37
career by hostile, misogynistic and corrupted institutions.
However, Joyce's harsh criticism in ‘The Dead’ only interests the Irish musical world, not music
itself, of which he was a great lover. Indeed, the most relevant and positive moments in ‘The Dead’,
itself a sort of coda to the whole collection, are originated by music.
While obsessively trying his speech, wondering whether it would be too pretentious to quote his
review of Browning in presence of such an uneducated audience, Gabriel listens to Aunt Julia’s
song. This is a powerful, unifying moment, where no speech nor struggle are allowed. As Norris
38
rightly notes, there is no place for irony in this description:
Her voice, strong and clear in tone, attacked with great spirit the runs which embellish the
air and though she sang very rapidly she did not miss even the smallest of the grace notes.
To follow the voice, without looking at the singer’s face, was to feel and share the
excitement of swift and secure flight. Gabriel applauded loudly with all the others at the close of
39
the song and loud applause was borne in from the invisible supper-table.
It is a great domestic performance: Aunt Julia is happy, her guests are enjoying ‘the tradition of
40
genuine, warm-hearted courteous Irish hospitality’. Gabriel gives his speech that, against his
expectations, is a success, and interestingly replaces the phrase he wanted to use,
‘thought-tormented music’ with ‘thought-tormented age’, thus generalizing a characteristic of a
poem by Browning (whose dramatic verse could easily apply for the definition of ‘tormented
41
music’) to a whole époque .
From this point on, a complicated process of mirroring and foreshadowing begins. The party draws
to a close, and in the hallway Gabriel witnesses to the epiphany of his wife. Interestingly, he does
not recognize her at first:
42
A woman was standing near the top of the first flight, in the shadow also,
which prefigures the revelation on the third part of the story, when Gabriel realizes her wife is a
stranger to him. He ‘strains his ear’ to listen to the song that has enraptured her. Yet, his effort does
not suffice to make him enter in contact with her, as he ignores the meaning the piece has for her:
He asked himself what is a woman standing on the stairs in the shadow, listening to distant
43
music, a symbol of.
44
Thus the woman is objectified as a work of art. Gabriel only sees her appearance, oblivious to her
deep emotional life.
It is the famous tenor Bartell d'Arcy, one of the guests invited to the party, that, after having
declined to sing because of a cold, now is singing
a song […] in the old Irish tonality and the singer seemed uncertain both of this words and
37
In ‘The Dead’, Aunt Julia is forced to abandon the choir after devoting her whole life to it, due to a papal act
which banished women from church choirs. See J. Morgan, ‘Queer Choirs: Sacred Music, Joyce’s ‘The Dead’, and the
Sexual Politics of Victorian Aestheticism’, in James Joyce Quarterly , vol. 37 n. ½, University of Tulsa (Tulsa, 2000),
pp. 127-151.
38
M. Norris, ‘The Politics of Gender and Art in ‘The Dead’’.
39
J. Joyce, ‘The Dead’, p. 274.
40
Ibid. , p. 286.
41
See J. Feely, ‘Joyce’s ‘The Dead’ and the Browning Quotation’, in James Joyce Quarterly , vol. 20, n° 1,
University of Tulsa (Tulsa, 1982), pp. 87-96.
42
J. Joyce, ‘The Dead’, p. 293.
43
Ibid. , p. 294.
44
M. Norris, ‘The Politics of Gender and Art in ‘The Dead’’.