STEPHEN DEDALUS AND CLASSICAL DAEDALUS: A SYMBOLIC ANALOGY

Author(s): Velma F. Grant

Source: CLA Journal , March, 1978, Vol. 21, No. 3 (March, 1978), pp. 410-423
Published by: College Language Association

Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/44329388

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 STEPHEN DEDALUS AND CLASSICAL DAEDALUS:
A SYMBOLIC ANALOGY

By Velma F. Grant

James Joyce, in seeking a pattern of organization for his

artistic work, obviously employed materials from mythological
stories which he fashioned to conform to his own artistic pur-
pose. Implied in Joyce's writing is the idea that man exists in
present and past alike, and as man enacts his own life, he, in
a sense, relives that of mythical predecessors. Though the
mythical content of Joyce's A Portrait of the Artist as a Young
Man is somewhat scant when compared to Finnegans Wake
and Ulysses, Joyce still includes material from mythology in
the novel. In tracing Stephen Dedalus' moral, intellectual, and
aesthetic development in A Portrait of the Artist as a Young
Man, Joyce adopts the name of the mythological Daedalus for
his quasi-autobiographical artist. Joyce's selection of Dedalus
for Stephen's surname implies a symbolic connection between
the classical Daedalus and Joyce's hero and thereby deepens
the dimensions of Dedalus' character as well as enhances the
novel's total meaning. Indeed, several aspects of Joyce's depic-
tion of Stephen's development as an artist can be linked with
the mythical story of Daedalus.
A close examination of the Daedalus myth reveals numerous
possible connective parallels between the two Dedaluses. The
story of the classical Daedalus is a familiar one. As the story
goes, the inventive Athenian, Daedalus, commissioned by King
Minos to design a labyrinth for the monster Minotaur, con-
trived a labyrinth so intricate that escape from it was virtually
impossible. Falling into disfavor with the King, Daedalus
himself, along with his son, Icarus, was imprisoned in the
labyrinth, certainly a proof that it was excellently constructed
since not even the maker could discover the exist without a clue.
However, Daedalus was not completely at a loss. Informing his

410

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 Stephen Dedalus : A Symbolic Analogy 411

son that their escape might be checked by water and land, but
the air and the sky were free, Daedalus devised two pairs of
wings, and father and son immediately took flight from Crete.
Before they took flight, Daedalus warned Icarus not to fly
too high lest the sun melt the glue and his wings fall off.
However, the rebellious and impetuous Icarus, filled with a
sense of wonder and power in his flight, disregarded his fath-
er's command and fell into the sea. Daedalus, of course,
escaped into Sicily.1 Significantly, the mythical Daedalus'
name, search, vocation, and the labyrinth, as well as his
escape and exile, acquire significance in any comparative as-
sociation between Daedalus, the inventive artist, and Stephen
Dedalus, Joyce's developing artist. For Joyce, in chronicling
Stephen's spiritual evolution as an artist, presents him as
virtually trapped in the nets of a restrictive environment, a
labyrinth, from which he must successfully disentangle him-
self before he can gain the insights necessary for the creation
of literary art.
The name Daedalus itself becomes the medium through which
Joyce introduces myth and symbol into the novel. Early in the
very first chapter, Joyce calls attention to Dedalus' "queer"
last name:
- What is your name?
Stephen had answered:
- Stephen Dedalus
Then Nasty Roche had said:
- What kind of name is that?2
Somewhat later in the same chapter, Stephen's fellow mate
in the infirmary, Athy, remarks to Stephen, " - You have a
queer name, Dedalus. . ." (p. 25). Indeed, Joyce craftily man-
ages to emphasize Stephen's peculiar name at least five ad-
ditional times in Chapter I as when Stephen writes his name
on the flyleaf of the geography book (p. 15), when Stephen's
friend Fleming composes a poem about Stephen on a page in the
1 For a complete story of the Daedalus myth see Edith Hamilton,
Mythology (New York: The New American Library, 1942), pp. 139-140,
151-152.
2 James Joyce, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man (New York:
The Viking Press, 1969), pp. 8-9. (All subsequent references to this
edition will be included in the text.)

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412 Velma F. Grant

geography book (p. 16) , and when

of studies (p. 50) and the rector (p. 57) that his name in
Dedalus. Through these numerous references to Stephen's
name, Joyce makes the reader aware of the name's peculiarity
and, in so doing, seemingly alludes to the mythical symbolic
connotation attached to it.
Since Joyce unfolds his novel through Stephen's eyes as
Stephen reflects on impressions that affect or influence his
development as an artist, the Dedalus name evidently acquires
symbolic significance in Stephen's own reflections. The idea
gains support by virtue of the fact that in A Portrait of the
Artist as a Young Man , Joyce, through the use of the stream
of consciousness technique, presents his hero as a mature man
reflecting on his past in an effort to give it shape and meaning
as it relates to his artistic development. Thus, Stephen's re-
flections are confined to important matters only. That Stephen
himself eventually associates his peculiar name with that of
Daedalus, the "fabulous artificer," certainly indicates that
Joyce, either consciously or unconsciously, implies an analogous
relationship between the two characters. That Stephen's
destiny is linked with his queer name becomes obvious in a
passage in Chapter IV in the novel. Stephen muses:
Now, at the name of the fabulous artificer Daedalus, he
seemed to hear the noise of dim waves and to see a winged
form flying above the waves and slowly climbing the air.
What did it mean? Was it a quaint device opening a page of
some medieval book of prophecies and symbols, a hawklike
man flying sunward above the sea, a prophecy of the end he
had been born to serve and had been following through the
mists of childhood and boyhood, a symbol of the artist forging
anew in his workshop out of the sluggish matter of the earth
a new soaring impalpable being? (p. 169).
Here, Stephen, caught and entranced in a mystic moment of an
overpowering vision, sees himself as the artificer Daedalus,
flying to whatever artistic forgings his soul could achieve.
Here, too, is the implication that Stephen, a representation
of the artist-by-nature, discovers his vocation through a
symbolic association of his name with that of the classical

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 Stephen Dedalus: A Symbolic Analogy 413

Daedalus. Just as the mythical Daedalus turned his soul to

obscure arts, Stephen Dedalus submits to an artistic voca-
tion. Dedalus' submission to an artistic calling, however, is
prefaced by a search, another element in the novel which
aligns Stephen with his classical namesake.
Implicitly, in A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man , Joyce
presents Dedalus as he gropes toward some understanding
of himself and of his place in the world. In this regard,
Dedalus' search is perhaps not unlike that of the classical
Daedalus as he decides to devote his life to obscure art. As
suggested in a quotation from Ovid in Hugh Kenner's Dublin's
Joyce , the classical Daedalus planned to use his cunning in
improving the work of nature : "Then to new arts his cunning
thought applies, /And to improve the work of nature tries."3
Indeed, improving the work of nature is suggested as Stephen's
earliest obvious ambition - "But you could not have a green
rose. But somewhere in the world you could" (p. 12) - an
ambition that could be associated with an artistic career since
green roses do not grow naturally. Joyce focuses attention
early in the novel on Stephen's search for a vocation. A few
pages later, he shows Stephen's attempt to "place" himself
in the world. Stephen writes on the flyleaf of his geography
book first his name and then his address progressively until
he "places" himself in the universe:
Stephen Dedalus
Class of Elements
Clongowes Wood College
Sallins
County Kildare
Ireland
Europe
The World
The Universe ip. 15>
Joyce continues the idea of a search by tracing Stephen's search
through fantasy-sexual experiences with the fictional Mer-
cedes, who Stephen feels will transform him from one who is

3 Hugh Kenner, Dublin* s Joyce (Bloomington: Indiana University

Press, 1956), p. 120.

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414 Velma F. Grant

acted upon into an actor (p. 65) and through real sexual ex-
periences with whores which plunge Stephen into sin and
send him on a search for salvation. Thus, Stephen forces him-
self through a tangle of sex and religion before he discovers his
true vocation, for sex and religion are the twin red-herrings
which distract Stephen from his true calling, that of becoming
an artist. As an adolescent fascinated by sex, Stephen resides
in a dream-world of mental and real orgies. Eventually, reality
brings him back into the church, where he is almost tempted
into taking orders for the priesthood. However, Stephen's
search does not end with the religion which he finds in the
Catholic Church. Stephen will not become a priest before God's
altar, but a priest of the imagination (p. 221). Hence, Joyce
symbolically connects the classical Daedalus with Stephen
Dedalus through the similarity of their quest and vocation.
Even though Daedalus is noted for being an inventive artist
and Stephen an artist of the imagination, each artist is a
creative genius. Thus, creativity emerges as one of the links
which bind the old with the new, the present with the past,
and Daedalus with Dedalus.
Of primary significance in the Daedalus-Dedalus analogy is
the emphasis Joyce places on the development of Stephen as an
artist. As classical Daedalus was noted as a successful, cunning
craftsman, Joyce describes Stephen Dedalus as cultivating and
mastering some of the basic skills necessary for a successful
artist. That Joyce is describing Stephen's development as an
artist becomes obvious in the first chapter of the novel. In
the entire first chapter Joyce presents the acute perceptiveness
of a sensitive, growing child through a catalogue of senses,
faculties, and mental activities as they unfold in Stephen's
conscience. In this chapter, the reader notes Stephen's extreme
sensitivity to language. As a very young boy Stephen is con-
scious of a story, words, sentences, poems, or momentary
rhymes. There is the story that Stephen's father relates to him
about a cow coming along the road (p. 7) ; the words belt and
suck - belt with its funny double meaning (pp. 3-4) and suck
with its ugly, fascinating connotations (p. 6) ; and the "nice
sentences in Doctor Cornwell's Spelling Book" (p. 10). Then,

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 Stephen Dedalus: A Symbolic Analogy 415

there is the poem or momentary rhyme which forms a pattern

in Stephen's mind :
Pull out his eyes,
Apologise,
Apologise,
Pull out his eyes.
Apologise,
Pull out his eyes,
Pull out his eyes,
Apologise, (p. 8)
Indeed, Stephen's extraordinary sensitivity to language fore-
shadows his artistic destiny as when Stephen tests and re-
sponds to words in Chapter II of the novel :
. . . Words which he did not understand he said over and over to
himself till he had learnt them by heart; and through them he
had glimpses of the real world about him. The hour when he too
would take part in the life of that world seemed drawing near
and in secret he began to make ready for the great part which
he felt awaited him, the nature of which he only dimly ap-
prehended. (p. 62)
* * *

. . . The firelight flickered

a spectral dusk was gathering upon the river. Before the fire
an old woman was busy making tea and, as she bustled at her
task, she told in a low voice of what the priest and the doctor
had said. She told too of certain changes she had seen in her of
late and of her odd ways and sayings. He sat listening to the
words and following the ways of adventure that lay open in the
coals, arches and vaults and winding galleries and jagged
caverns, (pp. 67-68)
In the first part of the passage, Joyce illustrates how Stephen
himself believes that words will create a reality for him and
that they might play an important role in his later life. Thus,
Stephen consciously manipulates words and rolls them around
on his tongue. Likewise, Joyce in the second part of the
quoted passage not only shows Stephen's preoccupation with
words but also, indirectly - through the description of the
fire's action as it seeps through the "winding galleries and
jagged caverns" - alludes to the labyrinth of Daedalus, the
artificer. In addition, in both passages, Joyce introduces words
as the medium through which Stephen makes the experiences

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416 Velma F . Grant

of his life fit into a coherent patte

additional passage which indicates Stephen's preoccupation
with words appears in Chapter Four after Stephen has decided
not to engage in a "priestly" vocation (p. 162) :
He drew forth a phrase from his treasure and spoke it softly
to himself:
- A day of dappled seaborne clouds.
The phrase and the day and the scene harmonised in a chord.
Words. Was it their colours? He allowed them to glow and fade,
hue after hue: sunrise gold, the russet and green of apple
orchards, azure of waves, the grey-fringed fleece of clouds.
No, it was not their colours; it was the poise and balance of the
period itself. Did he then love the rhythmic rise and fall of
words better than their association of legend and colour?
Or was it that being weak of sight as he was shy of mind, he
drew less pleasure from the reflection of the flowing sensible
word through the prism of a language many coloured and richly
storied than from the contemplation of an inner world of
individual emotions mirrored perfectly in a lucid supple periodic
prose? (pp. 166-167)
Here, Stephen's reflection on the nature of language in this
meditative ramble achieves importance in Stephen's final
choice of an artistic vocation. Here, too, his facility with
words has improved with his maturation as he uses them to
grope for the precise source of the power which words wield
over him. Indeed, Joyce presents Stephen as a collector of
words and traces his growing skill in the manipulation and
use of them. Stephen's fondness for language becomes quite
important when one considers its significance in the creative
process. Since language is the medium through which the
artist expresses himself as well as the source of his own
understanding of both his internal and external reality, a
successful artist must be able to understand and manipulate
language. Since Stephen seems talented in this regard, his
prospect of becoming a successful artist is extremely good.
Thus, the possibility of Stephen's becoming as successful an
artist in his artistic endeavors as Daedalus was in his inventive
endeavors is also extremely good.
In addition to a growing mastery of language, however,
Stephen must also formulate an aesthetic philosophy before
he can hope to achieve success as an artist. Thus, in Chapter

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 Stephen Dedalus: A Symbolic Analogy 417

V of A Portait of the Artist as a Young Man , Joyce focuses

his attention on Stephen as he outlines his artistic creed.
Stephen's aesthetic theory emerges in the course of a long
conversation with his friend, Lynch. According to Stephen, art
is divided into three forms: the lyric, in which the artist
presents his image in relation to himself ; the epic, in which he
presents his image in "mediate relation to himself and to
others" (p. 214) ; and the dramatic, in which he presents his
image in relation to others. These three forms constitute a
progression from the personal to the impersonal. Stephen
continues :

. . . The lyrical form is in fact the simplest verbal vesture of an

instant of emotion, a rhythmical cry such as ages ago cheered
on the man who pulled at the oar or dragged stones up a slope.
He who utters it is more conscious of the instant of emotion
than of himself as feeling the emotion. The simplest epical
form is seen emerging out of lyrical literature when the artist
prolongs and broods upon himself as the centre of an epical
event and this form progresses till the centre of emotional
gravity is equidistant from the artist himself and from others.
The narrative is no longer purely personal. The personality of
the artist passes into the narrative itself, flowing round and
round the person and the action like a vital sea. This progress
you will see easily in that old English ballad, Turpin Hero ,
which begins in the first person and ends in the third person.
The dramatic form is reached when the vitality which has
flowed and eddied round each person fills every person with
such vital force that he or she assumes a proper and intangible
esthetic life. The personality of the artist, at first a cry or a
cadence or a mood and then a fluid and lambent narrative,
finally refines itself out of existence, impersonalises itself, so
to speak, The esthetic image in the dramatic form is life
purified in and reprojected from the human imagination. The
mystery of esthetic like that of material creation is accomplished.
The artist, like the God of creation, remains within or behind
or beyond or above his handiwork, invisible, refined out of
existence, indifferent, paring his fingernails, (p. 215)
Thus, Stephen feels that the artist should aim at achieving an
objective state in which he becomes capable of setting forth
images in immediate relation to others and thus of utilizing
the other forms at will. The lyric and epic points of view should
be regarded as phases of an aesthetic evolution that has as
its goal dramatic detachment. During Stephen's discussion

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418 Velma F . Grant

with Lynch, it is clearly revealed that for Stephen art is a

kind of religion and that the artist, in a sense, takes the place
of God. Earlier, Stephen has referred to the artist as "a priest
of the eternal imagination." (p. 221) In either case, as Stephen
views him, the artist is divine.
Earlier in the chapter, Stephen defines art as the "human
disposition of sensible or intelligible matter for esthetic end"
(p. 207). In further delineating his artistic views, Stephen
claims the authority of certain principles from Aquinas.
Quoting from Aquinas, Stephen defines the beautiful as the
perception of those things that please. Since the philosopher
was also concerned with truth, Stephen feels that it is neces-
sary to make a distinction. Thus, he explains that truth is
beheld by the intellect, which is appeased by the most satisfy-
ing relations of the intelligible ; beauty is beheld by the imagi-
nation, appeased by the most satisfying relations of the sen-
sible. Stephen feels that three elements are necessary for the
perception of the beautiful: wholeness or integrity; harmony
or proportion ; and clarity or radiance. Further, in distinguish-
ing between good and bad art, Stephen finds that good or
static art excites neither desire nor loathing. Bad or kinetic art,
which excites desire or loathing, has two principal kinds : the
pornographic and the didactic. The ideal stasis is called forth,
prolonged, and dissolved by abstract formal relations. Explain-
ing his views even further, Stephen defines pity and terror,
which he believes to be dramatic emotions that Aristotle
neglected to define :
- Pity is the feeling which arrests the mind in the presence of
whatsoever is grave and constant in human sufferings and
unites it with the human sufferer. Terror is the feeling which
arrests the mind in the presence of whatsoever is grave and
constant in human sufferings and unites it with the secret
cause, (p. 204).
Thus, Joyce equips Dedalus with an aesthetic philosophy,
which, coupled with his sensitivity for language and his per-
ception of himself, should result in the formation of a success-
ful artist. However, Stephen, at the end of the novel, has not
become a great artist; rather, he desires physical exile from
Dublin, Ireland, so that he might produce the great books which

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 Stephen Dedalus: A Symbolic Analogy 419

he wishes to write. For Stephen feels that before he can pro-

duce great books, he must seek a climate that is conducive to
writing. In this regard, Joyce suggests that before creativity-
can be fostered, a congenial environment is necessary. He also
introduces another analogy of the Daedalus myth into the
novel : the idea of Dublin as a confining labyrinth and the idea
of exile.

In A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man , Joyce presents

Dublin, Ireland, as a place of confinement from which Stephen
must escape in order for him to realize his potential of becom-
ing an artist. For Stephen, the atmosphere of Dublin is un-
congenial for his creativity and would not permit his spirit to
express itself in "unfettered freedom" (p. 246). In the novel,
Joyce depicts Stephen's environment as one which paralyzes
Stephen's creative endeavors. As a result, the reader sees
Stephen as a lonesome wanderer among aliens. Joyce highlights
Stephen's spiritual isolation quite frequently in the novel, as
when he describes him as often apart, often examining events
as an observer rather than as a participant. Thus, Stephen
must reject those aspects of his environment which hamper
his creative development. These aspects Joyce presents as
Stephen's home, country, and church. Consider the heated
discussion over Parnell, the progressing fear and horror of
ensuing genteel poverty, the whole atmosphere of Irish
Catholicism, the itensity and its hysteria, and their effects
upon a developing artist. Primarily, Joyce leaves quite shadowy
Stephen's relationships with his mother, though he does indicate
Stephen's rebelling against her in his refusing her request to
make his Easter duty, that is, to go to Mass and communion
(pp. 238-239). Earlier in the novel, Stephen acknowledges
his separation from his father by "an abyss of fortune or of
temperament" (p. 95). Joyce even suggests that Stephen
rejects the adequacy of the language of the country: "I cannot
speak or write these words without unrest of spirit. His
language [the dean's], so familiar and so foreign, will always
be for me an acquired speech. I have not made or accepted its
words. My voice holds them at bay. My soul frets in the shadow
of his language" (p. 189). It is not surprising then when

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420 Velma F . Grant

Stephen informs Davin near the end o

about his environment :

. . . When the soul of a man is born in this country there are

nets flung at it to hold it back from flight. You talk to me
of nationality, language, religion. I shall try to fly by those
nets. (p. 203)
* * *

- Do you know what Ireland is? asked Stephen with cold

violence. Ireland is the old sow that eats her farrow, (p. 203)
Hence, Stephen implies that Ireland will stifle him as an artist ;
thus, he must take flight to "some new world," to an arena
which is adequate for his talents. Earlier, in Chapter Two
of the novel, Stephen's disenchantment with his surroundings
is mentioned. Joyce writes, "His sensitive nature was still
smarting under the lashes of an undivined and squalid way of
life" (p. 78). Thus "cast down by the dull phenomenon of
Dublin" (p. 78), Stephen lives in an environment which is
inimical to a free, perspective mind. Indeed, Heron's cane (p.
77) represents the doltish inflexibility of thought which per-
vades Ireland and which Stephen rejects. Hence, frustrated
with real life, Stephen exists almost in a state of solitude,
sensitive, apart, often in a world of fantasy. Finding solace
neither at home, in the church, nor in sex, Stephen seeks
solace in creative activity. However, in order to refine his
artistic talent, he must take his solitary way to wherever the
creative life engages him. Symbolically, then, the labyrinth,
Dublin, can be associated with the Freudian symbol of the
womb. Once Stephen has completed his period of gestation, he
must eject himself beyond Dublin into exile and into the culture
of the world. In exile, Stephen hopes to find more favorable
surroundings which would be congenial for his developing
artistic talents. Hence, at the end of the novel, Stephen Dedalus
calls upon Daedalus, his patron and model, for aid as he pre-
pares to flee from his inhibiting labyrinth. Explicitly, Stephen
resembles the classical Daedalus who, too, took flight from
the labyrinth which imprisoned him. He also resembles Icarus,
Daedalus' rebellious son. Stephen, proudly rebellious against
the labyrinth that restrains him, announces near the end of

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 Stephen Dedalus: A Symbolic Analogy 421

Chapter V, "I will not serve that in which I no longer believe

whether it call itself my home, my fatherland or my church :
and I will try to express myself in some mode of life or art as
freely as I can and as wholly as I can, using for my defence
the only arms I allow myself to use - silence, exile, and cun-
ning" (pp. 246-247).
Significantly, Joyce's use of imagery in A portrait of the
Artist as a Young Man aligns the novel with the Daedalus
myth. References to birds, water, and flight abound. Im-
mediately one thinks of Daedalus, imprisoned in the labyrinth,
checked by water and land with only the air available as an
escape route. Though Joyce utilizes a variety of images in the
novel, his intricate interweaving of the above-mentioned
images warrants an examination in relation to the Daedalus-
Dedalus analogy. The images which Joyce uses are often inter-
woven so intricately, it is difficult to separate them for an
analogy. Indeed, Joyce, at times, seems to associate various
images with a particular trend of thought. For example, the
image of water, though ambivalent, is often associated with
fear and occurs frequently when Stephen's freedom of spirit is
threatened. Thus, references to the cold, slimy water into
which Stephen is pushed (p. 14) ; the loud frightening sound of
the dirty water as it is "sucked" through the hole in the basin
(p. 11) ; the warm turf colored bogwater which Stephen con-
nects with the noise of the plunger (p. 22) can be associated
with the instances in which Stephen experiences fear. Later
in the novel, Stephen enters the water after seeing the wading
girl. Water in this instance can be associated with the idea
of rebirth for it is after Stephen sees the wading bird that he
assesses the place of sex in his life. The incident with the girl
occurs after Stephen has associated his name with that of
classical Daedalus and has reached the realization that his
destiny in life is to become an artist. In this sense, water as-
sumes a positive image and seems to be associated with
creativity. By the same token, bird imagery initially refers
to an incident connected with fear in regard to the eagles that
will pull out Stephen's eyes (p. 8), or the bird-of-prey like
Heron (p. 77), who tries to make Stephen conform. However,

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422 Velma F. Grant

like the water, birds initially asso

a positive image as Stephen appro
beach when he sees the wading girl and refers to her as "a
strange and beautiful sea bird" (p. 171) . Still later in the novel,
birds are associated with flight. After the circling swallows
have made Stephen think of the "hawk-like Daedalus" (pp.
224-225), he recalls some verses from Yeats (p. 225). Here
again birds may be associated with creative power. Then too,
the images of flight suggest the freedom Stephen must have,
but the emphasis is not entirely upon escape or exile but on a
widening of consciousness, an investigation of the unknown.
Hence, the images of flight relate to freedom, increasing per-
ception, and creativity. Actually, Joyce's use of images in the
novel adds to the texture and its symbolic quality. His use of
the water, bird, and flight images symbolically connects the
novel with the Daedalus myth.
It is remarkable that Joyce utilizes the Daedalus myth
symbolically with such intricate artistic skill in tracing
Stephen's development as a artist. Daedalus, always present
in Stephen's name, referred to in the epigraph and in the final
words of the novel, serves constantly to remind the reader of
the universality of the artistic endeavor. Joyce's portrayal of
Stephen's search for a vocation which corresponds to Stephen's
sensibility; his discovery of his potential artistic creative
talents ; his extraordinary sensitivity to language, which serves
as a tool of the artist and as the medium for determining
reality and his perceptiveness in relation to the formulation
of an aesthetic philosophy ; his realization that he must disen-
tangle himself from the restrictive labyrinth of his alien en-
vironment in order to gain insights necessary for the creation
of literary art ; and his preparation for physical exile in Paris,
where he hopes to achieve his goal of becoming a successful
artist, definitely relate to an analogous relationship between
Stephen Dedalus and classical Daedalus. Joyce's use of such
images as birds, water, and flight serves to give immediacy and
more body to the Daedalus analogy. Indeed, Stephen's own
destiny is prophesied in his own name, "Daedalus"; however,
as depicted by Joyce, Stephen has been given wings. He must

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 Stephen Dedalus : A Symbolic Analogy 423

yet learn to fly. But his chances of succeeding are extremely

good by virtue of the name he bears. Thus, Joyce, in utilizing
an analogous relation between Stephen Dedalus and classical
Daedalus, presents a portrait of the artist in development, a
portrait which he paints with intricate and delicate skill.

Albany State College

Albany , Georgia

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