Sexual Repression May Destruct Genuine Human Interaction

In his writing ‘A Painful Case,’ Joyce highlights the depictions of sexuality and thoughtful disapproval of the prevalent Victorian prudishness. The narrative features a forthright conversation of sexuality and a reproach of sexual repression. ‘A Painful Case’ demonstrates that firm devotion to sexual moral conduct causes sexual repression, followed by disastrous impacts. In this story, both Mr. Duffy and Mrs. Sinico seem to abstain from marriage and sexual encounters, shaping a platonic friendship (Owens). However, their friendship is ruined when Mr. Duffy panics over a supposed sexual advance from Mrs. Sinico. The plot illustrates that adherence to strict sexual morals and fear of sexual expression can be damaging to building an authentic interaction. Mr. Duffy’s repression behavior based on socially accepted moral tenets leads to stopping a meaningful and genuine relationship with Mrs. Sinico.

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Ireland was a conventional nation during the Victorian age, particularly in relationships and marriage institutions. For instance, Catholic fellowship disallowed the divorce of spouses, making it impossible for Mrs. Sinico to acquire a divorce from Captain Sinico. James Joyce demonstrates how religious institutions at the time played a role in sexual suppression with the aim of promoting sexual morality (Davison 125). Regardless of Joyce’s upbringing as a Catholic, he seems to rebel against Victorian conventionality and the Ireland Catholicatism conservativism. Marriage in the 19^th century was radical to society because children born out of wedlock were regarded as “bastards.” Although Mrs. Sinico felt lonely and in need of a companion, she could not express her sexual or emotional desires since society deemed sexual restrictions between friends.

Sexual enjoyment during the Victorian age was a completely male privilege. Gender principles of the sexual morality of a reputable woman preserved a sexual double standard as mandated in the Matrimonial Causes Act of 1857. The culture was fascinated by the nature of the ‘fallen woman,’ meaning women who engaged in sexual experiences outside their marriages (Davison 128). As such, the society presented a feminine moral influence based on her ‘natural and instinctive conduct’; however, she was propelled to demonstrate the supposed innate traits. In essence, Mrs. Sinico, in her physical and behavioral portrayal, provided all her love, care, gentleness, and her affectionate solitude to her husband, showing how society expects women to behave, especially regarding sexual behaviors.

Moreover, the issue of conventionalism applies to Duffy’s lifestyle and the treatment he shows Mrs. Sinico. Duffy seems intellectually interested in Mrs. Sinico and enjoys spending time with her. He cuts off their association totally in a snapshot of sexual frenzy, assuming that Mrs. Sinico wishes to challenge accepted practices and have an immoral sexual relationship with him. As Duffy holds forward one evening, addressing Mrs. Sinico on “the spirit’s hopeless depression,” she builds up actual contact with him: Mrs. Sinico took his hand energetically and squeezed it to her cheek” (Owens). This motion leaves Duffy astounded. He, at that point, severs contact with her, not contacting her for seven days. He is left frustrated by Mrs. Sinico’s “understanding” of his discourse, believing that she is communicating sexual desire in him.

The word decision “frustrated” is critical, demonstrating that Duffy had put Mrs. Sinico on an ethical platform and envisioning that she would succumb to infidelity makes her tumble from it (Joyce 1-5). Also, he has considered her a scholarly friend, not a sexual accomplice. Duffy’s reaction depends on his conviction that Mrs. Sinico’s offer of putting his hand on her cheek was a sexual suggestion (Owens). Contrastingly, she may have only communicated care and worry for him in her motherly way, telling him he was not generally alone. Then again, in the event that she was communicating sexual interest in him, it is conceivable that he might have dismissed her development without freezing, making a decision about her brutally and totally cutting off the association.

More so, social conventions restricted and regarded topics of sex, sexuality, and physical needs as taboos. Duffy’s sexual reserve, restraint, and emphasis on customarily right good guidelines prompt the termination of what has been an important, true association, with Mrs. Sinico demising a couple of years later. At last, the story proposes that a sexual issue between the two, prohibited by good and social shows, would have been desirable over the life of segregation, misfortune, and demise resulting from Duffy’s sexual restraint, prudishness, and adjustment to social doubts. These unfolding events show sexual puritanism that forced the silencing of sexual matters (Owens). Joyce attempts to demonstrate that the new or refined sexual morality leads to the creation of a sense of sobriety, rigid self-control, and thrifty notions of the majority, which are influential. ‘A Painful Case’ highlights the domination of Victorian ideologies, sexual behaviors, and sexual conventions of 19^th-century society.

Joyce’s work, ‘A Painful Case,’ complicates the simple ideologies of Victorian prudism as the notion of sexual repression remains. He seeks to liberate his era from the apparent reserve and unawareness, particularly in sexual issues. Through the depiction of Mrs. Sinico and Mr. Duffy, the article demonstrates the influence and consequences of silencing sexual desires and intimacy. Nevertheless, due to influential roots in the protruding anti-Victorianist standpoint of modernist authors like James Joyce, the era was a key period in the invention of sexuality. It introduced contemporary terminologies people use today to formulate how they presume and converse about sexuality. Sexual preferences were pioneered, generating terms such as homosexuals, heterosexuals, and nymphomaniacs. Substantially, the modernist literature, poems, and discussions instigate the new opposition of homo and heterosexuality groups, which not only describe sexual behavior but are regarded as central to a person’s identity.

Works Cited

Davison, Carol Margaret. “The Victorian Gothic and Gender.” The Victorian Gothic: An Edinburgh Companion (2012): 124-141.

Joyce, James. A Painful Case. [S.N.], 1914, pp. 1-5.

Owens, Cóilín. James Joyce’s painful case. University Press of Florida, 2008.

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