James Joyce was an Irish writer born in 1882. He belonged to a middle-class family. His novel Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man was published in 1916. The novella belongs to the genre of “Bildungsroman” which is defined as a novel that talks about the psychological, spiritual and moral development of a particular character over a certain period. of time. A portrait of the artist as a young man is a bildungsroman. This novel can also be called “semi-autobiographical” in the sense that James Joyce portrayed the protagonist Stephen Dedalalus as a portrait of his own life with some changes. Stephen Dedalus is not a fictional character, rather he contains Joyce's characteristics to some extent. James Joyce actually gradually told the story of himself as an artist by telling the story of Stephan Dedalus. That's why we find many similarities between the personal life of James Joyce and Stephan Dedalus, for example, punishment is school twice, meeting prostitutes, being religious after being afraid of the afterlife, seeing women as objects and inferiors, the similarity is the moment of epiphany, leaving Ireland to become a writer and so on. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get Original Essay James Joyce did not have a good relationship with women throughout his life. Stephan Dedalus, as he played him, also did not have a good relationship with women. Furthermore, Stephen Dedalus is the portrait of James Joyce's misogynistic attitude due to his treatment towards women throughout the novel ex: his mother; sisters; Emma and Eileen, hateful attitude towards prostitutes, narrow concept of feminism, inability to be intimate with women, presentation of a female character: Dante as antagonist; it also includes the passive role of women in the tale, the majority of the male characters and their significance in Dedalus' life, his epiphanic moment in which he intensely describes the physical beauty of a girl, and so on. “Consequently, women, in A Portrait, do not play a significant role as they are dominated by an overwhelming pre-eminence of patriarchy and power; they are simply devalued as physical objects for the desires and longings of men.” In the novel A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, James Joyce portrayed every female character as passive except Dante. “Stephen Dedalus, the novel's protagonist, fluctuates between these two binary ways of being, but interprets more genuinely patriarchal definitions of female behavior.” His father failed to be idealized by his son Stephen. Stephen had different perceptions about his father, which changed frequently into his twenties. He saw his father Simon Dedalus as a "gentle man, a rower, an amateur actor, a shouting politician, a nice guy, a drinker, a teller of tales, a tax collector, a failure, a eulogist of his own past". Even though Stephan never followed or tried to follow his father's path, he still talks about his father a lot throughout the novella. On the contrary, his mother had a very maternal attitude towards him. His mother always supported him and prayed for him. She always adored and loved him. However, he did not talk much about his mother in the novel. The character of his mother was presented in such a way that his mother Mary Dedalus played no role in his life on the path to becoming an artist. In addition to his mother, the same treatment also applies to his sisters. In the entire novel there was almost no description of his sisters or his relationship with his sisters. Katey, Maggy and Boody are the sistersStephen's minors who appear only momentarily when they help Stephan prepare to leave for college. In addition to his mother and sisters, Stephen also portrayed Emma Clery as a passive character. Shephen had a lure and romantic feelings for Emma. Throughout the story, there is very little description of her as we only know that Emma studies at university and Stephen has taken an interest in her over many years. Stephen wrote a poem about her and for Stephan she symbolizes an ideal of femininity. At the end of the novel we know almost nothing about Emma. She suddenly emerged as Stephen's love interest and eventually disappeared without any significance. Even the other female characters like Dante or Eileen have no meaning in Stephen's life. They emerged for the sake of the flow of the story and fall away over time. James Joyce in his novel portrayed Dante, a woman only as an active character who he portrayed as an antagonist. James Joyce was a non-religious person when Ireland had religious extremists. Stephen was an admirer of Charles Stewert Parnell and belonged to the Nationalist party which successfully campaigned for agricultural reforms. He almost brought the Irish government into the house when enemies discovered his personal affair with a married woman. Subsequently, Parnell's party threw him out and the Catholic church criticized him. James Joyce respected Parnell by heart and thought that only Parnell could bring about Ireland's independence. Even at one point he said to his friend Davin: "No honorable and sincere man... has given up to you his life, his youth and his affections from the days of Tone to those of Parnell, but you have sold him to the enemy or disappointed him in need or insulted him and left him for another. And you invite me to be one of you. See you first, damn it." Dante Riordan supported the church, however, and she spoke out against Charles Parnell to Irish nationalism and so did Dante. Dante believes his perspective is exactly the opposite of Stephen's. He had an argument with Stephen's father, Simon Dedalus, and his friend, Mr. Casey, over Christmas dinner. 'influence of the Church. Simon and Casey both thought that the Church had a harmful influence while only Dante continued to support the Church. Furthermore, Dante had a negative impression on Parnell when he said of him: “He was no longer worthy of driving, said Dante. He was a public sinner." Being a non-religious person and being a supporter of Parnell, Stephan also had a negative perspective towards the Church and Dante Riordan. Stephan had a crush on a Protestant girl, named Eileen Vance, in his childhood. Dante forbade Stephen to marry Eileen because she was Protestant. In that period there was a clash between Protestants and Catholics. Dante believed in the Roman Church and was a pure Catholic. During their childhood, Dante would not even allow Stephan to play with Eileen because, as Joyce said, “And she didn't like him playing with Eileen because Eileen was a Protestant and when she was young she knew children who played with Protestants and Protestants did they made fun of the litanies of the Blessed Virgin” (Joyce 37 chapter 1). In his childhood, Dante was mostly a negative influence in Stephen's life. All the things he did are opposite to Stephan's point of view. This is why it is proven that James Joyce placed Dante as an antagonist. Stephen began increasing his physical needs when he was a teenager. At that time he was attracted to women's bodies. He began to satisfy himself by visiting prostitutes regularly. He had his first sexual experience at the age of 14. Since she satisfied herself by visiting prostitutes, she had no respect for them. He considered this guyof relationship as “his first violent sin” (Joyce 117 chapter 3). Prostitutes never attracted him and he had a hateful attitude towards them. He even compared prostitutes to Emma because they were too common and impure. Even at the time of confession he said that: “I… have committed sins of impurity, father” (Joyce 166 chapter 3). He despised prostitutes and this expresses his intolerable attitude towards prostitutes. Stephen's concept of femininity was very narrow. Since he had a love interest for Emma, ​​he used to express opinions about Emma from time to time. In the novel, Emma is shown as an example of femininity. According to him, women should be pure, distant and unapproachable like Emma. Stephen has had difficult relationships with women in his life and throughout the novel. "The narcissistic reality of Stephen's fantasy for Emma is not surprising, since his solipsistic tendencies were presupposed by his father." As readers, we expect to see an artist's growth along with their mental development. The female characters look sophisticated. “in A Portrait, they are under the pressure of patriarchy and are metaphorically colonized by male power. “So female characters are the conduit through which one can gain male power, self-confidence, and most importantly, their expertise” (Torkashvand & Jamili 417). Female characters also do not gain and develop a perspective on femininity. It seems that Joyce intentionally hindered the concept of femininity that expresses his misogynistic attitude. Emma studied at university and was a good student. Emma had qualities where she could have been portrayed in a better way, but that didn't happen because of Joyce's misogyny and male ego. “In addition to these characteristics, differences between men and women have been distinguished as a direct result and outcome of male power and dominance over women.” Stephan dedalus could not go beyond the beauty of the female body. At any time, he felt attached to a girl or a woman, Stephan always had physical beauty in mind. “The scene near the novel's conclusion, in which Stephen experiences a wet dream while unconsciously thinking about his crush, Emma Cleary, is particularly indicative of the sexualized relationship between Stephen's body and soul” (Wagner 117). Emma's desires play a very small role and the focus remains on Stephen to further emphasize his sexuality. Stephen's epiphanic moment is also criticized by expressing his sexuality. Epiphany is defined as a sudden realization of something. Generally, in the literary term, epiphany is used when a character suddenly reaches a feeling of realization or knowledge. Stephen became a pious man after confessing his guilt for visiting prostitutes. He was offered to become a priest. One day, he was wandering along the beach and saw a young girl walking in cotton wool. Stephen suddenly realized that this pious and religious life was not for him. It should never have been this way. He has realized that he wants to become an artist and must realize his dream by leaving Ireland. At that moment he had an epiphany realizing that it is neither a crime to love a woman nor to praise a woman's beauty. He was praising the beauty of the young girl. Even in the moment of his epiphany, he couldn't get past a woman's physical beauty. He saw nothing but physical beauty in women. He had seen that little girl muffled like a sea bird. He described the girl's beauty as: “She looked like a person whom magic had transformed into the appearance of a strange and beautiful seabird. Her long, slender bare legs were as delicate as one's. 114-140.