Meaning in Araby & King Lear

Joyce and Shakespeare: A Brief Comparison

Dialogue and narration function differently in each literary genre. While the purposes of dialogue and narrative elements within a short story, a novel, or a play are similar, the ways in which they are manipulated as tools or vehicles for expression are not necessarily the same. This brief report will examine two very different literary works to illustrate these different effects and the ways in which such differences contribute to the production of meaning. The two works are James Joyce's short story, "Araby," and William Shakespeare's great drama, "King Lear."

The two passages selected for analysis both represent a dilemma of youth. In the case of Joyce's male protagonist in "Araby," the dilemma is the transition that takes place from boy to young manhood -- a transition that is deeply sexual, inherently romantic, and fraught with dangers to one's self-esteem. In the case of "King Lear," the dilemma is Cordelia's transition from dependent daughter loving her father more than any other being to independent woman, charged with loving her husband "first" after she is married. In both instances, the transition is one that requires the individual to develop new understandings of the self and the self-in-the-world, particularly with relation to others.

Cordelia speaks in response to her father's irrational demand that each of his three daughters, in order to obtain a third share of his kingdom, outdo one another in protestati

nd the page I strove to read (Joyce, 2001, p. 2)." So powerful is this combined image of the woman and the bazaar that the young man feels "an Eastern enchantment over me (Joyce, 2001, p. 1)." Like Cordelia, Joyce's protagonist stands poised on the threshold of a new experience of self and the world; unlike Cordelia, however, he is filled with extremely romantic notions and expectations that are doomed to be disappointed. For Cordelia, a realistic expectation of what her obligations will be to husband and father after marriage seems likely to ensure that she will be happy. Both Cordelia and Joyce's protagonist are seen in these passages as in a state of crisis. However, the two genres require a different technical handling of dialogue, narrative, and theme. Cordelia's speech occurs in the opening scene of Shakespeare's play and serves essentially to introduce Cordelia before she will be removed from the central action of the drama. Shortly after speaking to her father as she did, Cordelia is given in marriage and leaves the drama, only to appear again briefly in the final scenes of the play when she is reunited with her father. Thus, each of her words must be carefully chosen to establish her character. In Joyce's "Ara

Category: Literature - M