonOs repetition of the phrases Plike leavesP and Pthe rustleP
emphasi2es these phrases, especiall since *stragon comes #ack to Plike leavesP in the third part of their
discussion.
3n this section we see again QladimirOs desire to protect *stragon. (e #elieves that the primar reason *stragon
returns to him ever da, despite his declarations that he is happier alone, is that he needs Qladimir to help him
defend himself. 4hether or not Qladimir actuall does protect *stragon, Qladimir clearl feels that this dut and
responsi#ilit defines their relationship.
*stragonOs statement that he will go and get a carrot, followed # the stage directions Phe does not move,P recalls
their immo#ilit in Act 3Os conclusion, and is another illustration of the wa that the characters do not act on their
words or intentions. Qladimir recogni2es this pro#lem after he decides that the should tr on the #oots8 he sas
impatientl, Plet us persevere in what we have resolved, #efore we forget.P QladimirOs clear awareness of his own
pro#lem makes his ina#ilit to solve it7to act and to move7seem even more frustrating and unfathoma#le.
Act = Po99o and ,ucky Scene
Summary
4hile Qladimir and *stragon stagger a#out piting themselves, Co22o and Luck enter. Co22o is #lind and runs
into Luck, who has stopped at the sight of Qladimir and *stragon. The fall, along with all the #aggage. Qladimir
welcomes their arrival since it will help to pass the time. Co22o calls for help while Qladimir and *stragon discuss
asking him for another #one. Qladimir decides that the should help him, #ut first he and *stragon discuss how
the have kept their appointment.
Co22o continues to cr for help, and eventuall Qladimir tries to assist him. (owever, he falls also while tring to
pull up Co22o. *stragon threatens to leave, #ut Qladimir #egs him to help him up first, promising that the will
leave together afterward. *stragon tries to help him up, #ut ends up falling as well.
All four men now lie on the ground, and Qladimir and *stragon #egin to nap. The are woken shortl # Co22oOs
shouting, and Qladimir strikes Co22o to make him stop. Co22o crawls awa, and Qladimir and *stragon call to
him. (e does not respond, and *stragon decides to tr other names. (e calls out PA#el,P and Co22o responds #
cring for help. (e wonders if the other one is called Cain, #ut Co22o responds to that name as well, and
*stragon decides that he must #e all of humanit.
Qladimir and *stragon decide to get up, which the do with ease. The help Co22o up and hold him, and Co22o
tells them that he does not recogni2e them since he is #lind. The tell him that it is evening, and then #egin to
&uestion him a#out the loss of his sight. (e tells them that it came upon him all of a sudden and that he has no
notion of time.
Co22o asks the men a#out his slave, and the tell him that Luck seems to #e sleeping. The send *stragon over
to Luck, and *stragon #egins kicking Luck. (e hurts his foot and goes to sit down. Qladimir asks Co22o if the
met esterda, #ut Co22o does not remem#er. Co22o prepares to leave, and Qladimir asks him to have Luck
sing or recite #efore the leave. (owever, Co22o tells him that Luck is dum#. The exit, and Qladimir sees them
fall offstage.
$ommentary
(ere again Qladimir seems to recogni2e the pro#lem of inaction when he decides that the should help Co22o. (e
#ecomes suddenl vehement and shouts, PLet us not waste our time in idle discourseD Let us do something, while
we have the chanceDP This call to action seems like an urgent rall against the trend of inaction he and *stragon
have #een following throughout the pla8 however, Qladimir still takes plent of time to #egin to help Co22o to his
feet. This suggests that, even with good intentions and resolution, the ha#it of inaction cannot #e #roken
immediatel.
3n this speech Qladimir also declares that at this point, Pall mankind is us, whether we like it or not.P This continues
the theme of Qladimir and *stragonOs representation of mankind as a whole and shows that Qladimir is himself
aware of this comparison. *stragon also illustrates the parallel #etween the two men and the rest of humanit
when he tells Qladimir that P#illionsP of people can also claim that the have kept their appointment. 3n this case
Qladimir attempts to distinguish them from the rest of mankind, #ut *stragon insists that the are actuall the
same.
Another #i#lical allusion is presented here through the comparison of Co22o and Luck to Cain and A#el.
(owever, when Co22o responds to the names Cain and A#el, *stragon decides that PheOs all humanit.P This
suggestion indicates once more that the characters in the pla represent the human race as a whole.
QladimirOs need of *stragonOs help in order to get up is somewhat of a role reversal. For a #rief exchange,
*stragon holds the power in the relationship as Qladimir calls to him for help. (owever, when *stragon does
finall stretch out his hand to help Qladimir up, he onl falls himself. This seems to indicate that *stragon does not
#elong in this position of power and responsi#ilit and cannot act to fulfill it.
Act = Po99o and ,ucky?s #xit to $onclusion
Summary
After Co22o and Luck leave, Qladimir wakes *stragon. *stragon is upset at #eing woken up, #ut Qladimir tells
him that he was lonel. *stragon gets up, #ut his feet hurt, so he sits down again and tries to take off his #oots.
!eanwhile, Qladimir reflects upon the events of the da. *stragon do2es off again after unsuccessfull struggling
with his #oots.
The #o enters and calls to Qladimir. Qladimir recogni2es the routine and knows what the #o is going to sa
#efore he sas it. The esta#lish that the #o was not there esterda, #ut that he has a message from !r. 1odot
saing that he will not come this evening, #ut definitel tomorrow.
Qladimir asks the #o what !r. 1odot does, and the #o replies that he does nothing. Qladimir asks the #o a#out
his #rother, and the #o tells him that his #rother is sick. Qladimir asks if !r. 1odot has a #eard and what color it
is. The #o asks Qladimir what he should tell !r. 1odot, and Qladimir tells him that he should sa that he saw
him. The #o runs awa as Qladimir springs toward him.
The sun sets. *stragon wakes up, takes off his #oots, and puts them down at the front of the stage. (e
approaches Qladimir and tells him that he wants to go. Qladimir tells him that the cannot go far awa, #ecause
the have to come #ack tomorrow to wait for 1odot. The discuss hanging themselves from the tree, #ut find that
the do not have an rope. *stragon sas that the can #ring some tomorrow. *stragon tells Qladimir that he canOt
go on like this, and Qladimir tells him that the will hang themselves tomorrow, unless 1odot comes. Qladimir tells
*stragon to pull up his trousers, which have fallen down when he removed the cord holding them up in order to
determine whether it would #e suita#le for hanging. The decide to go, #ut once again do not move as the curtain
falls.
$ommentary
- this point in the pla, the dialogue a#out waiting for 1odot has #een repeated so man times that even
*stragon knows it. *ver time he asked Qladimir to go previousl, the went through the entire dialogue a#out
wh the could not go. (owever, this time, *stragon goes through a miniature version of this dialogue # himself:
PLetOs go. 4e canOt. AhDP 3t seems that the numerous repetitions of this dialogue have finall impressed its
hopeless resolution upon *stragonOs mind.
'imilarl, # the time the #o arrives in Act 33, Qladimir alread knows what he will sa, and the #o does not have
to tell him anthing. This suggests that this dialogue has occurred man times #efore and furthers the indication
that the pla is ,ust a representative sample of the larger circle that defines Qladimir and *stragonOs lives.
The plaOs conclusion echoes the end of Act 3. *ven the stage directions reflect this similarit: after #oOs exit and
the moonrise, the stage directions read, Pas in Act 3, Qladimir stands motionless and #owed.P 4hile a live
audience would not read these directions, the serve to emphasi2e the parallel #etween the two acts for readers
and for actors performing the pla.
The repetition of the final two lines from the previous act at the plaOs conclusion shows the continued importance
of repetition and parallelism in.aiting for 8odot. (owever, the characters have switched lines from the previous
act, suggesting that ultimatel, despite their differences, Qladimir and *stragon are reall interchangea#le after all.
MODERN FI!ION
3n ma4in$ an' surve', even the freest and loosest, of modern fiction, it is
difficult not to ta4e it for $ranted that the modern practice of the art is
someho9 an improvement upon the old. *ith their simple tools and
primitive materials, it mi$ht be said, Fieldin$ did 9ell and Eane >usten even
better, but compare their opportunities 9ith ours@ ;heir masterpieces
certainl' have a stran$e air of simplicit'. >nd 'et the analo$' bet9een
literature and the process, to choose an e+ample, of ma4in$ motor cars
scarcel' holds $ood be'ond the first $lance. 3t is doubtful 9hether in the
course of the centuries, thou$h 9e have learnt much about ma4in$
machines, 9e have learnt an'thin$ about ma4in$ literature. *e do not
come to 9rite betterF all that 9e can be said to do is to 4eep movin$, no9 a
little in this direction, no9 in that, but 9ith a circular tendenc' should the
9hole course of the trac4 be vie9ed from a sufficientl' loft' pinnacle. 3t
need scarcel' be said that 9e ma4e no claim to stand, even momentaril',
upon that vanta$e $round. An the flat, in the cro9d, half blind 9ith dust, 9e
loo4 bac4 9ith env' to those happier 9arriors, 9hose battle is 9on and
9hose achievements 9ear so serene an air of accomplishment that 9e can
scarcel' refrain from 9hisperin$ that the fi$ht 9as not so fierce for them as
for us. 3t is for the historian of literature to decideF for him to sa' if 9e are
no9 be$innin$ or endin$ or standin$ in the middle of a $reat period of
prose fiction, for do9n in the plain little is visible. *e onl' 4no9 that
certain $ratitudes and hostilities inspire usF that certain paths seem to lead
to fertile land, others to the dust and the desertF and of this perhaps it ma'
be 9orth 9hile to attempt some account.
Aur <uarrel, then, is not 9ith the classics, and if 9e spea4 of <uarrellin$
9ith "r. *ells, "r. #ennett, and "r. Bals9orth', it is partl' that b' the
mere fact of their e+istence in the flesh their 9or4 has a livin$, breathin$,
ever'da' imperfection 9hich bids us ta4e 9hat liberties 9ith it 9e choose.
#ut it is also true that, 9hile 9e than4 them for a thousand $ifts, 9e reserve
our unconditional $ratitude for "r. ?ard', for "r. Conrad, and in a much
lesser de$ree for the "r. ?udson of ;he (urple 2and, Breen "ansions, and
Far >9a' and 2on$ >$o. "r. *ells, "r. #ennett, and "r. Bals9orth' have
e+cited so man' hopes and disappointed them so persistentl' that our
$ratitude lar$el' ta4es the form of than4in$ them for havin$ sho9n us 9hat
the' mi$ht have done but have not doneF 9hat 9e certainl' could not do,
but as certainl', perhaps, do not 9ish to do. 0o sin$le phrase 9ill sum up
the char$e or $rievance 9hich 9e have to brin$ a$ainst a mass of 9or4 so
lar$e in its volume and embod'in$ so man' <ualities, both admirable and
the reverse. 3f 9e tried to formulate our meanin$ in one 9ord 9e should sa'
that these three 9riters are materialists. 3t is because the' are concerned not
9ith the spirit but 9ith the bod' that the' have disappointed us, and left us
9ith the feelin$ that the sooner !n$lish fiction turns its bac4 upon them, as
politel' as ma' be, and marches, if onl' into the desert, the better for its
soul. 0aturall', no sin$le 9ord reaches the centre of three separate tar$ets.
3n the case of "r. *ells it falls notabl' 9ide of the mar4. >nd 'et even 9ith
him it indicates to our thin4in$ the fatal allo' in his $enius, the $reat clod of
cla' that has $ot itself mi+ed up 9ith the purit' of his inspiration. #ut "r.
#ennett is perhaps the 9orst culprit of the three, inasmuch as he is b' far
the best 9or4man. ?e can ma4e a boo4 so 9ell constructed and solid in its
craftsmanship that it is difficult for the most e+actin$ of critics to see
throu$h 9hat chin4 or crevice deca' can creep in. ;here is not so much as a
drau$ht bet9een the frames of the 9indo9s, or a crac4 in the boards. >nd
'et G if life should refuse to live there% ;hat is a ris4 9hich the creator of
;he Ald *ivesH ;ale, Beor$e Cannon, !d9in Cla'han$er, and hosts of other
fi$ures, ma' 9ell claim to have surmounted. ?is characters live abundantl',
even une+pectedl', but it remains to as4 ho9 do the' live, and 9hat do the'
live for% "ore and more the' seem to us, desertin$ even the 9ell-built villa
in the Five ;o9ns, to spend their time in some softl' padded first-class
rail9a' carria$e, pressin$ bells and buttons innumerableF and the destin' to
9hich the' travel so lu+uriousl' becomes more and more un<uestionabl' an
eternit' of bliss spent in the ver' best hotel in #ri$hton. 3t can scarcel' be
said of "r. *ells that he is a materialist in the sense that he ta4es too much
deli$ht in the solidit' of his fabric. ?is mind is too $enerous in its
s'mpathies to allo9 him to spend much time in ma4in$ thin$s shipshape
and substantial. ?e is a materialist from sheer $oodness of heart, ta4in$
upon his shoulders the 9or4 that ou$ht to have been dischar$ed b'
Bovernment officials, and in the plethora of his ideas and facts scarcel'
havin$ leisure to realise, or for$ettin$ to thin4 important, the crudit' and
coarseness of his human bein$s. Iet 9hat more dama$in$ criticism can
there be both of his earth and of his ?eaven than that the' are to be
inhabited here and hereafter b' his Eoans and his (eters% Does not the
inferiorit' of their natures tarnish 9hatever institutions and ideals ma' be
provided for them b' the $enerosit' of their creator% 0or, profoundl'
thou$h 9e respect the inte$rit' and humanit' of "r. Bals9orth', shall 9e
find 9hat 9e see4 in his pa$es.
3f 9e fasten, then, one label on all these boo4s, on 9hich is one 9ord
materialists, 9e mean b' it that the' 9rite of unimportant thin$sF that the'
spend immense s4ill and immense industr' ma4in$ the trivial and the
transitor' appear the true and the endurin$.
*e have to admit that 9e are e+actin$, and, further, that 9e find it
difficult to .ustif' our discontent b' e+plainin$ 9hat it is that 9e e+act. *e
frame our <uestion differentl' at different times. #ut it reappears most
persistentl' as 9e drop the finished novel on the crest of a si$h G 3s it 9orth
9hile% *hat is the point of it all% Can it be that, o9in$ to one of those little
deviations 9hich the human spirit seems to ma4e from time to time, "r.
#ennett has come do9n 9ith his ma$nificent apparatus for catchin$ life .ust
an inch or t9o on the 9ron$ side% 2ife escapesF and perhaps 9ithout life
nothin$ else is 9orth 9hile. 3t is a confession of va$ueness to have to ma4e
use of such a fi$ure as this, but 9e scarcel' better the matter b' spea4in$, as
critics are prone to do, of realit'. >dmittin$ the va$ueness 9hich afflicts all
criticism of novels, let us haard the opinion that for us at this moment the
form of fiction most in vo$ue more often misses than secures the thin$ 9e
see4. *hether 9e call it life or spirit, truth or realit', this, the essential
thin$, has moved off, or on, and refuses to be contained an' lon$er in such
ill-fittin$ vestments as 9e provide. 0evertheless, 9e $o on perseverin$l',
conscientiousl', constructin$ our t9o and thirt' chapters after a desi$n
9hich more and more ceases to resemble the vision in our minds. 1o much
of the enormous labour of provin$ the solidit', the li4eness to life, of the
stor' is not merel' labour thro9n a9a' but labour misplaced to the e+tent
of obscurin$ and blottin$ out the li$ht of the conception. ;he 9riter seems
constrained, not b' his o9n free 9ill but b' some po9erful and
unscrupulous t'rant 9ho has him in thrall, to provide a plot, to provide
comed', tra$ed', love interest, and an air of probabilit' embalmin$ the
9hole so impeccable that if all his fi$ures 9ere to come to life the' 9ould
find themselves dressed do9n to the last button of their coats in the fashion
of the hour. ;he t'rant is obe'edF the novel is done to a turn. #ut
sometimes, more and more often as time $oes b', 9e suspect a momentar'
doubt, a spasm of rebellion, as the pa$es fill themselves in the customar'
9a'. 3s life li4e this% "ust novels be li4e this%
2oo4 9ithin and life, it seems, is ver' far from bein$ Jli4e thisK.
!+amine for a moment an ordinar' mind on an ordinar' da'. ;he mind
receives a m'riad impressions G trivial, fantastic, evanescent, or en$raved
9ith the sharpness of steel. From all sides the' come, an incessant sho9er
of innumerable atomsF and as the' fall, as the' shape themselves into the
life of "onda' or ;uesda', the accent falls differentl' from of oldF the
moment of importance came not here but thereF so that, if a 9riter 9ere a
free man and not a slave, if he could 9rite 9hat he chose, not 9hat he must,
if he could base his 9or4 upon his o9n feelin$ and not upon convention,
there 9ould be no plot, no comed', no tra$ed', no love interest or
catastrophe in the accepted st'le, and perhaps not a sin$le button se9n on
as the #ond 1treet tailors 9ould have it. 2ife is not a series of $i$ lamps
s'mmetricall' arran$edF life is a luminous halo, a semi-transparent
envelope surroundin$ us from the be$innin$ of consciousness to the end. 3s
it not the tas4 of the novelist to conve' this var'in$, this un4no9n and
uncircumscribed spirit, 9hatever aberration or comple+it' it ma' displa',
9ith as little mi+ture of the alien and e+ternal as possible% *e are not
pleadin$ merel' for coura$e and sincerit'F 9e are su$$estin$ that the proper
stuff of fiction is a little other than custom 9ould have us believe it.
3t is, at an' rate, in some such fashion as this that 9e see4 to define the
<ualit' 9hich distin$uishes the 9or4 of several 'oun$ 9riters, amon$ 9hom
"r. Eames Eo'ce is the most notable, from that of their predecessors. ;he'
attempt to come closer to life, and to preserve more sincerel' and e+actl'
9hat interests and moves them, even if to do so the' must discard most of
the conventions 9hich are commonl' observed b' the novelist. 2et us
record the atoms as the' fall upon the mind in the order in 9hich the' fall,
let us trace the pattern, ho9ever disconnected and incoherent in
appearance, 9hich each si$ht or incident scores upon the consciousness. 2et
us not ta4e it for $ranted that life e+ists more full' in 9hat is commonl'
thou$ht bi$ than in 9hat is commonl' thou$ht small. >n' one 9ho has read
;he (ortrait of the >rtist as a Ioun$ "an or, 9hat promises to be a far more
interestin$ 9or4, Ll'sses,
C
no9 appearin$ in the 2ittle &evie9, 9ill have
haarded some theor' of this nature as to "r. Eo'ceHs intention. An our
part, 9ith such a fra$ment before us, it is haarded rather than affirmedF
but 9hatever the intention of the 9hole, there can be no <uestion but that it
is of the utmost sincerit' and that the result, difficult or unpleasant as 9e
ma' .ud$e it, is undeniabl' important. 3n contrast 9ith those 9hom 9e have
called materialists, "r. Eo'ce is spiritualF he is concerned at all costs to
reveal the flic4erin$s of that innermost flame 9hich flashes its messa$es
throu$h the brain, and in order to preserve it he disre$ards 9ith complete
coura$e 9hatever seems to him adventitious, 9hether it be probabilit', or
coherence, or an' other of these si$nposts 9hich for $enerations have
served to support the ima$ination of a reader 9hen called upon to ima$ine
9hat he can neither touch nor see. ;he scene in the cemeter', for instance,
9ith its brillianc', its sordidit', its incoherence, its sudden li$htnin$ flashes
of si$nificance, does undoubtedl' come so close to the <uic4 of the mind
that, on a first readin$ at an' rate, it is difficult not to acclaim a
masterpiece. 3f 9e 9ant life itself, here surel' 9e have it. 3ndeed, 9e find
ourselves fumblin$ rather a949ardl' if 9e tr' to sa' 9hat else 9e 9ish, and
for 9hat reason a 9or4 of such ori$inalit' 'et fails to compare, for 9e must
ta4e hi$h e+amples, 9ith Iouth or ;he "a'or of Casterbrid$e. 3t fails
because of the comparative povert' of the 9riterHs mind, 9e mi$ht sa'
simpl' and have done 9ith it. #ut it is possible to press a little further and
9onder 9hether 9e ma' not refer our sense of bein$ in a bri$ht 'et narro9
room, confined and shut in, rather than enlar$ed and set free, to some
limitation imposed b' the method as 9ell as b' the mind. 3s it the method
that inhibits the creative po9er% 3s it due to the method that 9e feel neither
.ovial nor ma$nanimous, but centred in a self 9hich, in spite of its tremor of
susceptibilit', never embraces or creates 9hat is outside itself and be'ond%
Does the emphasis laid, perhaps didacticall', upon indecenc', contribute to
the effect of somethin$ an$ular and isolated% Ar is it merel' that in an'
effort of such ori$inalit' it is much easier, for contemporaries especiall', to
feel 9hat it lac4s than to name 9hat it $ives% 3n an' case it is a mista4e to
stand outside e+aminin$ JmethodsK. >n' method is ri$ht, ever' method is
ri$ht, that e+presses 9hat 9e 9ish to e+press, if 9e are 9ritersF that brin$s
us closer to the novelistHs intention if 9e are readers. ;his method has the
merit of brin$in$ us closer to 9hat 9e 9ere prepared to call life itselfF did
not the readin$ of Ll'sses su$$est ho9 much of life is e+cluded or i$nored,
and did it not come 9ith a shoc4 to open ;ristram 1hand' or even
(endennis and be b' them convinced that there are not onl' other aspects
of life, but more important ones into the bar$ain.
.
(ritten "pril /./.#
?o9ever this ma' be, the problem before the novelist at present, as 9e
suppose it to have been in the past, is to contrive means of bein$ free to set
do9n 9hat he chooses. ?e has to have the coura$e to sa' that 9hat interests
him is no lon$er JthisK but JthatKM out of JthatK alone must he construct his
9or4. For the moderns JthatK, the point of interest, lies ver' li4el' in the
dar4 places of ps'cholo$'. >t once, therefore, the accent falls a little
differentl'F the emphasis is upon somethin$ hitherto i$noredF at once a
different outline of form becomes necessar', difficult for us to $rasp,
incomprehensible to our predecessors. 0o one but a modern, no one
perhaps but a &ussian, 9ould have felt the interest of the situation 9hich
;che4ov has made into the short stor' 9hich he calls JBusevK. 1ome
&ussian soldiers lie ill on board a ship 9hich is ta4in$ them bac4 to &ussia.
*e are $iven a fe9 scraps of their tal4 and some of their thou$htsF then one
of them dies and is carried a9a'F the tal4 $oes on amon$ the others for a
time, until Busev himself dies, and loo4in$ Jli4e a carrot or a radishK is
thro9n overboard. ;he emphasis is laid upon such une+pected places that
at first it seems as if there 9ere no emphasis at allF and then, as the e'es
accustom themselves to t9ili$ht and discern the shapes of thin$s in a room
9e see ho9 complete the stor' is, ho9 profound, and ho9 trul' in obedience
to his vision ;che4ov has chosen this, that, and the other, and placed them
to$ether to compose somethin$ ne9. #ut it is impossible to sa' Jthis is
comicK, or Jthat is tra$icK, nor are 9e certain, since short stories, 9e have
been tau$ht, should be brief and conclusive, 9hether this, 9hich is va$ue
and inconclusive, should be called a short stor' at all.
;he most elementar' remar4s upon modern !n$lish fiction can hardl'
avoid some mention of the &ussian influence, and if the &ussians are
mentioned one runs the ris4 of feelin$ that to 9rite of an' fiction save theirs
is 9aste of time. 3f 9e 9ant understandin$ of the soul and heart 9here else
shall 9e find it of comparable profundit'% 3f 9e are sic4 of our o9n
materialism the least considerable of their novelists has b' ri$ht of birth a
natural reverence for the human spirit. J2earn to ma4e 'ourself a4in to
people.... #ut let this s'mpath' be not 9ith the mind G for it is eas' 9ith the
mind G but 9ith the heart, 9ith love to9ards them.K 3n ever' $reat &ussian
9riter 9e seem to discern the features of a saint, if s'mpath' for the
sufferin$s of others, love to9ards them, endeavour to reach some $oal
9orth' of the most e+actin$ demands of the spirit constitute saintliness. 3t
is the saint in them 9hich confounds us 9ith a feelin$ of our o9n irreli$ious
trivialit', and turns so man' of our famous novels to tinsel and tric4er'. ;he
conclusions of the &ussian mind, thus comprehensive and compassionate,
are inevitabl', perhaps, of the utmost sadness. "ore accuratel' indeed 9e
mi$ht spea4 of the inconclusiveness of the &ussian mind. 3t is the sense that
there is no ans9er, that if honestl' e+amined life presents <uestion after
<uestion 9hich must be left to sound on and on after the stor' is over in
hopeless interro$ation that fills us 9ith a deep, and finall' it ma' be 9ith a
resentful, despair. ;he' are ri$ht perhapsF un<uestionabl' the' see further
than 9e do and 9ithout our $ross impediments of vision. #ut perhaps 9e
see somethin$ that escapes them, or 9h' should this voice of protest mi+
itself 9ith our $loom% ;he voice of protest is the voice of another and an
ancient civilisation 9hich seems to have bred in us the instinct to en.o' and
fi$ht rather than to suffer and understand. !n$lish fiction from 1terne to
"eredith bears 9itness to our natural deli$ht in humour and comed', in the
beaut' of earth, in the activities of the intellect, and in the splendour of the
bod'. #ut an' deductions that 9e ma' dra9 from the comparison of t9o
fictions so immeasurabl' far apart are futile save indeed as the' flood us
9ith a vie9 of the infinite possibilities of the art and remind us that there is
no limit to the horion, and that nothin$ G no JmethodK, no e+periment,
even of the 9ildest G is forbidden, but onl' falsit' and pretence. J;he
proper stuff of fictionK does not e+istF ever'thin$ is the proper stuff of
fiction, ever' feelin$, ever' thou$htF ever' <ualit' of brain and spirit is
dra9n uponF no perception comes amiss. >nd if 9e can ima$ine the art of
fiction come alive and standin$ in our midst, she 9ould undoubtedl' bid us
brea4 her and bull' her, as 9ell as honour and love her, for so her 'outh is
rene9ed and her soverei$nt' assured.
Tradition and the 3ndividual Talent
From 4ikipedia, the free encclopedia
A5radition and t%e ndividual 5alentA .GNGN/ is an essa written # poet and literar theorist T. '. *liot.
The essa was first pu#lished, in two parts, in %he #goist .GNGN/ and later in *liotOs first #ook of
criticism, PThe 'acred 4oodP .GNKA/.
=G>
The essa is also availa#le in *liotOs P'elected CroseP and P'elected
*ssasP.
4hile *liot is most often known for his poetr, he also contri#uted to the field of literar theor. 3n this dual
role, he acted as poet+critic, compara#le to 'ir Chilip 'idne and 'amuel Talor Coleridge. PTradition and
the 3ndividual TalentP is one of the more well known works that *liot produced in his critic capacit. 3t
formulates *liot0s influential conception of the relationship #etween the poet and the literar tradition which
precedes him.
Contents
+hide,
- .ontent of the essay
/ Eliot and New .riticism
0 .riticism of Eliot
1 2rimary works of literary criticism by !.
). Eliot
3 )ee also
4 5eferences
6 E7ternal links
1edit2$ontent of t%e essay
Wikisource has original
te7t related to this article#
Tradition and the
Individual Talent
*liot presents his conception of tradition and the definition of the poet and poetr in relation to it. (e wishes
to correct the fact that, as he perceives it, Pin *nglish writing we seldom speak of tradition, though we
occasionall appl its name in deploring its a#sence.P *liot posits that, though the *nglish tradition generall
upholds the #elief that art progresses through change + a separation from tradition, literar advancements
are instead recogni2ed onl when the conform to the tradition. *liot, a classicist, felt that the true
incorporation of tradition into literature was unrecogni2ed, that tradition, a word that Pseldom... appear=s>
except in a phrase of censure,P was actuall a thus+far unreali2ed element of literar criticism.
For *liot, the term PtraditionP is im#ued with a special and complex character. 3t represents a Psimultaneous
order,P # which *liot means a historical timelessness ^ a fusion of past and present ^ and, at the same
time, a sense of present temporalit. A poet must em#od Pthe whole of the literature of *urope
from (omer,P while, simultaneousl, expressing his contemporar environment. *liot challenges our
common perception that a poet0s greatness and individualit lies in his departure from his predecessors.
)ather, *liot argues that Pthe most individual parts of his .the poet/ work ma #e those in which the dead
poets, his ancestors, assert their immortalit most vigorousl.P *liot claims that this Phistorical senseP is not
onl a resem#lance to traditional works #ut an awareness and understanding of their relation to his poetr.
-ut, this fidelit to tradition does not re&uire the great poet to forfeit novelt in an act of surrender to
repetition. )ather, *liot has a much more dnamic and progressive conception of the poetic process.
"ovelt is possi#le, and onl possi#le, through tapping into tradition. 4hen a poet engages in the creation
of new work, he reali2es an aesthetic Pideal order,P as it has #een esta#lished # the literar tradition that
has come #efore him. As such, the act of artistic creation does not take place in a vacuum. The introduction
of a new work alters the cohesion of this existing order, and causes a read,ustment of the old in order to
accommodate the new. Thus, the inclusion of the new work alters the wa in which the past is seen,
elements of the past that are noted and reali2ed. 3n *liot0s own words: P4hat happens when a new work of
art is created is something that happens simultaneousl to all the works of art that preceded it.P *liot refers
to this organic tradition, this developing canon, as the Pmind of *urope.P The private mind is su#sumed #
this more massive one.
This leads to *liot0s so+called P3mpersonal TheorP of poetr. 'ince the poet engages in a Pcontinual
surrender of himselfP to the vast order of tradition, artistic creation is a process of depersonali2ation. The
mature poet is viewed as a medium, through which tradition is channeled and ela#orated. (e compares the
poet to a catalst in a chemical reaction, in which the reactants are feelings and emotions that are
snthesi2ed to create an artistic image that captures and relas these same feelings and emotions. 4hile
the mind of the poet is necessar for the production, it emerges unaffected # the process. The artist stores
feelings and emotions and properl unites them into a specific com#ination, which is the artistic product.
4hat lends greatness to a work of art is not the feelings and emotions themselves, #ut the nature of the
artistic process # which the are snthesi2ed. The artist is responsi#le for creating Pthe pressure, so to
speak, under which the fusion takes place.P And, it is the intensit of fusion that renders art great. 3n this
view, *liot re,ects the theor that art expresses metaphsical unit in the soul of the poet. The poet is a
depersonali2ed vessel, a mere medium.
1reat works do not express the personal emotion of the poet. The poet does not reveal his own uni&ue and
novel emotions, #ut rather, # drawing on ordinar ones and channeling them through the intensit of
poetr, he expresses feelings that surpass, altogether, experienced emotion. This is what *liot intends
when he discusses poetr as an Pescape from emotion.P 'ince successful poetr is impersonal and,
therefore, exists independent of its poet, it outlives the poet and can incorporate into the timeless Pideal
orderP of the PlivingP literar tradition.
Another essa found in !elected #ssays relates to this notion of the impersonal poet. 3n P(amlet and (is
Cro#lemsP *liot presents the phrase Po#,ective correlative.P The theor is that the expression of emotion in
art can #e achieved # a specific, and almost formulaic, prescription of a set of o#,ects, including events
and situations. A particular emotion is created # presenting its correlated o#,ective sign. The author is
depersonali2ed in this conception, since he is the mere effecter of the sign. And, it is the sign, and not the
poet, which creates emotion.
The implications here separate *liot0s idea of talent from the conventional definition .,ust as his idea of
Tradition is separate from the conventional definition/, one so far from it, perhaps, that he chooses never to
directl la#el it as talent. 4hereas the conventional definition of talent, especiall in the arts, is a genius that
one is #orn with. "ot so for *liot. 3nstead, talent is ac&uired through a careful stud of poetr, claiming that
Tradition, Pcannot #e inherited, and if ou want it, ou must o#tain it # great la#our.P *liot asserts that it is
a#solutel necessar for the poet to stud, to have an understanding of the poets #efore him, and to #e well
versed enough that he can understand and incorporate the Pmind of *uropeP into his poetr. -ut the poet0s
stud is uni&ue ^ it is knowledge which Pdoes not encroach,P and which does not Pdeaden or pervert poetic
sensi#ilit.P 3t is, to put it most simpl, a poetic knowledge ^ knowledge o#served through a poetic lens. This
ideal implies that knowledge gleaned # a poet is not knowledge of facts, #ut knowledge which leads to a
greater understanding of the mind of *urope. As *liot explains, P'hakespeare ac&uired more essential
histor from Clutarch than most men could from the whole -ritish !useum.P
1edit2#liot and Ne. $riticism
Enwittingl, *liot inspired and informed the movement of "ew Criticism. This is somewhat ironic, since he
later critici2ed their intensel detailed analsis of texts as unneccesaril tedious. Bet, he does share with
them the same focus on the aesthetic and stlistic &ualities of poetr, rather than on its ideological content.
The "ew Critics resem#le *liot in their close analsis of particular passages and poems.
1edit2$riticism of #liot
*liot0s theor of literar tradition has #een critici2ed for its limited definition of what constitutes the canon of
that tradition. (e assumes the authorit to choose what represents great poetr, and his choices have #een
critici2ed on several fronts. For example, (arold -loom disagrees with *liot0s condescension towards
)omantic poetr, which, in %he Metaphysical 5oets .GNKG/ he critici2es for its Pdissociation of sensi#ilit.P
!oreover, man #elieve *liot0s discussion of the literar tradition as the Pmind of *uropeP reeks of *uro+
centrism. .on the same note it should #e recogni2ed that *liot supported man *astern and thus non+
*uropean works of literature such as the Mahabharata. *liot was arguing the importance of a complete
sensi#ilit: he didnOt particularl care what it was at the time of tradition and the individual talent./ (e does
not account for a non+white and non+masculine tradition. As such, his notion of tradition stands at odds with
feminist, post+colonial and minorit theories. :enan author "g_g` w a ThiongOo advocated .in a memo
entitled P9n the A#olition of the *nglish DepartmentP/ a commitment to native works, which speak to one0s
own culture, as compared to deferring to an ar#itrar notion of literar excellence. As such, he implicitl
attacks *liot0s su#,ective criterion in choosing an elite #od of literar works. Cost+colonial critic Chinua
Ache#e also challenges *liot, since he argues against deferring to those writers, including Hoseph Conrad,
who have #een deemed great, #ut onl represent a specific .and perhaps pre,udiced/ cultural perspective.
(arold -loom presents a conception of tradition that differs from that of *liot. 4hereas *liot #elieves that
the great poet is faithful to his predecessors and evolves in a concordant manner, -loom .according to his
theor of Panxiet of influenceP/ envisions the Pstrong poetP to engage in a much more aggressive and
tumultuous re#ellion against tradition.
3n GNXL, his last ear, *liot pu#lished in a reprint of %he 6se of 5oetry and the 6se of riticism, a series of
lectures he gave at (arvard Eniversit in GN@K and GN@@, a new preface in which he called PTradition and
the 3ndividual TalentP the most ,uvenile of his essas .although he also indicated that he did not repudiate
it./
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