Two Ugly Cowards

Joyce ironically assigns the title of “Two Gallants,” to this story because the “gallants,” supposedly “ladies’ men,” are neither brave, heroic, grand, impressive, chivalrous, dashing, fashionable, gentlemanly, nor charming flirts with women.  Rather, the characters are quite the opposite of gallant; as they meander through the streets of Dublin, they reveal themselves to be, selfish slobs, even cowardly in the way they take advantage of women.  

Lenehan and Corley's Route Through Dublin

More Detailed Map of Their Meanderings

Lenehan and Corley are ugly: Lenehan’s figure is “squat and ruddy” (36), the exact opposite of a charming gentleman.  Corley’s head is “globular and oily” (38), the exact opposite of a fashionable flirt.  Besides being physically repulsive, the men prove to be emotionally repulsive in the way they characterize and demean the girl.  They call her “a fine and decent tart” (40), and effectively reduce her to eye candy at best.  Neither has a single redeeming quality, neither man coming close to fitting the definition of a “gallant.”  They are directionless in their actions, unlike Doyle of “After the Race.”  Both characters appear to be paralyzed by the poverty in Ireland, by the fact that neither has a good job, and both accept a fate of indolence, believing their poverty inevitable and inescapable.  Lenehan, stuck in this society, turns to a life of drinking and women, the opposite of a life a gallant man would live.  Corley has taken advantage of the girl to satisfy his own impulses, and selfishly takes cigarettes and cigars for himself that come from the “family” (37) she works for.  The girl, completely fooled, thinks Corley will “marry her”, but he has misled her and she doesn’t even “know his name, but she persists in thinking him “a bit of class” (37).  While Corley takes advantage of the girl and behaves ungallantly, the girl, effectively misled, views Corley a “gallant”.  Tragically for her, he admits his guilt by his “grimly” (46) ambiguous expression, when he shows his malicious intentions by revealing the gold coin that the girl stole from the family she works for and that he absconds with.  Instead of gallantly spending on her, he steals from her innocence and ignorance.

The Gold Coin