Posted: May 11th, 2022

Compare and Cotrast the Characters of Gabriel Conroy and Michael Furey in The Dead.

Michal Furey cherished Gretta a lot that he, a (in all probability) tubercular employee in a doubtlessly carcinogenic office (the gasworks) risked his already fragile well being to come back stand in her again backyard in a chilly rain. He’s so determined to see Gretta earlier than she leaves that he says “… he didn’t need to dwell. ” Gretta believes that he died for her, and it might be the case. There is no such thing as a point out of whether or not or not he wore galoshes, but when he did it did not save him. He died every week after that final time he noticed Gretta.
Gabriel, nonetheless, is keen on the newfangled galoshes, and he’s cautious about his and his spouse’s well being. Not like Michael Furey, Gabriel appears to relish being alive. He’s in love along with his spouse, however he additionally doesn’t appear to harbor romantic notions about her. “He didn’t prefer to say even to himself that her face was not lovely however he knew that it was not the face for which Michael Furey had braved demise. ” It is exhausting to think about Gabriel Conroy braving demise for anybody, and definitely not for romantic love.
He appears too self-satisfied for that, however he additionally has, as many smug and contented individuals have, a component of self-loathing “A shameful consciousness of his personal individual assailed him. He noticed himself as a ridiculous determine, performing as a pennyboy for his aunts, a nervous wellmeaning sentimentalist, orating to vulgarians and idealising his personal clownish lusts, the pitiable fatuous fellow he had caught a glimpse of within the mirror. ” It’s troublesome, on this final respect, to match Michael Furey and Gabriel Conroy.

Michael Furey died as an adolescent, in all the fervour of ill-health coupled with immaturity and intense romanticism. Gabriel is a grown man, a trainer, a father and husband, with all of the cares, maturity, satisfactions, and even dashed illusions that that standing conveys. Michael, the passionate lover of Gretta who sang, with a phenomenal voice, the maudlin tune of “The Lass of Aughrim” had none of Gabriel’s lifetime of strong — and, maybe, stolid — respectability and duty. Such circumstances change personalities.
However, it’s recommended by Joyce’s textual content, Michael and Gabriel shared little besides their love for Gretta. Michael is headlong, gifted, in ill-health, but additionally careless of life. Gabriel is, by comparability, cautious, regular, respectable, and bent on the enjoyment of his possessions (particularly Gretta) and his raised standing in comparison with many individuals round him. They appear to be of very completely different dipositions, and, on the finish of the story, Gabriel and the reader are left to assume whether or not Gretta would have been happier with Michael Furey, had he lived.

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