Apollo in A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
Apollo is commonly known as the Greek God of the Sun, the Arts, Light, and Truth. However, in James Joyce’s A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, he is one of the many symbols. Apollo affects the protagonist, Stephen’s, life in many ways, but the two largest are in the area of Stephen’s love relationships with others and in Stephen’s experiences and interest in the arts.
Before Apollo’s affect on Stephen’s relationships can be evaluated, it is necessary to understand on of Joyce’s other symbols in the novel; the Tower of Ivory and the House of Gold. In Stephen’s strictly Catholic culture it is stressed that women are to be seen as the Tower of Ivory, or the House of Gold, which is to say they are to be extremely pure. This causes some problems for Stephen, because everyone around so stresses the importance of Catholicism and being moral. So when Stephen gets older and begins to look at women in a sexual light he feels guilty, because they are supposed to be pure; “Eileen had long think cool white hands too because she was a girl. They were like ivory; only soft. That was the meaning of the Tower of Ivory but protestants could not understand it and made fun of it,” (51). Now Apollo’s involvement in Stephen’s relationship with Eileen is shown clearly when Joyce describes Eileen, “Her fair hair had streamed out behind her like gold in the sun,” (51). Apollo is believed to have fair blond hair and his symbol, what he is the God of, is the sun.
Then as a result of Stephen’s guilt from thinking of women sexually, Joyce hints at Stephen’s homosexuality or at least a struggle with his sexuality, and once again this is connected to Apollo. Simon Moonan and a few others of Stephen’s classmates are caught “smuggling,” many of the boys leave the school fearing punishment and humiliation, but Simon Moonan stays. “Stephen looked at the faces of the fellows but they were all looking across the playground. He wanted to ask someone about it. What did it mean about the smuggling in the square? Why did the five fellows out of the higher line run away from that?” (51). Stephen is curious about the whole situation and sees nothing wrong with it. This is Joyce’s first hint at Stephen’s struggle with sexuality. The next comes a few pages later. On page fifty-one Stephen is remembering Eileen’s and the soft, beautiful purity of her hands, then a few pages later Stephen is thinking about a few men’s hands, but without the intense fascination he had with Eileen, which shows that men are less intimidating sexually than women are. There are other, smaller, hints within the book, such as Stephen’s rejection of Mercedes and his inability to bring himself to make the mover and kiss his female companion on page ninety-nine. Apollo’s connection to this subject is the fact that Apollo had numerous mates, many of which were men, which clearly shows that Apollo struggled with his sexuality as well and was himself bi-sexual. Also, look at the character Simon Moonan, the first four letters of the boy’s sir name spells out Moon, which Apollo’s twin sister, Artemis, is the Goddess of.
The entire focus of the story is to get into and understand the mind of an artist, who happens to also be a young man. So far in the book Stephen has tried his hand at two main forms of art; writing, and acting. While acting seems to come slightly more naturally, or without the amount of work, writing does. But still writing and language are Stephen’s key art outlets. Both art forms affect Stephen differently, but still profoundly.
Writing and language are Stephen’s brain children. Writing does take Stephen more tries and labor, but they are labors of love. This idea is shown through out the entire book, as Stephen is constantly pondering things and the word choices people around him make. Writing is Stephen’s way of getting his thoughts out creatively; “There remained no trace of the tram itself nor the trammen nor of the horses, nor did he and she appeared vividly. The verse told only of the night and the balmy breeze and the maiden luster of the moon. Some undefined sorrow was hidden in the hearts of the protagonists as they stood in silence beneath the leafless trees and when the moment of farewell had come the kiss, which had been withheld by one, was given by both,” (74).
Acting is the opposite of writing for Stephen. He was forced to try it, and really had no desire for it at all, but the feeling he received from the crowd made him love it. Writing expresses Stephen’s thoughts, while acting gave him action, let him live. In the section of the book when Stephen takes a trip to Corks with his father Stephen realizes he has a pretty empty life, no real friends, and he doesn’t do a whole lot. Acting is Stephen’s way of capturing the feelings of a fuller life, “A few moments after he found himself on the stage amid the garish gas and the dim scenery, acting before the innumerable faces of the void. It surprised him to see that the play which he had known at rehearsals for a disjointed lifeless thing had suddenly assumed a life of its own. It seemed now to the play itself and he and his fellow actors aiding it with their parts. When the curtain fell on the last scene he heard the void filled with applause and, through a rift in the side scene, saw the simple body before which he had acted magically deformed, the void of the faces breaking at all points and falling asunder into busy groups. …Now that the play was over his nerves cried for some further adventure,” (86). Now, Apollo’s connection to this is very obvious, as Apollo is the God of the arts.
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