Women bring out the worst side of people. Behind the fall of every great man is a woman. By conversing with a woman, one will be stripped of pride. By interacting with a woman, one will grow insecurity. By romanticizing with a woman, one will become jealous. In James Joyce’s “The Dead,” Gabriel interacts with three different women at a party and is overrun with these controlling emotions. Though women may not be the cause of these thematic topics in all cases, Gabriel’s character is revealed through his interactions with women, as he is shown as a prideful, insecure, jealous man who tries to fix his own problems before helping others.
In the opening scene, Gabriel arrives at the party, and he interacts with Lily, the caretaker’s daughter who he has grown up since the last time he had seen her. Gabriel asks her about marrying, and rather than receiving an answer, Lily snaps at Gabriel, hurting his pride. I’m an attempt to fix his pride, Gabriel tips the young girl, and refuses to be told no, so rather than leaving with the girl snapping at him, he leaves with the girl calling back to him and thanking him for the generous tip. This shows that Gabriel is a prideful man, and that he will pay money to fix his pride. Gabriel is not only defined by his pride, but also his insecure nature.
Later at the party, Gabriel dances with an old comrade from college, Miss Ivors. As they danced, Miss Ivors pokes fun at Gabriel, calling him a West Briton, which is someone who does not support the movement for Irish independence. This deeply offends Gabriel, as he tries to defend himself, but is unable to say the right words to do so. He continues to think about what she said and if people really think that he is a West Briton, heavily defending himself even though it was simply a joke. This shows his insecure nature, for rather than just taking the joke, he defends himself heavily and is choked up on the words in trying to do so. Gabriel, however, is blinded by his insecurity, for he fails to realize that in defending himself, he hurts Miss Ivors feelings, for she leaves the party very early. As the novel moves on, Gabriel’s pride and insecurities are both seen as his jealous nature comes out.
After the party, Gabriel and his wife go to a hotel, and upon arriving, Gabriel is filled with lust and wishes to overpower his wife. This wish to do so, however, is overshadowed by what Gretta is thinking about, for her silence shows something is on her mind. When Gabriel asks her, she responds that she is thinking about someone, and Gabriel is immediately filled with jealousy. As Gretta tells the story of the person who she was thinking about, a man who had loved her and had risked his life for her, and inevitably died for her, Gabriel is filled with jealousy. His pride is severely hurt for he believes that all this time he was being compared to some guy, and that she was always thinking about him. His pride and jealous rage once again overshadows what the woman is doing, for Gretta begins to cry without end. Gabriel comforts her for a little bit by simply caressing her hand, but stops and leaves her rather than really comforting her. This shows how his jealousy and prideful manner comes before anyone else’s problems, for he is angered after this just because his lustful feelings were not fulfilled and because she was thinking of someone who died for her many years before. When she is asleep, he looks at her and ponders their marriage and the man who risked his life for her, and in doing so, shows the disconnect that his jealousy has caused with his wife, for he looks at her as if they are not married, and says that she is not the same face that the man would have saved, calling her aged and not as beautiful rather than worrying about her personality. This shows that he is once again attempting to fix his pride to feel better about himself.
Throughout the short novel, Gabriel is shown as a prideful, insecure, and jealous man who will do whatever it takes to repair his pride, and in turn, ends up hurting other people’s feelings. Through his interactions with women, his negative qualities come out, showing the pride, insecurity, and jealousy that is in his true nature.
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