Dantean Allegory In Dante And Joyces Inferno - 973 Words

The key to appreciating Joyce’s use of Dantean allegory is found in identifying the relevant Joycean motifs, the recurrent thematic conceits informing his characters and their philosophies. One method of analysis, which highlights the verity and significance of a shared allegory of paralysis in Dante and Joyce, demonstrates the strength of the claim by means of reviewing the weakest possible examples. In this way, one examines individual Joycean images (however much they are repeated throughout the text) that singularly fail to point at paralysis, per se. However, if analyzed through the lens of contextual reading, and if interrogated specifically as they may enjoy certain Dantean reflections, nonetheless render startlingly clear†¦show more content†¦Ã¢â‚¬Å"’Derevaun Seraun! Derevaun Seraun!’† (Joyce 33): Eveline cannot get the memory of her mother’s final nonsensical refrain-before-death out of her mind, which she utters 12 times before dyi ng. Analyzed alongside a poignant moment from Canto XXXII, wherein the giant Nimrod, chained taunt to the walls of the Ninth Circle, immobilized and driven insane by the punishment, babbles incessantly (the likewise meaningless â€Å"Raphà ¨l mai amà ¨cche zabà ¬ almi!†), we see a Dantean parallel in Joyce’s text driven home by the similarities of the next scene, wherein Eveline considers the moral, spiritual, and philosophical consequences of running away upon her mother’s death. Recalling that the scene progression of Inferno has Virgil chastise Nimrod for his outburst, just as Eveline mentally chastises her mother (â€Å"What nonsense! Mad unto death, and no less deserved for it!†), so as Antaus lowers Virgil and Dante onto the floor of Hell, the