One of the most renowned and highly regarded short stories in the English language is James Joyce’s “The Dead”. Despite being lacking in significant events, the story primarily focuses on Gabriel Conroy’s thoughts. As the evening progresses and Gabriel learns about his wife’s past lover, it initiates a lengthy and exquisitely written internal monologue that eventually leads to an epiphany.
The story of Gabriel’s epiphany and the themes of time, death, and the living are unfolded by Joyce through the use of free indirect discourse, allowing readers to partake in Gabriel’s thoughts. However, when adapting the story into a film, it becomes challenging for John Huston to convey the nuances of Gabriel’s character without using thoughts or voice-overs, while remaining faithful to the text.
The reason for this lies in the fundamental differences between film and writing as mediums of expression. John Huston skillfully utilizes the camera and makes subtle changes to the narrative to expose Gabriel’s superiority complex and lack of emotional intelligence. This allows the audience to comprehend the epiphany experienced by Gabriel in the film’s conclusion. In the scene where Aunt Julia performs “Arrayed for the Bridal,” Huston captures much of the essence of Joyce’s writing but also takes advantage of the visual nature of film to create a scene that is remarkable in its own right.
In Joyce’s story, Gabriel becomes fixated on his speech before Aunt Julia’s performance. He comes up with a plan to insult Miss Ivors by praising his aunts, whom he arrogantly considers “two ignorant old women” (192). Joyce intentionally contrasts Gabriel’s shallow perception of his aunts with Freddy Malins’s genuine, albeit drunk, response to the song. Instead of merely contrasting Gabriel and Freddy’s differing opinions of Aunt Julia, Huston takes advantage of the visual potential offered by film to generate and juxtapose two distinct concepts of Julia within the audience.
To achieve this, he must change several elements of the story. Joyce describes Julia’s voice as “strong and clear in tone” (193), and states that “though she sang very rapidly she did not miss even the smallest of grace notes” (193). In other words, she may have looked frail and spent, but she still sang well. However, in the film, her voice is as decrepit as her body. Her notes are flat, her singing is off-key, and her expression is wooden. At this point, Huston has led the audience to share Gabriel’s view of Julia as a sad little old woman.
As the audience impatiently waits for the song to end, some may even be angered by the poor singing. However, the camera abruptly diverts its attention from the unimpressive performance. Like a curious visitor, it ascends the staircase and explores various objects, including a sampler quilt, sepia photographs, evening shoes, and rosary beads resting atop a Bible.
Huston utilizes these seemingly unrelated items to jog the audience’s memory of Julia’s vibrant past, reminding them that she was not always the elderly woman with a cracked voice. After the song finishes and the scene shifts back to the music room, the audience is essentially reproached and will likely empathize with Freddy’s frustrated outrage in response to Mr. Browne condescendingly praising Julia as “my latest discovery” (193). Furthermore, the audience now understands that Gabriel’s perception of Aunt Julia is narrow-minded and presumptuous, and that she possesses qualities beyond his comprehension.
Knowing that Gabriel believes he is better than others is essential for understanding Joyce’s story. This belief ultimately leads to Gabriel’s emotional downfall and moment of realization. James Joyce effectively reveals Gabriel’s superiority complex through passages like, “He was unsure about using lines from Robert Browning because he thought they would be too complex for his audience” (179), and “Gabriel tried to control himself and not say anything mean about the drunk Malins and his money” (217). However, Huston, the director, did not have the same opportunity to portray this aspect of Gabriel’s character through film.
John Huston demonstrates Gabriel’s arrogance to the audience by urging them to share his opinion of Aunt Julia, and then revealing the true nature of his views through shots of her belongings. Huston emphasizes Gabriel’s emotional and social incompetence by making changes to the staircase and cab ride scenes. In the text, Gabriel envisions Gretta as the inspiration for his painting, “Distant Music,” with her being “in the shadow” (209).
Gabriel cannot see the emotions on her face. He only sees her attitude, which he describes as graceful and mysterious. When she comes down the staircase, Gabriel observes that her cheeks have color and her eyes are bright. In the film, Gretta’s face is well-lit and highlighted by her shawl and the stained glass window. Anjelica Huston’s eyes shimmer with tears, leaving no doubt in the audience’s mind that Gretta is feeling sad.
Additionally, in Joyce’s text, Bartell D’Arcy and Ms. O’Callaghan are also present in the cab with Gabriel and Gretta during the journey back to the hotel. This prevents any meaningful conversation from taking place. However, in Huston’s version of the story, Gabriel and Gretta are allowed to ride back alone, creating a more intimate and romantic atmosphere. Gabriel tries to create a setting for a loving encounter by making a joke, kissing his wife’s hand, and telling her a story. However, his attempts are met with silence and avoided eye contact.
The audience comprehends that Gretta is feeling down and is clearly uninterested in being intimate at this point.
Thus, Gabriel’s endeavor to initiate physical intimacy in the hotel room comes as a shock to the viewers as they know his wife is in a melancholic and preoccupied state. Emphasizing Gabriel’s incapacity to emotionally connect with his spouse becomes crucial in comprehending “The Dead” because his lack of understanding, disregard for subtle signals, and reluctance to investigate beyond appearances ultimately lead to consequences and contribute, at least partially, to his epiphany.
Joyce alludes to Gabriel’s flaws, including his awkward encounter with Lily. However, capturing the depth of these moments, such as Gabriel’s embarrassment over Lily’s response, is often challenging in film adaptations. John Huston aimed to convey Gabriel’s difficulty in connecting with and comprehending others, thus he directly portrayed Gabriel being aware of Gretta’s sorrow and still pursuing an intimate relationship with her.
In his 1987 film adaptation of “The Dead,” John Huston effectively uses the camera to depict Gabriel’s unwarranted sense of superiority and introduces subtle changes to the narrative to highlight Gabriel’s emotional disconnect from his wife. Adapting Joyce’s intricate novella for the cinema was a challenging endeavor, but Huston triumphed. The connection between life and art mirrors that of an original work and its adaptation, where something is inevitably lost in translation. Nevertheless, what we gain in the end may outweigh what we sacrifice.
