We have already discussed in class that Stephen is named after Saint Stephen, the first Christian martyr, and at the conclusion of Chapter 1 in Portrait Stephen definitely lives up to his name, as he literally walks down the path of martyrs with portraits of "the saints and great men of the order"(45) when he decides to speak up for himself and his classmates who were wrongly punished by Father Dolan. Stephen's courageous act earns him the respect of his classmates, and he is treated like a hero much like actual martyrs.
I cannot help but notice how strongly Stephen despises Father Dolan and the way he treats his students. Throughout the beating scene, the phrase "It was cruel and unfair." is repeated in Stephen's stream of consciousness; he is absolutely certain that Father Dolan is "wrong". Though this is the first time we see Stephen oppose a religious figure, there have actually been other times where he has denied Catholicism, or at least some of its principles. For example, Stephen has decided that he will marry Eileen, even though she is a Protestant. Also, more recently in the story, Stephen questions the wrongness of his classmates' "smugging", or homosexual acts: "What did that mean about the smugging in the square? Why did the five fellows out of the higher line run away for that?"(37). These acts of defiance against Catholicism add irony to Stephen's role as a martyr, and it makes me question whether Stephen is a martyr for Catholicism or instead possibly for Ireland as a nation that is oppressed by its religion. After all, during the argument at the Christmas dinner, Stephen seems to side more with Dante out of blind respect for priests, but he also sympathizes with Mr. Casey.
I think there is an important distinction to make when saying Stephen is a hero or a martyr. Though Stephen is greeted with a hero's welcome by his classmates when he returns from the rector, Stephen is again left on the outside looking in by his fellow classmates. Stephen took on all the risk by going to the rector and voicing his opinions while the other classmates waited to hopefully gain some of the benefits of Stephen's choice. It is said that "the cheers died away...he was alone." Though Stephen took a chance for the benefit of everyone, he is still left on the outside while everyone else plays.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Ciaran about how quickly his friends desert him. They even gave, "three cheers for Conmee...the decentest rector that was ever in Clongowes," (51) but give Stephen zero credit for the role he played.
ReplyDeleteAlso I'm not so sure that Stephen is questioning the wrongness of his classmates' homosexual acts. The way I read it was that he doesn't even know what smugging is. When Stephen first hears about the incident, he wanted to "ask somebody about it. What did that mean about the smugging in the square?" (37). It seems to me that he's innocent, maybe ignorant, but not indignant about the Church and his fellow classmates' views on sexuality.