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without the female sex. It is noteworthy that Deasy has the
relationship muddled when referring to the first
Anglo-Norman invasion of Ireland: the faithless wife was
wedded to O’Rourke, the prince, not MacMurrough, the
seducer (Gifford & Seidman, 1988: 39). A headmaster, he
muddles up history as Crawford, O’Molloy, and MacHugh do.
Encountering such an educator, Stephen feels stifled: “The
same room and hour, the same wisdom: and I the same. Three
times now. Three nooses round me here” (Joyce, 1986: 25).
This money-loving, anti-Semitic, and misogynistic educator,
very likely, ruins rather than illuminates the younger
generation.
V. Conclusion: Joyce’s Rethinking of the
Intellectual
Intellectuals, admittedly, have dominated central parts in
the pages of modern Irish history, and Joyce incorporates a
diverse array of intellectuals into his texts. The “Aeolus”
episode depicts members of the intelligentsia in the professions
of journalism, law, and education. Many of these characters,
however, are representatives of disappointment rather than
talent. Kiberd comments that the episode “is filled with a sense
of missed opportunities” (2009: 121). Indeed, we observe that
Crawford works unenthusiastically for a newspaper on the
decline; O’Molloy is down on his luck and defeated by life;
MacHugh fails to profess the language he adores, and so on. As
Platt remarks, the “OMNIUM GATHERUM” in the
Telegraph
office is in fact “a gathering of failure and unfulfillment,”
where underachievers, not outstanding talents, assemble (1998:
735-736). These characters’ underachievements notwith-
standing, Kershner notes that “the newspaper office becomes
the arena for performances,” permeating which is “a sense of
expectant nostalgia and a regret for great times past”; the