Theme of Love in Joyce’s Dubliners, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young

Theme of Love in Joyces Dubliners, A Portrait of the artisan as a Young Man, and UlyssesA central understructure in James Joyces works is that of love what is it, and how can we discuss it? Joyce could not bring himself to use the word love when Nora asked him if he loved her he could only say that he was very fond of her, desired her, admired and honored her, and wished to secure her happiness in every way and if these elements were what is called love and then perhaps his affection for her was a kind of love (Ellmann 6). One can read Molly Blooms Oh, rocks. Tell us in seemingly words as Noras answer to Joyces intellectual, complicated answer (Joyce, Ulysses 64). Perhaps as a result of Joyces own concern and questions virtually love, many of his characters are also confused and looking for a definition of love. There are many kinds of love discussed in Joyces works, including love for ideals, family, friends, God, and almost importantly, husband and wife. This paper will explo re the theme of love in Joyces work and show that love is a basic concept in life characters unsure of this concept need to find a concrete definition before they can be comfortable. To do this I will take characters from Dubliners, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, and Ulysses, using the Greek ideals of agape spiritual love, storge familial love, philia the love between friends, and eros cozy love.Godlike Love AgapeUlysses opens with Buck Mulligan calling Stephen a fearful jesuit and mocking church rituals as he shaves (Joyce, Ulysses 3). The two of import characters of this novel, Stephen Dedalus and Leopold Bloom have each fallen from their respective faiths. They both suffer for their religious affiliations Bloom is excluded and h... ...me to terms with the part of love that is comprised of forgiveness. Stephen is yet doomed to lift in search of the meaning of love, but Bloom has found an incomplete definition, at least of eros. Works CitedBurton, John. ClassicNote. GradeSaver. http//www.gradesaver.com/ClassicNotes/Titles/ulysses/. July 5th, 2000. Dibattista, Maria. First Love. University of Chicago Press. Chicago, 1991.Ellmann, Richard. Joyce in Love. Cornell University Library. Ithaca, NY. 1959.Joyce, James. Dubliners. Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. The Portable James Joyce. Harry Levin, ed. Penguin. 1976, New York. Ulysses. Vintage, New York. 1961.Lockett, Joseph. Four Loves, No Loves. http//www.io.com/jlockett/Grist/English/ulysses.html Valente, Francesca. Joyces Dubliners as Epiphanies. The Modern Word. http//www.themodernword.com/joyce/paper_valente.htmls