Tammie Lopez
Eng. 326
Final Paper
11/27/13

Artists From a Readers Perspective

The term artist refers to a person who produces works in any of the arts that are primarily

subject to aesthetic criteria. Artists such as Stephen Dedalus from James Joyces’ Portrait of the

Artist as a Young Man and Lily Briscoe from Virginia Woolf’s To the Lighthouse are both

equally affected by how society interprets their art. These two characters embody their author’s

perspectives on what it means to grow and be a true artist. At the same time they receive

contrasting messages from the society around them, which in turn affects how they view their

own art.

Stephen and Lily as artists receive vastly different treatment from society, Stephen is

confident whereas Lily is clearly not. Lily looks up to Mrs. Ramsey, but Mrs. Ramsey does not

take Lily seriously and Lily knows that. “With her little Chinese eyes and her puckered up face,

she would never marry; one could not take her painting very seriously” (Woolf 17). According

to the people around her, Lily has one role in society and that is to get married and take care of

her husband and her household. No one in Lily’s life seems to encourage her the way that the

people in Stephen’s life encouraged him. Mr. Tansley is Lily’s biggest critic and a firm

nonbeliever “whispering in her ear, “Women can’t paint, women can’t write…” (Woolf 48).

Lily recounts these comments made to her and they recur in her thoughts throughout the novel

and clearly weigh heavily on her. Lily is constantly reminded of her duty to stop painting and to

marry, whether she is explicitly instructed to do so or whether she recalls it from her thoughts.
The consequence of this being that Lily lacks the confidence that Stephen had and feels very

differently about her art than Stephen feels about his writing. In a way she is more unsure of

herself, skeptical and never really secure with the idea that art is what she loves to do. Lily also

seeks connections to the world, which surrounds her, where as Stephen does not, Stephen does

not desire those connections because he is confident in his life choices and confident enough to

be alone.

This is the exact opposite of Lily’s situation. Stephen is a sensitive and intellectual

person and was even so as a younger boy. Although he has siblings, his parents decide to send

only him to the expensive Clongowes Wood College, where he is initially an outcast, but by the

end of his schooling there proves himself to be both smart and capable of standing up to any

injustices. Stephen’s time at Belvedere College further illustrates his intellectual superiority. He

earns the reputation of being one of the smartest boys there and his teachers and classmates

respect his level of intelligence. The only consequence that this positive reinforcement has is

that it gives Stephen the confidence to be his own isolated person and to eventually leave Ireland

to pursue his art of writing. Stephen states “I do not fear to be alone…And I am not afraid to

make a mistake, even a great mistake” (Joyce 218). From this positive feedback and respect that

Stephen has received on behalf of his classmates, teachers and society as a whole he conjures up

the courage to face the world alone for the sake of pursuing his art.

These two characters view their art and the effect it has on society around them very

Differently. Lily views her painting in the exact opposite way that Stephen views his writing.

While lily is consumed by her work, thinking about painting even when she is not at her easel,

she never likes to share her work with others. William Banks is the only person that Lily lets see

her painting and even that makes her brush shake. Woolf describes Lily’s interaction with

Banks, “she did not, as she would have done has it been Mr. Tansley, Paul Rayley, Minta Doyle,

or practically anybody else, turn her canvas upon the grass, but let it stand” (Woolf 17-18). This

nervousness and lack of confidence is a stark contrast to the sureness that Stephen feels. Lily

simply does not have the same lofty hopes about her art that Stephen has about his writing. Lily

thinks her art “…would be hung in the servants’ bedrooms. It would be rolled up and stuffed

under a sofa. What was the good of doing it then, and she heard some voice saying she couldn’t

paint, saying she couldn’t create…” (Woolf 158-159). She is very skeptical of herself and her

talents as an artist. “It would be hung in attics, she thought; it would be destroyed. But what did

that matter?” (Woolf 208). Not only does Lily not share Stephen’s same hopes and desires about

her work but her lack of ambition does not seem to be a concern to her. She never aspires to be

the voice for women artists and she somehow seems content with that. But something within

Lily does drive her to paint, something other than the hopes of fame and fortune. The last words

of the novel convincingly articulate Lily’s feelings about the purpose of her work, “she looked at

her canvas; it was blurred. With a sudden intensity, as if she saw it clear for a second, she drew a

line there, in the centre. It was done; it was finished. Yes, she thought, laying down her brush in

extreme fatigue, I have had my vision” (Woolf 208-209). Lily had an epiphany almost, after all

those years, she was finally able to finish, and she did so with old Mr. Carmichael beside her.

She somehow felt a sense of connection with the world around her regardless of the destiny of

her physical painting.

In Stephens mind he has numerous criticisms towards Irish society and sees his writing as

a way to point out these flaws with the hopes to change them. In the closing lines of the novel,

when Stephen is leaving to become an artist, he reflects on his choice stating, “I go to encounter

for the millionth time the reality of experience and to forge in the smithy of my soul the

uncreated conscience of my race” (Joyce 224). Stephen wants to be the voice of Ireland and the

voice of his culture, exposing both the good and bad aspects of it. According to the English

dictionary this use of the term “uncreated” could have the traditional meaning of not being made

yet, or the meaning of self existent or eternal. In using self existent or eternal that would mean

that the conscience of Stephen’s race already exists and that he is the person who is finally able

to define it. Regardless of which meaning was intended, it is very clear to the reader that

Stephen has high hopes for his writing and seems to truly believe that his writings will make a

difference to Ireland, and to possibly the world.

The positive reinforcement that Stephen receives from the people around him affects his

feelings towards his art and allows him to isolate himself from Ireland, the church and his family.

The negative feedback that Lily receives from the people around her changes her feelings about

the purpose of her art. In the end Stephen’s writing takes him into voluntary exile while Lily’s

painting makes her feel more connected to all that is around her. Therefore these two characters

have grown as artists and their work is shaped by the way society views them and the role that

art has in their lives.