James Joyce was an Irish writer born in 1882. He belonged to a middle-class family. His novel A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man was published in 1916. The short story 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 . 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 certain changes. Stephen Dedalus is not an imaginary character, rather he contains the characteristics of Joyce to some extent. James Joyce actually gradually told his story as an artist by telling the story of Stephan Dedalus. This is why we get a lot of similarities between the personal lives of James Joyce and Stephan Dedalus for example, the punishment is school twice, meeting prostitutes, being religious after being afraid of the au- beyond that, considering women as objects and inferiors, similarity is a moment of epiphany, leaving Ireland to become a writer, etc. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”?Get the original essayJames Joyce did not have good relationships with women throughout his life. Stephan Dedalus, as he described him, also did not have good relationships with women. Additionally, Stephen Dedalus embodies James Joyce's misogynistic attitude due to his treatment of women throughout the novel ex: his mother; sisters; Emma and Eileen, hateful attitude towards prostitutes, narrow conception of feminism, inability to have intimacy with women, presenting a female character: Dante as antagonist; this also includes the passive role of women throughout the novella, the majority of male characters and their importance in Dedalus' life, his moment of epiphany where he intensely described the physical beauty of a girl, etc. “Therefore, women in A Portrait do not play a significant role since they are dominated by an overwhelming pre-eminence of patriarchy and power; they are simply devalued as physical objects serving the aspirations and desire of men.” In the novel A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, James Joyce portrayed all the female characters as passive, with the exception of Dante. “Stephen Dedalus, the novel's protagonist, oscillates between these two binary ways of being, but most truly interprets patriarchal definitions of female behavior.” His father failed to be idealized by his son Stephen. Stephen had different perceptions that changed frequently until his twenties about his father. He considered his father Simon Dedalus a "gentle man, a rower, an amateur actor, a shrill politician, a good boy, a drinker, a storyteller, a tax collector, a bankrupt, a boaster of his own past" . Even though Stephan never followed or tried to follow his father's path, he still talks a lot about his father when thinking about the news. 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 doesn't talk much about his mother in the novel. His mother's character was presented in such a way that his mother Mary Dedalus played no role in his life towards becoming an artist. Besides 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 Stephen's younger sisters who only appeared momentarily when they helped Stephan prepare to leave for college. Besides his mother and sisters, Stephen also described Emma Clery as a passive character. Shephen had tender, romantic feelings for Emma. In the whole story there are very few descriptions of her when we only know that Emma studies at a university and Stephen has been interested in her for many years. Stephen wrote a poem about her and she symbolizes for Stephan an ideal of femininity. At the end of the novel, we know almost nothing about Emma. She appeared suddenly as Stephen's love interest and in the end she disappeared meaninglessly. Other female characters like Dante or Eileen also have no importance in Stephen's life. They appeared for the sake of the story's flow and collapsed in time. James Joyce, in his novel, only portrays Dante, a woman, as an active character whom he portrays as an antagonist. James Joyce was a non-religious person at a time when Ireland had religious extremists. Stephen was an admirer of Charles Stewert Parnell and belonged to the nationalist party which campaigned successfully for agricultural reforms. He nearly returned Ireland to power when his enemies revealed his personal relationship with a married woman. After this, Parnell's own party expelled him and the Catholic Church criticized him. James Joyce respected Parnell by heart and he believed that only Parnell could bring about the independence of Ireland. Even at one point he said to his friend Davin: "No honorable and sincere man...has surrendered his life, his youth, and his affections to you from the days of Tone down to those of Parnell, but you have sold to the enemy or he abandoned him in need or reviled him and left him for another. And you invite me to be one of you. I'll see you first. »Dante Riordan, however, supported the Church and she spoke out against Charles Parnell. The Church opposed Irish nationalism, as did Dante. Dante sees his view as being the exact opposite of Stephen's. She argued with Stephen's father, Simon Dedalus, and his friend Mr. Casey at Christmas dinner over the influence of the Church. Both Simon and Casey viewed the Church as a harmful influence where only Dante continued to support the Church. Additionally, Dante had a negative impression about Parnell as she said of him, "He was no longer fit to lead," Dante said. He was a public sinner.” As a non-religious person and supporter of Parnell, Stephan also had a negative outlook against the Church and Dante Riordan. Stephan had a crush on a Protestant girl, named Eileen Vance, as a child. Dante forbade Stephen from marrying Eileen because she was a Protestant. At that time there was a clash between Protestants and Catholics. Dante believed in the Roman Church and was purely Catholic. In their childhood, Dante didn't even let Stephan play with Eileen because, as Joyce said, "And she didn't like him to play with Eileen because Eileen was Protestant and when she was young, she knew children who played with Protestants and the Protestants made fun of the litany of the Blessed Virgin” (Joyce 37 chapter 1). As a child, Dante had a mostly negative influence on Stephen's life. All the things she did are the opposite of Stephan's point of view. This is why James Joyce is shown to have placed Dante as the antagonist. Stephen began developing his physical needs when he was a teenager. At that time, he was attracted to women's bodies. He began to satisfy himself by regularly visitingprostitutes. He had his first sexual experience at the age of 14. Since she only visited prostitutes, he had no respect for them. He considered this kind of sexual intercourse to be “his first violent sin” (Joyce 117 chapter 3). He was never attracted to prostitutes and he had a hateful attitude towards them. He even compared prostitutes to Emma, ​​saying they were too common and impure. Also at the time of his confession, he said, “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-minded. As he had a romantic interest in Emma, ​​he used to express his views about Emma from time to time. In the novel, Emma is presented as an example of femininity. According to him, women should be pure, distant and inaccessible 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 no surprise, since his solipsistic tendencies were presupposed by his father.” As readers, we expect to see an artist's growth as well as their mental development. The female characters seem sophisticated. “In A Portrait, they are subjected to the pressure of patriarchy and are metaphorically colonized by the power of men. “Thus, female characters are the channel through which male power, self-confidence, and, most importantly, their experience can be obtained” (Torkashvand & Jamili 417). Additionally, the female characters do not understand or develop a perspective on femininity. It seems that Joyce intentionally obstructed the concept of femininity which expresses her misogynistic attitude. Emma was studying at university and was a good student. Emma had such qualities that she could have been portrayed better, 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 the direct result of men's power and domination over women.” Stephan Dedalus could not go beyond the beauty of the female body. At every moment 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 has a wet dream while unconsciously thinking about his crush, Emma Cleary, is particularly revealing 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 moment of epiphany is also criticized by expressing his sexuality. Epiphany is defined as the sudden realization of something. Generally, in the literary term, epiphany is used when a character suddenly achieves a feeling of realization or knowledge. Stephen became a godly man after confessing his guilt for visiting prostitutes. He was asked to become a priest. One day he was walking on the beach and he saw a young girl cottoning wool. Stephen suddenly realizes that this pious and religious life is not for him. It was never meant to be like this. He realizes that he wants to become an artist and that he 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 her beauty. He praised the beauty of the young girl. Even at the time of his revelation, he could not get beyond the physical beauty of a woman. He saw nothing but physical beauty in. 114-140.