Dedalus Complex

In this reading Joyce advances the characterization of Stephen in his feelings of self-importance and superiority.  As we have discussed in class, Stephen was the martyr who was denounced by the community and died for his belief in the divinity of Jesus.  Stephen Dedalus is a combination of the two ideas of distance from community for adherence for greater ideals, and innovative artistry and craftsmanship, specifically in architecture.  Stephen first identifies with the great martyrs and heroes of history, illustrating his belief in his superiority and victimization:  "A thing like that had been done before by somebody in history, by some great person whose head was in the books of history.  And the rector would declare that he had been wrongly punished because the senate and the Roman people always declared that the men who did that had been wrongly punished." (47)  Stephen's peers probably do not look at the situation in terms of historical precedent and justification, they might just want to keep the disciplinary actions in check.  While for his classmates the classical material is the source of jokes (the Calico Belly), Stephen identifies with the historical figures and grand scale.  For this reason we can see that "the senate and Roman people" making a declaration is used much differently by the crowd than in Stephen's interpretation, in which he believes he is acting with the heroes and martyrs that he runs past on the way to the office.  Besides this subtle differences between Stephen and his peers, his disdain for them shows that is conscious of what I'll call his "Dedalus complex":  "The great men in the history had names like that and nobody made fun of them.  It was his own name that he should have made fun of if he wanted to make fun.  Dolan: it was like the name of a woman that washed clothes." (48)  A typical Irish name is seen as servile, while he looks upon his own with pride, adding to the Irish-Continental/Classical conflict.

The real question is if Joyce is criticizing himself at an early age, and possible delusions of grandeur, within trying to write a a compelling semi-autobiographical narrative.  An extension of this question is if the book is a straight "portrait", or if there is some self-effacing undertone within the title and the book.  Is Joyce detailing his trials in creative development, and tracing his own personal development - and directly calling himself Dedalus, an artist?  If so, that would illustrate this complex which I will define as:

(Stephen-) Dedalus Complex: a pattern of emotions, perceptions, and wishes centering on artistic greatness developing from, compensating for, justifying or rationalizing social isolation.

What if he really is a lion?

(It hasn't been developed too far just yet, so I'm taking his social isolation partly on anticipation of later developments based on the overview of the book  and character profile we've already been given.)  There's probably already a named psychological term for this, though.

The reader can't help seeing the young Stephen portrayed here as a prideful, or at least foolish figure, which is my initial inclination towards the possibility of self-criticism.