Thursday, August 23, 2012

What is the climax of "Eveline"?

The short story "Eveline" written by James Joyce is a part of Dubliners. This is early-Joyce and the plot-structures are still more or less traditional and coherent and hence the question of a climax. Such Freytagian categories would become untenable in his late work.


The climax in "Eveline" is a complicated matter. The story uses the stock fairy-tale plotline of an incarcerated beauty and the romantic promise of a journey of liberation coming for her lover, Frank in this case. A classic climax of such a plot is the lovers' successful elope and it is this very structure that is subverted carefully by James Joyce. Eveline, who is often seen as a spirit of Ireland, is undecided even at the end and in the final final moment of departure, she remains stock-still and denies Frank. I think this moment is the climax of the story when Eveline does not go with Frank and the ship starts to move toward Argentina. The quick resolution is marked by Frank's incomprehension of Eveline's facial expression. The climactic moment of the story is thus made up of a subversive twist.

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