In his novel, Star of the Sea, Joseph O’Connor recounts the story of the people on the ship, Star of the Sea, as they make the perilous journey across the Atlantic Ocean from Ireland to America in search of a better life. However, the individuals aboard the ship are corrupt and deceitful, but one character, Mary Duane, remains unscathed by the sin surrounding her. Thus, in the novel, Star of the Sea, Mary Duane serves as the hero of the story.
For a hero to begin their journey, he or she must first be called to adventure by a herald. The herald offers a new life and journey which the hero cannot ignore. In the book, Pius Mulvey fills the role of herald to Mary Duane, for O’Connor reveals that he was a ballad-maker and a performer in his youth. …show more content…
Once Pius Mulvey brings Mary Duane into the underworld by abandoning her and their future child, Nicholas Mulvey serves as a guide figure for Mary because he takes her in under his care and helps guide her through her time of need. “when he heard the condition i was afterbeen put in he came down to see me…. he said he would leave off being a priest and wed me and rare my child of i would have him” (O’Connor 267). Nicholas Mulvey’s past in the priesthood alludes to his connection with the spiritual realm, making him a guide for the soul. Nicholas also embodies the god figure whom the heroine must seek guidance from to defeat the monster. Nicholas leaving the priesthood to marry Mary Duane is symbolic of his descent from the spiritual realm to the physical realm. The archetypal guide figure has made the journey before and teaches the heroine how to defeat the monster. Nicholas sets an example for Mary when he takes pity on Pius and shares his inheritance with him even though Pius abandoned his land and his would be wife. “Quote” (O’Connor 268). Their relationship as husband and wife is unusual, Nicholas describes them as brother and sister. Their marriage further indicates that Nicholas serves as the guide figure because marriage, like the guide-hero relationship, is a companionship. The archetypal guide figure cannot accompany the hero during the final battle between the hero and the monster. …show more content…
After her land and family were destroyed by Pius Mulvey, Mary departed from her home in search of salvation and a better life. She “Was committed to Galway workhouse in January 1846. Stole away from the workhouse and walked 180 miles to Dublin. Lived there in a hostel for women for a time, latterly at a convent where she worked in the laundry” (O’Connor 339). Mary living in a convent symbolizes her connecting with her spiritual side. “Washing… symbolizes the purification not so much of objective and external evil as of subjective and inner evils, which we might call ‘private’” (____ 1). Through working the laundry at the convent, she is encountering the deceased Lady Verity as a guide and a goddess figure. Verity means truth, illustrating that her guidance and example are truth. O’Connor portrays Lady Verity as a goddess figure. “…she [Mary] saw a beautiful lady in a sky-blue hooded cloak descending from a coach…. Her eyes were the green of the Connemara marble on the steps of the pulpit in Carna Church” (O’Connor 53). The “sky-blue” cloak alludes to Lady Verity’s divine nature and her role as a Virgin Mary figure. This aspect of her becomes apparent as she is descending from the coach in her sky-blue dress as though as she were descending from heaven. Furthermore, the color green is associated “…with vegetation, but also with death and lividness (green is therefore the connecting-link between
For a hero to begin their journey, he or she must first be called to adventure by a herald. The herald offers a new life and journey which the hero cannot ignore. In the book, Pius Mulvey fills the role of herald to Mary Duane, for O’Connor reveals that he was a ballad-maker and a performer in his youth. …show more content…
Once Pius Mulvey brings Mary Duane into the underworld by abandoning her and their future child, Nicholas Mulvey serves as a guide figure for Mary because he takes her in under his care and helps guide her through her time of need. “when he heard the condition i was afterbeen put in he came down to see me…. he said he would leave off being a priest and wed me and rare my child of i would have him” (O’Connor 267). Nicholas Mulvey’s past in the priesthood alludes to his connection with the spiritual realm, making him a guide for the soul. Nicholas also embodies the god figure whom the heroine must seek guidance from to defeat the monster. Nicholas leaving the priesthood to marry Mary Duane is symbolic of his descent from the spiritual realm to the physical realm. The archetypal guide figure has made the journey before and teaches the heroine how to defeat the monster. Nicholas sets an example for Mary when he takes pity on Pius and shares his inheritance with him even though Pius abandoned his land and his would be wife. “Quote” (O’Connor 268). Their relationship as husband and wife is unusual, Nicholas describes them as brother and sister. Their marriage further indicates that Nicholas serves as the guide figure because marriage, like the guide-hero relationship, is a companionship. The archetypal guide figure cannot accompany the hero during the final battle between the hero and the monster. …show more content…
After her land and family were destroyed by Pius Mulvey, Mary departed from her home in search of salvation and a better life. She “Was committed to Galway workhouse in January 1846. Stole away from the workhouse and walked 180 miles to Dublin. Lived there in a hostel for women for a time, latterly at a convent where she worked in the laundry” (O’Connor 339). Mary living in a convent symbolizes her connecting with her spiritual side. “Washing… symbolizes the purification not so much of objective and external evil as of subjective and inner evils, which we might call ‘private’” (____ 1). Through working the laundry at the convent, she is encountering the deceased Lady Verity as a guide and a goddess figure. Verity means truth, illustrating that her guidance and example are truth. O’Connor portrays Lady Verity as a goddess figure. “…she [Mary] saw a beautiful lady in a sky-blue hooded cloak descending from a coach…. Her eyes were the green of the Connemara marble on the steps of the pulpit in Carna Church” (O’Connor 53). The “sky-blue” cloak alludes to Lady Verity’s divine nature and her role as a Virgin Mary figure. This aspect of her becomes apparent as she is descending from the coach in her sky-blue dress as though as she were descending from heaven. Furthermore, the color green is associated “…with vegetation, but also with death and lividness (green is therefore the connecting-link between