Epiphany in James Joyce's Portrait of an Artist as a Young Man Essay

This essay examines the literary technique of epiphany in James Joyce's novel, 'Portrait of an Artist as a Young Man.' It delves into how Joyce utilizes epiphany, along with other literary devices like metaphor, symbols, and contrasting colors, to depict the protagonist Stephen Dedalus's journey from childhood to adulthood and his evolving self-awareness. The essay explores key moments in the novel where epiphany is evident, such as Stephen's realizations about his father and his experiences with a prostitute, highlighting how these moments shape his character development and understanding of the world. It also discusses critical perspectives on Joyce's use of epiphany, addressing both those who support and those who question its intentionality, ultimately concluding that epiphany is a crucial element in the novel's artistic merit. The analysis emphasizes the impact of epiphany on the narrative's depth and the portrayal of Stephen's inner and outer self, making it a central theme in the novel's exploration of artistic creation and self-discovery.

Running head: ENGLISH LITERATURE
English Literature
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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The use of epiphany is one of the most intriguing factors in literature. This tool has been
used in varied ways in the book Portrait of an Artist as a Young Man. The author of this famous
book is James Joyce. His use of epiphany along with other literary figures like metaphor, mythic
associations, images, symbols and others have been used in this book Myriads of thought
processes have been attributed to the study of this novel and this has catered to several research
works by people (Joyce 2008). There are so many high and low moments in the novel that
depicts the mastery of James Joyce over rhetoric figures. Various literary techniques are useful
for the building of the novel. The artistic creations of James Joyce have been praised by most
literary critics. On the other hand, the use of epiphany has also been one of the major things that
can be counted as the center of attraction.
The literary tool or technique of epiphany is some sort of a realization that originates
within the minds of every person in the world (McAteer 2015). The most striking fact in this
discourse is the author James Joyce, never used this term ‘epiphany’ in his writings. He has not
even provided his readers about the definition of this term as well. Sometimes, the term epiphany
relates to Jesus Christ but in this scenario of the novel Portrait of an Artist as a Young Man, the
term is used in different meaning altogether.
In this novel, the use of epiphany has been done by James Joyce to show the level of self-
absorption (Joyce 2008). This is indeed something unique in terms of use in the contemporary
literature. Apart from that, James Joyce himself believed that minds of human beings get
conscious suddenly after thinking of something. According to Joyce, this is epiphany. The soul
gets aware suddenly and epiphany is reflected through this. The development of character of
Stephen Dedalus is the main thing that should be depicted in the use of epiphany (Riquelme
2017).

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The command of the author in using epiphany has been portrayed in this novel. The
excellent use of language, words and symbols have added to the purity and beauty of this novel.
There are some critics who said use of epiphany in novel is not done intentionally (Delville
2018). Rather, it is quite unintended and it increases the beauty of several expressions used in the
novel. Many high and low moments have been discussed by the author in the book that caters to
the original purpose of using epiphany (Riquelme 2017). On the contrary, many critics have also
favored the stance of James Joyce. They believe James Joyce is absolutely aware of all the things
regarding epiphany. The use of this literary technique has been very efficiently used in this novel
by James Joyce.
This novel Portrait of an Artist as a Young Man is basically a story based on the life of
the artist named Stephen Dedalus. The thinking process of this person is completely different
from that of others. Due to his unique thinking capabilities, he has produced several new types of
images that are out of the box. Very few people are able to address the meaning of epiphany. The
symbols used in this novel are quite unique and attracted the attention of many. There are some
events or occasions in the novel where the use of epiphany is very clear. In the chapter II, after
the victory of justice, Stephen heard the discussions between Father Conmee and his own fathe
(Farahmandian et al. 2016).. He heard that both of them were talking about the pandybat
incident. He went on to realize that he was unaware of the actual scenario there and his father
was not innocent also. Still, no actions were taken against his father. This was the self-realization
and he reacted abruptly. This was a low moment in the novel that Stephen had experienced.
He also went through the realization that he hated his father more and more every day.
All these self-realizations turned his life from bad to worse. After all these realizations in his life,
his thought process began to change slowly and he learned to differentiate between the right and

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wrong (Farahmandian et al. 2016). Previously, he was a lover of aestheticism but that love also
began to fade slowly too. The story takes a sudden turn and results in a high moment. It was
when Stephen met a prostitute and had physical union with her. He realized that peace of inner
self is quite possible even if he committed sins or unethical actions. The fall from this feeling of
inner peace comes when he hears the sermon in his mind and feels he should not have committed
that sin (Parker 2014). He repents for his actions and it produces the low moment in his life. The
use of several symbols and metaphors has been very useful for developing the plot quality of the
novel.
The use of colors is very naturalistic and contrasting colors provide the background for
using epiphany in Portrait of an Artist as a Young Man. The use of colors like maroon and
green is also the reflection of Joyce’s brilliance (Goldman 2015). The very first example of
opposition of colors took place at Clongowes when Stephen was of a very young age. He was
sitting the class to solve the math problems. There he found the roses that stood against the green
grass. He thought about the roses and green color of the grass (Parker 2014).
Then he found out that nothing like green rose ever existed. It was completely out of his
imagination and fancy. Apart from that, the author James Joyce has also used the concept of the
contrasting colors like black and white through light and dark. This image or metaphor has been
the book all through. In the narrative of the novel, there are certain examples through which
darkness has been shown as the negative things (Bleeker 2015). Such examples are brothels or
shadows seen by Stephen Dedalus through the broken glasses. On the contrary, white has been
symbolized as good, positive or pure. One example of this goodness is ivory hands of Eileen.

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In the novel Portrait of an Artist as a Young Man, the main attempt of James Joyce has
always been to provide the knowledge of the inner and outer self through the portrayal of the
character of Stephen Dedalus. The portrayal of all the feelings have been shown through the use
of epiphany and this literary tool remains to be the most effective one for the character
development of Stephen (Adel 2015). Stephen comes to realize everything after he has acquired
it. This comes through in his mind either by his achieved knowledge or by his experiences. Thus,
it is very clear that Joyce has used the art of epiphany with complete intentions. His use of
epiphany has signified the journey of Stephen Dedalus, the young boy, from his childhood to
adulthood. The journey is definitely complicated but it is quite colorful for the understanding of
the readers. When the novel ends, readers can see that Stephen has grown up to be fully
developed artists in his prime. The use of epiphany is still pertinent in that part of the novel as
well (Morel 2018).
Throughout the novel, many scholars have made criticism against James Joyce’s use of
epiphany. Some critics have opined that Joyce did not use the technique of epiphany at all. They
gave many points in support of their claim. According to them, there are two meanings of this
term epiphany (Gingrich 2018). The first meaning is to manifest the Christ in life and the second
one is in accordance to the Oxford dictionary. It says, “a moment of sudden and great
revelation or realization”. The second meaning should be considered in this context so better
reflections could be found. The great realization or revelation is in question here (Adel 2015).
Furthermore, it must be highlighted James Joyce has indeed crafted the character of Stephen
Dedalus to show the extent to which epiphany has impacted on the character of the novel. The
mocking of Stephen by his class mates is also one example how he developed the idea of

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realizing the flaws in his character (Schneider 2015). All these issues have reflected upon the use
of epiphany by James Joyce in Portrait of an Artist as a Young Man.
On a concluding note, it must be highlighted that this novel by James Joyce is one of the
most impactful novels in the English literature. The author has used the literary technique of
epiphany in the novel that has given an eccentric look in the outcome of the novel. Various
issues have been noticed by critics and they have brought out some opposite thoughts also.
However, the novel can be counted as a masterpiece in the archive of literature where epiphany
has gained supreme importance along with other literary techniques.

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References
Adel, M.B., 2015. Stream of Consciousness in James Joyce's A Portrait of the Artist as a Young
Man and Virginia Woolf's Mrs. Dalloway.
Bleeker, J., 2015. Stephen's Failure? Reshaping Religion or'Picking up the Pieces' in Joyce's" A
Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man.
Delville, M., 2018. James Joyce and the Prose Poem. In British Prose Poetry (pp. 117-132).
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Farahmandian, H., Haonong, P., Baniadam, I., Rezanezhad, A. and Imanjani, E., 2016. The
identity correlation between individual identity and verbal characteristics in a portrait of the artist
as a young man. International Journal of Humanities and Cultural Studies (IJHCS) ISSN 2356-
5926, 3(2), pp.557-571.
Gingrich, B., 2018. Pace and Epiphany. New Literary History, 49(3), pp.361-382.
Goldman, A., 2015. The Joyce Paradox: Form and Freedom in His Fiction. Routledge.
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McAteer, M., 2015. WB Yeats'[s] Presence in James Joyce's A Portrait of the Artist as a Young
Man. Belgrade English Language and Literature Studies, 7, p.11.
Morel, G., 2018. A Young Man without an Ego: A Study on James Joyce and the Mirror Stage
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Parker, C.B., 2014. A Portrait of the artist as a young woman: Eudora Welty's" A Memory" and
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Riquelme, J.P., 2017. Desire, Freedom, and Confessional Culture in A Portrait of the Artist as a
Young Man. A Companion to James Joyce, pp.34-53.
Schneider, E.H., 2015. “Welcomers”: James Joyce and Frederic WH Myers. jml: Journal of
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