What do you think attracts Stephen to the priesthood? Why do you think he rejects it? In what ways is his later vocation (or "calling") as an...

In James Joyce’s influential modernist bildungsroman A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, Joyce portrays the life of young Stephen Dedalus as he struggles with his simultaneous religious and sexual awakenings. Stephen is attracted to the priesthood because he pictures the respect and gravitas that is associated with the position. Indeed, a priest actively attempts to convince Stephen to consider priesthood:

“To receive that call, Stephen, said the priest, is the greatest honour that the Almighty God can bestow upon a man.... What an awful power, Stephen!” (158).

However, as the novel progresses, it becomes clear to Stephen that he is not meant to be a priest. As the title suggests, he instead has a calling to be an artist. This calling is similar to how religious leaders describe their initiation into their respective religious orders. It is unavoidable, and cannot, and will not, be ignored. Later in the novel, when Stephen is roughly 18, Stephen’s friend Cranly quotes him and his thoughts on the importance of artistic expression:

“What you said, is it? Cranly asked. Yes I remember it. To discover the mode of life or of art whereby your spirit could express itself in unfettered freedom” (246).

For Stephen, his desire to express himself as an artist becomes more of a driving force in his life than his desire for religious expression; art supplants religion for him, and art becomes his religion.