Charles Stewart Parnell Character Analysis

Charles Stewart Parnell (1846-1891) was the leader of Irish Nationalism until the Catholic Church ousted him for having an extramarital affair, a disgrace that led to his untimely death. A famously strong leader, Parnell rallied much of Ireland in the fight for independence from England. The scandal of his affair rocked the country and bitterly divided those who condemned him for the affair and those who remained loyal to his vision. “Ivy Day in the Committee Room” (set on Ivy Day, the anniversary of Parnell’s death), focuses on a group of his devotees. Though long dead, Parnell is clearly the story’s central character in spirit, as the men sport his commemorative ivy leaf, argue over his legacy, and urge Joe Hynes to recite a histrionic elegy to the late leader. As the story unfolds, however, Joyce reveals the men’s worship to be shallow. As attested by their unproductive arguments, their strange avoidance of Parnell’s name, and Hynes’s vague, rather formulaic poem, the men go to great lengths to celebrate the abstract ideals that Parnell stood for while avoiding any meaningful discussion of his complex moral baggage. The men’s sidestepping of the elephant in the room is one way in which Joyce makes an important historical argument about Parnell’s ouster. The Church, Joyce suggests, should never have expelled an effective leader on grounds of personal morality; doing so not only sapped Ireland of its political spirit but also ensured that people would avoid engaging with moral issues altogether.