James Joyces Exiles - A Story That Reveals and Consumes - Essay Example

James Joyce’s Exiles: A Story That Reveals and Consumes A writer is an artist who is capable of finding beauty in the character of the men and women he describes in his stories. A reader always looks forward to enchanting and truthful narrations that outline the writer’s thoughts in a manner that is entertaining and inspiring. Yeats was one such writer who entertained his readers into thinking that “Home is where the heart is. “ Every artist needs to stay at home and develop a rich artistic approach in his or her contribution towards the culture and economy at home. James Joyce and a few other authors, who did not live or believe in this theory, have depicted in their works that an artist living in a foreign place can redefining a country’s culture, which can enrich the nation. Introduction to the Play And Critical Study of the Plot James Joyce had lived out of Ireland for a good deal of time till his return with wife and son to meet his ailing mother. Every bit of his journey and psychology during this phase of life are recorded in the play, “Exiles”. In the play, Joyce (McCourt, 2000, 14) has talked about a returning writer who finds himself in a marriage that asks for freedom. And in his portrayal of Richard the writer, who is considered his half projection of himself, James has succeeded in giving out his personal opinion of the institution of marriage, which when becomes very cumbersome to maintain according to the ancient norms. Challenging societal rules and strictures, Joyce makes his character renounce any conservative practices of sticking to the bonds of marriage. Richard allows his wife to feel free to explore her possibilities outside marriage, which she discerns as his escapism to meet the old flame he reunites with in Ireland. The play leads to more emphatic exclamations of Robert, the outside man in the marriage, about the attractiveness of Richard, giving reader hints of homosexuality in the play. The most pertinent question here is why does the writer do so? Artistic pleasure lies in challenging highly accepted and established norms in the society, to create a scenario that is often criticized and shunned by the average reader of their times. However, through their works, writers like Joyce have reflected some ideas that are ahead of their times. A play like Exiles which talks of how people within a marriage, within a society, and within a country are exiled from each other, in ways unmentioned by writers of that era. Joyce has written only one play in all his lifetime, and “Exiles” talks about a marriage which believes in free demonstrations of love and sexuality. The indication is more towards spiritual exile, wherein the mind is a foreigner to the native land’s customs, culture, and laws. Joyce had extensively roamed France during his years away from Ireland. His portrayal of freedom inside the marriage comes from a broad minded set-up found in France in those days. As a result, not only the play, but the book received negative criticism in Ireland. This reaction was expected and Joyce in his subtle notes made it clear that if Ireland was shunning his play, then it further favors the message he tries to convey through the play. The message is that the country of Ireland is unsuitable for the growth of an artist, like Richard in the play, who needs freedom to think and express and cannot comply to being pulled down by the bond of marriage or family. He challenges his right over his wife, allows her to go free, and leaves himself to the company of Beatrice, an ex-flame, only to be sure that the artist in him is not left unexplored. He points out the unjustness of such pre-set dominations which is more like the loudly ethical political domination in the country. English society has been rampant with political and societal categorizations, wherein a certain class is not allowed to grow beyond it situation and is considered suitable for exploitation by the rich and the fortunate classes. While political domination happens inside a country, and even across nations, sexual domination appears every time a woman feels left alone by the man she trusts (O’Brien, 2006, 1). Richard, the main protagonist of the play, is willing to allow his wife to fall for the outrageous ways of Robert, who in turn is only attracted to the Bertha, because she is Richard’s wife. His attractions are partly homosexual in nature. The woman in the marriage here is the one getting exploited for reason apparently unknown to her, and unpresumed by her moody and artistic husband (Joyce, 1918, 124). We see this very clearly right at the start of the play when Richard and Beatrice are talking to each other and Beatrice tells how things changed after he left. Referring to Robert, he says, “Everything was changed. His life, his mind, even, seemed to change after that.” Robert’s attraction to Richard is further betrayed in his interactions and body language when the both of them talk to each other without the ladies around. Bertha, all along is the wife who does not know why Robert, has to call her to his home, and tries confessing to Richard about it. He is not even surprised. As a natural reaction, her mind is filled with questions and doubts as to the intentions of “both” men. She is the one being dominated over by the others. A similar dominance is seen in the Catholic precepts that suggest that sex outside marriage, birth control, and homosexuality are unholy acts of crime that should not be encouraged in society. Here religion dominates practices and sets them to a standard, which the artist finds suffocating and restricting to his needs of freedom and expression. Thus, Joyce portrays a growing dissent towards such accepted norms of domination through his play. Irish drama has consistently proven that such established norms can be challenged and the reactions of men and women to these repressive norms are always different. In Act II, Bertha runs frantically to her husband to express what is happening between herself and Robert, and ends up in doubts when he does not give a negative reaction to her narrations. The men in the play, on the contrary, only look for new ideas and avenues to get themselves away from these constrictions and laws, and not always stick to the set of norms that the society follows. To make this point more clear, Joyce has used stage direction that makes the audience reflect and think about what it wants from the story. With respect to stage direction, James Joyce uses a narration similar to Ibsen’s (Farrell, 1946, 1), which won him appreciation from the senior playwright. It is shrouded in mystery and purposely misses out on giving the direct goals of the plot. Audience does not realize if the marriage is headed for a break or if both the characters are involved in extra-marital affairs. Thus, although the stage direction is kept simple, the use of lighting and background score keeps the real plot hidden, and the characters clouded. In totality, it is a situation of suggesting that Irish audiences have a lot to unravel from the proceedings and the story being told on stage, an indirect hint towards asking for a change in strictures. And with this play, Joyce succeeds in highlighting the situation of women in Irish society, which is dominated by men’s thinking, and not theirs. Many authors, like James Joyce have believed that when it is time to turn a boring script interesting, introduction of a woman into the scene works. If a woman is already present, introducing the smart and suave third man or another beautiful lady in the plot adds to the interest of the audience. In James Joyce’s play also, the plot has been developed to keep audience interested to the maximum as there is a hint of a love triangle and also indications of homosexuality, although “Exiles” is not a drama that discusses homosexuality or portrays it openly. Instead, it is a subtle example of the same mentality that we see in Shaw or Wilde’s works – which verily stands to showcase the need to upgrade a woman’s plight in society and family. Richard strives to do the same in this play. Joyce has been cleverly conservative in the play, wherein, at the close of Act II, the audience and the reader is unsure of the love triangle. We are not allowed a confirmation of a relationship between Bertha and Robert, neither are we aware of any relationship between Beatrice and Richard. Ultimately, the woman is portrayed in a situation of doubt and dilemma, although she is apparently not involved in a wrong deal. And this is where, very cleverly, Joyce brings out the reality of women in Irish society and drama. Women are the victims of subjugation and the Irish society had too many strict norms that exploited women and their existence to the hilt. When Bertha is not reprimanded by her husband, it is through her eyes that the author portrays the truth of Irish society. Her situation and surrender is vivid when she meets Beatrice, at the close of the play. Joyce is not the first one to portray subjugation of the female’s intentions to that of the man, since the works of other Irish writers have such indications. But, the way in which Joyce has not portrayed subjugation through the male character, and rather has portrayed it in the reaction of the female itself, is novel and different from the works of other writers. In Irish drama, women have always been the center of exploitation and sexuality, while they have played important decisive roles in the plot. Conclusion: The presentation of new thoughts that challenge the established norms of society is a always a great show and James Joyce’s portrayal of freedom in sexuality and marriage bonds was not different. While his story about “Exiles” was not about people who were exiled from the land and focused on how mentally exiled people within the same land is, the fact that his play went highly criticized is what led to its immediate close down (Cixoux, 2008, 1). Although written much earlier, the play was staged for the first time in 1919, and earned the criticism of contemporary writers and audiences, forcing the theater to shut down the play immediately. What people failed to understand was that the play was an extension of Joyce’s own married life, and in the process, a reflection of what was going in the minds of many young men of the Irish society then. The world knows today, that Joyce had spoken right and had indicated towards the future. However, the audiences could not see it this way back then. This led to the genius playwright of Joyce, which never expressed itself again through another play, stays in the background on which his subsequent works like Ulysses were created. Ultimately, Richard’s silence and acceptance of all characters as they are, leaves the message that an artist can contribute to society, even when he is out of the country. Since freedom of thoughts, practices, and sexualities alone, can bring in freshness into a society, a change that was much required in erstwhile Ireland. He stays resolute to leaving homeland again, and Bertha is free to choose whether she wants to go with him or stay. References: Cixous, Helen. The Exile of James Joyce. London: John Calder Publishing. 2008, Print. Joyce, James, Exiles: A Play In Three Acts, Ireland: B.W. Huebsch. 1918, Print. Farrell, James T. Revalusing James Joyce’s ‘Exiles’, New York Times, Web. retrieved on 25th June, 2014 from: http://www.nytimes.com/books/00/01/09/specials/joyce-exiles.html McCourt, John. James Joyce: A Passionate Exile. Birmingham: Oren Media. 2000, Print. O‘Brien, Edna. The ogre of betrayal. The Guardian. 2006, Web. Retrieved on 25th June, 2014 from: http://www.theguardian.com/stage/2006/jul/29/theatre.fiction Read More