The Icarus And Daedalus Myth In "A Portrait Of The Artist As A Young Man"
A Portrait of the Artist as A Young Man is a maze of comprehension, a text that functions structurally to embody and spatially portray a maze of psychological confusion. In this respect, the epigraph to the novel: "And he applies his mind to the obscure arts" functions explicitly to evoke the Icarus/Daedalus myth (and its connotations), and ironically-since Joyce fails to include the next line of the quote regarding changing the laws of nature-to prepare readers for Stephen's myriad of failures. In A Portrait, Joyce utilizes a pattern of progression/regression that mimics the circular movement of the maze, employs the stream of consciousness technique to encourage subjective interpretation, and creates a spatial labyrinth with the narrow corridors of the church/dark streets of Dublin in an attempt to construct a physical representation of Stephen's inner struggle, accurately portray the cyclical and subjective qualities of life, and, more generally, react against classical assumptions of what makes a novel.
Throughout the novel, Joyce evokes a spatial labyrinth that seems to foreshadow an intellectual digression or advancement in Stephen's quest to redefine himself apart from institutions such as the church. For example, at the end of chapter 1, Stephen "reached the door and turned quickly to the righ walked up entered the low dark narrow corridor" and "passed along the narrow dark corridor, passing little doors that were the doors of the community". Here, Joyce uses action verbs, the repetition of the word "passed" and the conjunction "and" to syntactically portray the frantic movement of a maze. In addition, in chapter 2, Stephen is pictured "wander[ing] into a maze of narrow and dirty streets." Here, Joyce references the maze explicitly and embodies Stephen's transgression from religious values with the "dark" and "dirty" streets of Dublin. Essentially, this is not only a spatial experience; it is an experience that controls Stephen's thoughts. In this sense, the setting is vital because it can be considered a template and mirror for the protagonist's journey.
Further, by the end of chapter 3, Stephen is pictured in a natural setting striding "on and on and on," "hither and thither, hither and thither;" a syntactical demonstration of the mindless roaming experienced in the maze. In some respects, this setting seems to indicate Stephen's removal from at least one maze: the physical labyrinth represented by the dark streets of Dublin and the narrow corridors of the church. Significantly, directly following this scene is Stephen's epiphany regarding his artistic calling.
Regarding the overall structure of the novel, Joyce's decision to approach the text through a stream of consciousness, with its promotion of free association, forces the reader to interpret and resolve various quandaries subjectively, resulting in their active participation in the story. Essentially, these modernist techniques create the illusion that the audience is working through a textual maze of their own. Moreover, if we look at Stephen's state at the end and beginning of each chapter, there is a circular pattern of regression/progression which parallels the inherently repetitive nature of the labyrinth. For example, by the end of chapter 2, Stephen is pictured wandering through the dark streets of Dublin, commending sexuality and unable to resist sexual temptation. However, by section III, this same maze is converted into a "gloomy secret night" and induces feelings of guilt instead of pleasure: "by every succeeding sin, he multiplied his guilt and his punishment".
Likewise, Stephen finds freedom in Emma and her beauty, then proceeds to sink back into the depths of sin once more: "God had allowed him to see the hell reserved for his sins: stinking, bestial, malignant, a hell of lecherous goatish fiends. For him! For him!" before realizing his artistic vocation and physically removing himself from the labyrinth of Dublin. This alteration between rebellion and submission throughout reinforces the cyclical nature of the maze and imitates its polarity. Clearly, by utilizing the labyrinth as a structural tool, Joyce is able to portray the gyre-like experience of life accurately. Ultimately, this circular pattern affects the text to the point of permeating the entire novel, amounting to a structure that both the reader and the protagonist enter, effectively creating a subjective reading experience that disrupts traditional notions of what a book should be.
