James Joyce’s ​A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man is a poignant portrayal of a young man’s quest for an aesthetic form of artistry that will liberate him spiritually, intellectually, and emotionally from a fruitless existence subject to the constant constraints of an Irish-Catholic environment. Joyce traces the psychological development of the protagonist, his own literary alter ego Stephen Dedalus, who seeks to discover and construct his artistic identity in the world. The Joycean epiphany—a sudden spiritual, mystical revelation inspired by an external object that brings clarity to a hidden essence of the human experience—is crucial to Stephen’s development throughout the novel: these epiphanies are the critical moments that cumulatively crystallize Stephen’s understanding of his sense of self, his place in the world, as well as the essence of aesthetic beauty in art. The Joycean epiphany manifests itself in ​A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man ​for Stephen f​requently each occurrence building off of one another and providing Stephen a newfound awareness of his soul through observatory daily rituals. The climactic epiphany occurs in Chapter IV with the bird-girl by the shore, an embodiment of pure, unbridled beauty to Stephen. Joyce highlights that these multifaceted epiphanies coalesce to allow an individual transcendental revelations that strike to the core of one’s soul, enabling profound spiritual growth—to Joyce, these moments of observatory revelation are paramount to the shaping of an individual’s soul, and thus their sense of self. In attempting to elucidate the essence of the human experience, Joyce highlights that one’s sense of self is cumulatively constructed by an amalgamation of epiphanic moments—intellectual, religious, and spiritual—which catalyze a newfound spatiotemporal awareness of one’s self within the world, facilitating Stephen’s psychosocial understanding of his sense of self; central to these epiphanies is Stephen’s fixation on individual humans around him—Stephen’s ability to plunge into the depth of his inner soul is catalyzed by keen sensual observation of the people around him, who serve as the lens to discover his sense of self in the encompassing world.

Prior to the grand epiphany with the bird-girl in Chapter IV, Joyce includes a subtle, preludial epiphany when Stephen realizes that his path in life is not meant to be that of a priest’s, a profound spiritual and religious discovery for him—central to note is the spatiotemporal awareness that Stephen suddenly becomes cognizant of, as Stephen envisions his life through the lens of a priest in the future and draws upon his own physical observations of priests, enabling the discovery of his sense of self as an artist later on in the chapter. Recognizing Stephen’s piety and strong academic potential, the director of the school encourages Stephen to consider becoming a Jesuit priest; after listening to the director, Stephen reflects, envisioning his life through the lens of a priest in a spatiotemporal context, which enables Stephen to soon realize that such a life is unsuited for him:

“His name in that new life leaped into characters before his eyes and to it there followed a mental sensation of an undefined face or colour of a face. The colour faded and became strong like a changing glow of pallid brick red. Was it the raw reddish glow he had so often seen on wintry mornings on the shaven gills of the priests? The face was eyeless and sourfavoured and devout, shot with pink tinges of suffocated anger. Was it not a mental spectre of the face of one of the jesuits whom some of the boys called Lantern Jaws and others Foxy Campbell?…He saw himself sitting at dinner with the community of a college…Then he wondered at the vagueness of his wonder, at the remoteness of his own soul from what he had hitherto imagined her sanctuary, at the frail hold which so many years of order and obedience had of him when once a definite and irrevocable act of his threatened to end for ever, in time and in eternity, his freedom…His soul was not there to hear and greet it and he knew now that the exhortation he had listened to had already fallen into an idle formal tale. He would never swing the thurible before the tabernacle as priest. His destiny was to be elusive of social or religious orders. The wisdom of the priest’s appeal did not touch him to the quick. He was destined to learn his own wisdom apart from others or to learn the wisdom of others himself wandering among the snares of the world.” (277-79)

In reflecting upon life as a priest, a descriptive image of the faces of priests is brought to Stephen’s mind, sensual attributes—or a “mental spectre”—denoting a “pallick brick red” glow, a vague color that is undefined, ever-changing, and indicative of anger and restlessness—characteristics that would define Stephen’s spiritual state of mind if he were to become a priest. The significance of these sensual descriptions lies in the manner in which Stephen is able to discover how unfulfilling his life would be—he discovers this by keenly observing physical attributes of priests around him, a process that contributes to the shaping and discovery of his destiny. The epiphanic passage here then shifts to a spatiotemporal perspective, as Stephen reflects on life in the future—which he views as permanent and “irrevocable”—sitting in a “community college,” a confined spatial area that would inhibit his freedom “end for ever, in time and in eternity.” Stephen’s epiphany at the very end of this passage is catalyzed by this spatiotemporal reflection of his life as a priest, as he chronologically proceeds to a consideration of the repercussions of such a life on his “soul,” culminating in the realization that he must pursue his destiny of his own accord and stray away from “social and religious orders,” thus setting him on the path to becoming an artist and discovering his true sense of self. This moment, indeed, is a crucial epiphany for Stephen, the prelude for his grand epiphany with the bird-girl, where his vision of becoming an artist is crystallized. In order to reach that later epiphany, Stephen must first reflect upon life as a priest here and achieve a smaller epiphany. In this specific passage, Stephen draws upon his own sensual observations of priests in conjunction with a newfound spatiotemporal understanding of his future life, factors that cumulatively catalyze Stephen’s realization that such a life is not meant for him. As such, this epiphanic moment is crucial to furthering Stephen’s discovery of his sense of self, and leads up to the bird-girl epiphany.

Stephen’s grand epiphany with the bird-girl in Chapter IV signifies his discovery of his artistic identity—it gives him an ecstatic understanding of pure, unbridled freedom through a limitless spatiotemporal lens, as he ​becomes the artist in visually observing the sensual beauty of the bird-girl without overwhelming lust; this epiphany, catalyzed by the sensual image of the bird-girl, cements Stephen’s artistic identity and enables profound spiritual growth, as he realizes the transcendental spatial freedom enabled by his artistry, which consummates his prior epiphany with the priests. Following Stephen’s discussion with the director regarding the prospect of becoming a priest, Stephen wanders across a shore and beholds an image of a gazing girl, whose divine beauty spurs an ecstatic revelation of pure joy within Stephen’s soul, as he reflects on her sensual beauty and the transcendental, spiritual spatiotemporal implications of his newfound artistry:

“Her image had passed into his soul for ever and no word had broken the holy silence of his ecstasy…He felt above him the vast indifferent dome and the calm processes of the heavenly bodies; and the earth beneath him, the earth that had borne him, had taken him to her breast. He closed his eyes in the languor of sleep. His eyelids trembled as if they felt the vast cyclic movement of the earth and her watchers, trembled as if they felt the strange light of some new world. His soul was swooning into some new world, fantastic, dim, uncertain as under sea, traversed by cloudy shapes and beings. A world, a glimmer or a flower? Glimmering and trembling, trembling and unfolding, a breaking light, an opening flower, it spread in endless succession to itself, breaking in full crimson and unfolding and fading to palest rose, leaf by leaf and wave of light by wave of light, flooding all the heavens with its soft flushes, every flush deeper than the other.”

Stephen is profoundly impacted by the sensual image of the girl, a permanent image imprinted in his ecstatic soul. Crucial to note in this passage is the freedom that Stephen now feels—the “dome,” or sky above him, is now “indifferent,” and he feels an ethereal connection with “heavenly bodies,” an unbridled sense of spatial and spiritual freedom he has never known, enabled by the image of the bird-girl. Regarding Stephen’s spatiotemporal awareness, Stephen’s soul transcends beyond the constraints of the space-time continuum of the real, physical world, into an ethereal landscape—emblematic of a profound, newfound spiritual and religious freedom. Stephen’s new world is still filled with crimson colors, reminiscent of the “reddish glow” of anger of the priests—yet these crimson colors fade into a tender rose of “soft flushes,” an image of pure beauty and warmth. Stephen himself, encompassed by these crimson colors, is emblematic of a martyr who has deviated from the religious path of a priest—in this respect, Joyce has secularized Stephen’s martyrdom, a process that is now not associated with death, but rather with pure ecstasy, spiritual freedom, even birth. Indeed, Stephen is momentarily transfigured in front of the bird-girl, the destiny Joyce foreshadowed through Stephen’s longing to “fade into something impalpable” under Mercedes. Stephen’s new world is now filled with “endless” possibilities of creation, embodied in the innumerable ways the petals of the rose unfold. Moreover, Stephen’s temporal awareness, in conjunction with his spiritual spatial freedom, is crucial to note—amidst a slumber, Stephen’s eyelids feel the “vast cyclic movement of the earth,” whose rotation dictates both time and space. Within this ethereal spatiotemporal context, Stephen becomes aware of the gravity of his existence in the real world, which serves as the lens for him to discover his sense of self as an artist in this passage. Lastly, perhaps most important to note, Stephen discovers his artistic identity through the bird-girl, through sensual observations of humans around him—indeed, the image of the bird-girl is permanently engraved in his soul, an everlasting symbol of unbridled beauty in the universe and of incredible creative freedom enabled through his newfound artistry. Stephen’s discovery of his artistic identity is catalyzed by a synthesis of sensual observations and a newfound spatiotemporal understanding of his place in the world, which coalesce to form a profound epiphanic revelation—Joyce thus highlights how crucial these factors are in shaping an individual’s sense of self, as well as the chronological and cumulative nature of epiphanies.

To Joyce, an individual discovers him or herself through other individuals. Stephen further uncovers his sense of self through observation of those around him, whether it be Jesuit priests or the iconic bird-girl, in sudden, profound epiphanies. He is able to progress in the discovery of his sense of self by becoming aware of his spatiotemporal identity in the world, which are further crystallized through these epiphanies. Yet, despite how momentous these epiphanies are, Joyce shows that each epiphany alone is minute and insubstantial—rather, an individual’s identity is constructed by an amalgamation of epiphanies that collectively shape one’s sense of self, as shown through the two subsequent epiphanies presented here. Individual epiphanies are also minute with respect to the relative spiritual wisdom they bestow upon Stephen—even at the end, Joyce emphasizes that Stephen has much more to discover and uncover; while these epiphanies catalyze profound realization for Stephen in the moment, in the wide scope of life and true discovery, they are actually small and only the beginnings of many more to come. The discovery of his artistic identity is only beginning, but Stephen must learn to cultivate the “reality of experience,” to recognize and become at one with his emotions in the moment, rather than engage in long-winded reveries and epiphanies. In other words, Stephen has yet to become the active controller—he has yet to actually bring his epiphanies, his dreams, to fruition. As of now, these epiphanies are profound realizations, but ultimately meaningless if Stephen cannot apply his realizations tangibly to the real-world. Moreover, Stephen must learn to grasp and become at one with the basic, simple aspects of daily life. Joyce shows at the very end, though, that these epiphanies have paved the path for Stephen to be able to actualize his desperate longings and reveries—they have shown him his destiny to become an artist. And there lies the true significance of epiphanies, a profound force that catalyzes the construction of one’s sense of self.