In "A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man", Stephan Dedalus' evolving image of the woman stems from his changing and inconsistent perspective on religion and spirituality. Whatever his religious beliefs during each adolescent stage, it is projected onto the feminine side of the text and serves as a tangible object of his abstract beliefs. Sex, salvation and purity are three of Stefano's most frequent attributions to women. Discovering these attributes in prostitutes, the Virgin Mary and the bird-like girl Stephen exploit women as sources of spiritual elevation, religious redemption, and freedom. Stephen's altered idolatry of every female figure chronologically documents his progression from conservative religious devotee to independent, spiritually resourceful artist. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay Throughout Stephen's childhood, the meaning of Catholicism was imprinted on him in a way comparable to teaching a child good table manners. They were fundamental edifications practiced by every Irishman devoted to the "real" Ireland; those dedicated to the rebellion of Protestantism. Raised with religion as another appendage of his body, Stephen never questioned the validity of God's existence or motives. He attends Catholic academic institutions, studies priests' educational instructions, and prays during mass without question. Although Stephen's childhood is saturated with the influences of Catholicism, his sensitive and intellectual mind is fully aware of the national and political tension that revolves around Irish politics and religion. The Christmas dinner scene disturbs young Stephen, who as he enters puberty begins to understand how much religion controlled socially. Religion was the reason he was sent to these Catholic schools where he suffered abuse from the priests while Mr Dedalus' political support in Parnell was the source of the devout Dante's breakdown during Christmas dinner. Shocked and stifled by a religion that was "reshaping the world around him into a vision of squalor and insincerity" ("A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man" ...p. 46), Stephan finds himself simultaneously starved for interest intellectuals and physicists. answers to his confusion---his young sixteen-year-old hormones hid a desire for sensual body satisfaction. In chapter 2, after experiencing familial humility and shame, Stephen finds himself wandering the dark, dank streets of Dublin in search of the answers his confused and lustful body asked for. Stephen's wanderings led him to find himself in front of the crudest symbol of sex: a young prostitute. Prostitutes are considered the epitome of female sexuality as they sell their bodies to provide a livelihood, essentially saturating every economic aspect of their lives with sin. They were the ultimate symbol of Catholic rebellion, and Stephen finds the prostitute's blatant defiance of her Christian community intoxicating. Stephen sees the young prostitute as the liberation from the "cry that had been stifled in his throat for so long" and her sex as a method for the "vehicle of a vague speech" (Portrait...p.70), a vague speech that frees Stephen from the restrictive sermons of religious life. Stefano's acutely sensitive mind does not allow him to consider the sexual act with the prostitute as purely physical. An orgasm for Stephen is a spiritual experience that transports him from the harsh reality of poverty and hormonal confusion into a world of pleasant fireworks. Stephan still can'tseparate from the Catholic notion of the adored and heavenly Virgin Mary, even though the prostitute is an obvious contradiction of the Virgin Mary. His description of the prostitute and her room is heavenly: the prostitute wears a long, flowing dress and her room is softly lit by candles (candles were often found to be the source of soft light in churches). The prostitute also has a doll in her bedroom, a symbol of childhood innocence and purity. Similar to how one would surrender to the power of God, Stephan allows her to bow her head in the prayer position, and finds himself "surrendering to her, body and mind, conscious of nothing in the world" (Portrait... page 71 ), as if he were spiritually transported to another spiritual realm. Stephen continues his sordid dealings with prostitutes and does not cease until he hears Father Arnell's sermon on the infernal damnation of those who partake of unhealthy pleasures of the flesh and mind. Scared to death that his "human spirit will sob and sigh, gurgle and wheeze", due to his body "feeding the mass of its crawling worms and being devoured by fat-bellied rats" (Portrait...page . 79), Stephen vows to seek a life of Christian redemption. In an attempt to reverse the effects of his sins, Stephen practices extreme mortification of his senses and subsequently seeks advice from a priest in confession. The priest advises Stefano to "pray to our mother Mary to help you. Pray to the Madonna when this (which means sordid sex) comes to mind" (Portrait. . . page 103). Along with his new practice of mortification and the priest's advice, Stephen finds himself devoutly praying obsessively to the Virgin Mary, venerating her as the idyllic image of virginal purity and beauty. Previously Stephen found the prostitute's disparate image of the Virgin Mary intoxicating; now he worships the purity of the Virgin Mary with the intention of eradicating the fleshy smell of the prostitute from her skin. Stephen's fascination with the virginal woman includes Emma, ​​a living, breathing reincarnation of Mary. The fact that Stephen has never spoken to her increases her level of purity. Having never touched or spoken to Emma, ​​Stephen is unable to have 'dirtied' her so he never compromises his heavenly representative of Mary on Earth. Furthermore, Stefano associates Emma and the Virgin Mary in his thoughts on female healthiness. He imagines himself standing, "beside Emma in a wide land, humbly weeping, bending and kissing the elbow of her sleeve" (Portrait... page 82) in an attempt to gain her forgiveness for having previously entertained brutally lustful thoughts about her. In this imaginary scene the Virgin Mary joins the two by the hand, essentially granting Emma's forgiveness as well as her own to Stephan. Stephen's passionate commitment to and idolatry of the Virgin Mary exemplifies his ability to reconfigure the image and role of the female form depending on the stage of his life. Stephen's projection of women will change once again as he discovers his desire to express his artistic and intellectual independence. As a reward for his unbridled devotion to the church, Stephan is offered a place in the priesthood. Although initially attracted by the prestige associated with the position, Stephen finds himself increasingly offended by the idea of ​​being bound by another's rules: after all, although previously bound by notions of mortification, they were his own standards, imposed rules determined by him and by no one else. He realizes that "the cold and order of life repel him" (Portrait. . .pg. 115), and with solid resolution he states: "He was destined to learn his own wisdom away from others or to learn the wisdom.