Michal Furey cherished Gretta so much that he, a (in all likelihood) tubercular worker in a doubtlessly carcinogenic workplace (the gasworks) risked his already fragile nicely being to return again stand in her once more yard in a cold rain. He is so decided to see Gretta sooner than she leaves that he says “… he did not have to dwell. ” Gretta believes that he died for her, and it could be the case. There isn’t a such factor as a degree out of whether or not or not or not he wore galoshes, however when he did it didn’t save him. He died each week after that remaining time he observed Gretta.
Gabriel, nonetheless, is eager on the newfangled galoshes, and he is cautious about his and his partner’s nicely being. Not like Michael Furey, Gabriel seems to relish being alive. He is in love alongside together with his partner, nevertheless he moreover would not seem to harbor romantic notions about her. “He did not want to say even to himself that her face was not pretty nevertheless he knew that it was not the face for which Michael Furey had braved demise. ” It’s exhausting to consider Gabriel Conroy braving demise for anyone, and undoubtedly not for romantic love.
He seems too self-satisfied for that, nevertheless he moreover has, as many smug and contented people have, a part of self-loathing “A shameful consciousness of his private particular person assailed him. He observed himself as a ridiculous decide, performing as a pennyboy for his aunts, a nervous wellmeaning sentimentalist, orating to vulgarians and idealising his private clownish lusts, the pitiable fatuous fellow he had caught a glimpse of inside the mirror. ” It is troublesome, on this remaining respect, to match Michael Furey and Gabriel Conroy.
Michael Furey died as an adolescent, in all the fervour of ill-health coupled with immaturity and intense romanticism. Gabriel is a grown man, a coach, a father and husband, with all of the cares, maturity, satisfactions, and even dashed illusions that that standing conveys. Michael, the passionate lover of Gretta who sang, with an exceptional voice, the maudlin tune of “The Lass of Aughrim” had none of Gabriel’s lifetime of sturdy — and, perhaps, stolid — respectability and responsibility. Such circumstances change personalities.
Nevertheless, it is really helpful by Joyce’s textual content material, Michael and Gabriel shared little moreover their love for Gretta. Michael is headlong, gifted, in ill-health, however moreover careless of life. Gabriel is, by comparability, cautious, common, respectable, and bent on the enjoyment of his possessions (notably Gretta) and his raised standing in comparability with many people spherical him. They look like of very utterly totally different dipositions, and, on the end of the story, Gabriel and the reader are left to imagine whether or not or not Gretta would have been happier with Michael Furey, had he lived.
