In A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, Stephen Dedalus defines beauty and the artist's comprehension of his/her own art. Stephen uses his esthetic theory with theories borrowed from St. Thomas Aquinas and Plato. The discourse can be broken down into three main sections: 1) A definitions of beauty and art. 2) The apprehension and qualifications of beauty. 3) The artist's view of his/her own work. I will explain how the first two sections of his esthetic theory relate to Stephen. Furthermore, I will argue that in the last section, Joyce is speaking of Stephen Dedalus and A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man as his art.
First, Stephen states the theory that art should invoke esthetic emotions. These emotions are confined only to the intellect and are incapable of manifesting themselves in a physical manner: "The esthetic emotion is therefore static. The mind is arrested and raised above desire and loathing." (Pg. 149). An example of esthetic emotion being static can be found in Keats' poem, "Ode on a Grecian Urn." In this poem, the scene on the urn of two young lovers just about to kiss is frozen in time. Their feelings of anticipation, excitement, and innocence are still felt by the urn's viewers even though their act can never be carried out. Human emotion, like the picture on the urn, is static. Also, anything that induces a physical reaction, such as flinching, cannot be art. This is because it has nothing to do with the intellect, but an animal reaction caused by nerves. Stephen's experience with visiting prostitutes for the first time exemplifies this theory: "His hands clenched convulsively and his teeth set together as he suffered the agony of its [a dark presence's] penetration." (Pg. 70). He was drawn to them for the reason of desire for physical stimulation. In that point of Stephen's life, he realized that his desires, and anyone's desires, are only animal reflexes: "We are all animals. I also am an animal." (Pg. 149).
Given that beauty is only intelligible and not physical, "It [beauty] awakens, or ought to awaken, or induces, or ought to induce, an esthetic stasis, an ideal pity or an ideal terror, a stasis called forth." (Pg. 150). Stephen then gives a definition of art, "Art - is the human disposition of sensible or intelligible matter for an esthetic end." (Pg. 150). That art is formed from the "Gross Earth," meaning the artist's experiences. Art does not start as something beautiful, but from experiences that are rough and raw. What transforms these experiences into art is how one can recreate the esthetic emotions felt by the artist. An example of this is when Stephen sees the "Bird Girl" when wandering on the shore of the Irish Sea. He experiences such enlightenment of only the soul and mind: "Her eyes had called him and his soul had leaped at the call. To live, to err, to fall, to triumph, to recreate life out of life. A wild angel had appeared to him, the angel of mortal youth and beauty, an envoy from the fair courts of life, to throw open before him in an instant of ecstasy the gates of all the ways of error and glory." (Pg. 123). This epiphany, according to the esthetic theory, would be considered pure art because Stephen experienced it esthetically.
The next stage of this discourse, now that beauty and art have been defined, is to understand how beauty and esthetic emotions are apprehended. This is accomplished by first, listing two hypotheses, then by giving the three universal qualities of beauty. The first hypothesis is of man's conception of beauty in females. This hypothesis is that men find women beautiful only because they want to mate with them: "Every physical quality admired by men in women is in direct connexion [connection] with the manifold functions of women for the propagation of the species." (pg 151). However, Stephen dislikes this hypothesis because Stephen believes that, "It leads to eugenics rather than to esthetic" (Pg. 152). Also, it is unlikely that Stephen's experience with the prostitutes was not aimed at furthering human kind. However, the second hypothesis, is very much supported by Stephen and is combined with the ideas of Aquinas. This hypothesis is known as "Applied Aquinas." This hypothesis expresses that, "All people who admire a beautiful object find in it certain relation which satisfy and coincide with the stages themselves of all esthetic apprehensions." (pg 152). Again, this hypothesis can be equated with an experience of Stephen's life. For example, in Stephen's conversation with Cranly, they argued over the issue of Stephen's mother wishing him to make Easter duty. Stephen felt that he could not comply because he did not love God: "I tried to love God. It seems to me now that I failed. It is very difficult. I tried to unite my will with the will of God instant by instant." (Pg. 176). However, Cranly's argument was that Stephen should fulfill his mother's wishes. Cranly felt that would be of minimal expense to Stephen in return for his mother giving him life: "Your mother must have gone through a good deal of suffering. Would you not try to save her from suffering more...Do as she wishes you to do. What is it for you? You disbelieve in it. It is a form: nothing else. And you will set her mind at rest." (Pg. 176). Complying or not with his mother's wishes satisfies different esthetic apprehensions for both of them.
Next, Stephen explains the three universal qualities of beauty, which he also borrowed from Aquinas: wholeness, harmony, and radiance. Wholeness is the way which one's mind views an object and is the "First phase of apprehension." One's mind, when presented with an object, draws a line around the object and blocks out the rest of the visible universe. This quality is especially important in that it is a quality that Stephen has mastered and is how Stephen views himself. Harmony is how one takes that separated object and views it in its basic components, to see how it is made up and to see its symmetry. The final quality is radiance. By radiance Stephen means embracing an object for what it is, for its originality, and for it being "No other thing." Radiance is the supreme quality, "This supreme quality is felt by the artist when the esthetic is first conceived in his imagination." (pg 155). Stephen has not realized this quality yet. This statement represents an important shift in the object of the discourse. The transition of object is from Stephen Dedalus to Joyce himself. By radiance, Joyce is speaking about embracing Stephen for who he is. Joyce is the artist of Stephen and is referring to the esthetic emotions brought to Joyce by recreating events in his life through Stephen.
This brings Stephen to the final topic of the discourse: The three forms which an artist looks at his own work. The three forms are: "The lyrical form, the form wherein the artist presents his image in immediate relation to himself; the epical form, the form wherein he presents his image in mediate relation to himself and to others; the dramatic form, the form wherein he presents his image in immediate relation to others." (pg 155-156). All of these forms are directly aimed at how Joyce views A Portrait... as the artist. The entire point of this fictional autobiography is to fulfill and display these three forms. Joyce fulfills the lyrical form by presenting his creation (Stephen) and displaying Stephen's experiences in relation to Joyce's life. Joyce fulfills the epical form by displaying Stephen's stream of consciousness and his position of certain issues (religious, political, etc.); then taking his positions and contrasting them with the thoughts and positions of others. Finally, he fulfills the dramatic form which he displays Stephen's relations with other people, such as family, friends, and teachers.
In conclusion, the Esthetic Theory is Stephen's definition of the beautiful and of art. Also, it serves the point for Joyce, himself, to describe and explain his thoughts and perspectives as the artist of both A Portrait of the Artist As a Young Man as a novel, and of his alter ego, Stephen Dedalus.