Two Gallants

The harpist that Corley and Lenehan encounter on Kildare Street represents Joyce’s most explicit symbol of Ireland’s Social Decline. As the harp is a well-known emblem of Ireland, the imagery used to describe the musical instrument symbolizes the condition of Ireland as the author saw it.

Significantly, the harp appears in the text after Corley and Lenehan’s cynical dialogue about exploiting women and romance as a transactional business. The narrative describes how the harp’s “covings ha[ve] fallen about her knees, [and] seem[] weary alike of the eyes of strangers and her master’s hands” (8). Joyce’s personification of the instrument suggests an exhausted female sex worker who has undressed but is tired of being exploited and objectified. This imagery also connects the harp to the story’s theme of Suspicion and Betrayal. Joyce’s metaphor parallels the primary characters’ misogyny and perception of sexual relationships as exchange-based processes. Joyce’s emphasis on the weariness of the woman critiques the characters’ attitudes by demonstrating the effects of their behaviors.

The depiction of the harpist “pluck[ing] at the wires heedlessly” contributes to Joyce’s representation of Ireland’s social decline (8). The description conveys the musician’s purposelessness and lack of pleasure in his task. The song he plays is Silent, O Moyle, a patriotic Irish song. The image of the “mournful music” following Corley and Lenehan as they walk away suggests that the Dubliners are haunted by the degeneration of their country.