“The Dead” Just Won’t Stay Dead

Although allusions to death, dying, and the deceased pervade the final tale in Dubliners, the most compelling and haunting element in “The Dead” is undoubtedly Gretta’s poignant memory of her teenage love, Michael Furey, and the effect that her tearful sharing of this recollection with her husband, Gabriel, has on the couple. Like most of Joyce’s stories, “The Dead” concludes with its protagonist feeling trapped in a situation seemingly beyond his control. Moreover, Gabriel’s sense of self has been severely shaken by the events of the evening and the climactic, disquieting, revenant otherness of his wife’s past love. In my essay, I examine the existential psychological nature of this haunting and the possibility (or impossibility) of mastering or transcending the situation in which Gretta and Gabriel find themselves at the tale’s end.