In “A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man,” Stephan Dedalus's evolving image of the wife derives from his changing and inconsistent perspective on religion and spirituality. Whatever religious belief he holds during each phase of adolescence is projected onto the woman in the text and she serves as a tangible object for his abstract beliefs. Sex, salvation, and purity are three of Stephen's most frequent attributions to women. Discovering these attributes in prostitutes, the Virgin Mary and the bird-like maiden Stephen exploit women as sources of spiritual elevation, religious redemption, and freedom. Stephen's shifting idolatry of each female figure chronologically documents his progression from a devout conservative to an independent and spiritually ingenious artist. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an original essay Throughout Stephen's childhood, the importance of Catholicism was instilled in him in a way comparable to teaching table manners to a child. These were fundamental edifications practiced by every Irishman dedicated to the “real” Ireland; those devoted to the rebellion of Protestantism. Raised with religion as an added appendage to his body, Stephen never questioned the validity of God's existence or motives. He attended Catholic academic institutions, studied the educational instructions of priests, and prayed at Mass without question. While Stephen's childhood was saturated with the influences of Catholicism, his sensitive and intellectual mind was fully aware of the national and political tension that revolved around Irish politics and religion. The Christmas dinner scene disturbs young Stephen, and as he enters puberty, he begins to understand the extent to which religion controlled society. Religion was the reason he was sent to these Catholic schools where he suffered abuse from priests, while Mr Dedalus' political support for Parnell was to blame for the collapse of the devotee Dante at Christmas dinner. Distraught and stifled by a religion that was “reshaping the world around him into a vision of misery and insincerity” (“A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man” ... p. 46), Stephan finds himself simultaneously starving intellectual and physical development. answers to her confusion---her young 16 year old hormones fed a need for sensual body satisfaction. In Chapter 2, after experiencing familial humility and shame, Stephen finds himself wandering the dark, damp streets of Dublin in search of the answers that his confused and excited body demanded. Stephen's wanderings led him to stand before the crudest symbol of sex: a young prostitute. Prostitutes are seen as the embodiment of female sexuality as they sell their bodies in order to support themselves, essentially saturating every economic aspect of their lives with sin. They were the ultimate symbol of Catholic rebellion, and Stephen regards the prostitute's blatant disregard for her Christian community as intoxicating. Stephen considers the young prostitute as the release of the "scream that he had so long strangled in his throat" and his penis as a method for the "vehicle of a vague discourse" (Portrait... p. 70), a vague speeches that free Stephen from the restrictive sermons of religious life. Stephen's extremely sensitive mind does not allow him to view the sexual act with the prostitute as purely physical. For Stephen, an orgasm is a spiritual experience that transports him fromthe harsh reality of poverty and hormonal confusion in a world of pleasant fireworks. Stephan still cannot separate himself from the Catholic notion of the adored, heavenly Virgin Mary, even though the prostitute is an obvious contradiction to the Virgin Mary. His description of the prostitute and her room is heavenly: the prostitute wears a long flowing dress and her room is softly lit by candles (candles were often the source of soft light in churches). The prostitute also has a doll in the room, a symbol of childlike innocence and purity. Similar to how one would surrender to the power of God, Stéphane allows her to lower her head in the prayer position, and he finds himself "surrendering to her, body and mind, conscious of nothing in the world" (Portrait. . . p. 71), as if spiritually transported to another spiritual realm. Stephen continues his sordid dealings with prostitutes and does not stop until he hears Father Arnell's sermon concerning the hellish damnation of those who partake of the unwholesome pleasures of the flesh and spirit. Frightened by the idea that "his human spirit will sob and sigh, gurgle and rattle", because his body "feeds on the mass of his crawling worms and will be devoured by plump-bellied rats" (Portrait... p. .79), Stephen vows to seek a life of Christian redemption. In his efforts to reverse the effects of his sins, Stephen practices extreme mortification of his senses and then seeks advice from a priest in confession. The priest advises Stephen to "pray to our mother Mary to help you. Pray to Our Lady when this (i.e. sordid sex) comes to mind" (Portrait... p. 103). Coupled with his new practice of mortification and the priest's advice, Stephen finds himself devoutly praying to the Virgin Mary obsessively, venerating her as the idyllic image of virginal purity and beauty. Previously, Stephen found the harlot's disparate image of the Virgin Mary intoxicating; he now worships the purity of the Virgin Mary with the intention of eradicating the fleshy odor of the prostitute from his skin. Stephen's fascination with the virginal woman includes Emma - a living, breathing reincarnation of Mary. The fact that Stephen has never spoken to her increases her level of purity. By never having touched or spoken to Emma, ​​Stephen is incapable of having "defiled" her so he never compromises his celestial representative of Mary on Earth. Additionally, Stephen associates Emma and the Virgin Mary in his thoughts on female health. He imagines himself standing, "near Emma in a vast country, humbly in tears, bent and kissed the elbow of her sleeve" (Portrait... p. 82) with the aim of obtaining her forgiveness for having previously nourished brutally vigorous thoughts about him. In this imagined scene, the Virgin Mary joins the two by the hand, essentially granting Emma's forgiveness as well as Stephan's own. Stephen's passionate commitment to and idolatry of the Virgin Mary illustrates his ability to reconfigure the image and role of the female form depending on the phase of his life. Stephen's view of women will further change as he discovers his desire to express his artistic and intellectual independence. As a reward for his unfettered devotion to the Church, Stephan is offered a position in the priesthood. Although initially attracted by the prestige associated with the position, Stephen finds himself increasingly offended by the idea of ​​being constrained by other people's rules---after all, although previously limited to notions of mortification , these were his own standards, imposed rules determined by him and no one else. He realizes that “the cold and the order of life repelled him” (Portrait... p. 115), and with.