I have chosen to analyze the short story titled “A Painful Case” from James Joyce’s collection “Dubliners”. “A Painful Case” is a short story from this collection dealing with the theme of isolation. The main character whose name is Mr. Duffy (in Gaelic it means ‘dark or black’) “is the outcast from life’s feast” and isolates himself from society and even from true love. Many critics, reviewers make allusions to mythology and find this story to be similar to Celtic legend of Tristan and Iseult. It is thought that the allusion to mythology makes the story “A Painful Case” more biting. This is the legend of love that brought Tristan and Iseult great happiness and immense grief. Also it is a tale of chivalry, doomed and transcendent love. The love story between the main character Mr. Duffy and his companion Mrs. Sinico is similar to the Celtic legend of Tristan and Iseult. The love story revealed in “A Painful Case” can be named as noble and chivalrous.
The title of the short story “A Painful Case” foreshadows the cause of the main character’s inner conflict. The main character Mr. Duffy chooses isolation, loneliness by himself. Probably he makes it unconsciously as only after the “painful case” or Mrs. Sinico’s death he realizes the extent of his loneliness. But he realizes it too late. “A Painful Case” is a situational short story as Mr. Duffy’s inner conflict prevails. It is a psychological story focusing on the main character’s inner state. Mr. Duffy’s inner conflict is caused by the doubts related to his beloved Mrs. Sinico’s death. There is a clash of two strong impulses within the main character: his wish to be with his beloved woman and his inability to take a decisive action in order to segue into a closer relationship. Mrs. Sinico’s death raises doubts whether the main character was right choosing to leave his beloved woman or not. Her death plays a really significant role in the short story as it makes Mr. Duffy understand how lonely he is in this world.
The place of the short story is Dublin. The author James Joyce chooses Dublin as a scene for an action because he realizes Dublin to be “the center of paralysis”. In this short story the main character Mr. Duffy is paralyzed mentally and is unable to take a decisive action, he cannot offer his love to Mrs. Sinico because of his mental paralysis.
I have divided the whole short story into four episodes which help me structuralize the development of the main character’s inner conflict. In the first episode Mr. Duffy’s character is disclosed through the appearance of his living place, his character’s direct description and his relationships with other people.
To start with, the author begins the description of Mr. Duffy’s living place by the description of the suburb where the main character lives. (“Mr. James Duffy lived in Chapelizod because he wished to live as far as possible from the city of which he was citizen and because he found all the other suburbs of Dublin mean, modern and pretentious”). By the reasoning of Mr. Duffy’s choice of the suburb to live in the author reveals the minor theme of the short story- longing to escape from the paralyzed city and characterizes the main character to be a real recluse (atsiskyrelis). The author portrays the main character’s living place in detail with the help of the third person narration. (“The lofty walls of his uncarpeted room were free from pictures. He had himself bought every article of furniture in the room: a black iron bedstead, an iron washstand, four cane chairs, a clothes-rack, a coal-scuttle, a fender and irons and a square table on which lay a double desk”). The author creates a cold and unpleasant view of the main character’s living place with the help of an epithet “black iron bedstead” and prevailing material- iron. The author creates the image of an individualist with the help of diction, for example, “himself”. The enumeration strengthens the extent of the main character’s individuality. All the things at home have their own place as we can see it from the direct description and it helps to reveal one more feature of protagonist’s character (pedantry). (“A little hand-mirror hung above the washstand and during the day a white-shaded lamp stood as the sole ornament of the mantelpiece. The books on the white wooden shelves were arranged from below upwards according to bulk”). Besides, the image of the sole white-shaded lamp foreshadows the main character’s fate. The main character could be described to be a real recluse, individualist, pedant, and loner with the help of Mr. Duffy’s living place description.