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Key Themes

Finnegans Wake weaves together numerous themes and motifs. These are the most prominent.

The Fall​

The central event of the Wake is a fall—or rather, all falls:

  • HCE's mysterious transgression in Phoenix Park
  • Adam's fall from Eden
  • Lucifer's fall from Heaven
  • Humpty Dumpty's fall from the wall
  • Tim Finnegan's fall from a ladder (the ballad)
  • Napoleon at Waterloo
  • Parnell's political fall
  • The Fall of Rome

All falls are one fall. The dreamer HCE relives humanity's primal guilt through endless variations.

The Crime in the Park​

HCE's specific transgression is never clearly stated. He may have:

  • Exposed himself to two girls
  • Voyeuristically watched urinating soldiers
  • Committed some sexual impropriety
  • Done nothing at all (the guilt is existential)

The ambiguity is essential. The crime is the human condition.

Resurrection and Renewal​

Every fall implies a rise. The Wake's structure embodies eternal return:

  • Finn MacCool lies sleeping under Dublin, ready to wake
  • Tim Finnegan rises at his wake when whiskey is spilled on him
  • The Phoenix rises from ashes (Phoenix Park)
  • Easter and Christian resurrection
  • Dawn ends the night's dream
  • The final sentence returns to the first

The Family​

The Wake centers on a Dublin family that is also every family:

HCE (Humphrey Chimpden Earwicker)​

  • The Father — authority, guilt, decline
  • Adam — the first man, the first sinner
  • Finn MacCool — the sleeping giant
  • Chapelizod publican — the social role
  • Sigla: ⊓ (like a mountain)

ALP (Anna Livia Plurabelle)​

  • The Mother — creativity, forgiveness, flow
  • Eve — the first woman, origin of life
  • The River Liffey — Dublin's river, all rivers
  • The Letter — her defense of HCE
  • Sigla: ∆ (like a delta/triangle)

Shem and Shaun (the Twins)​

  • Shem — the artist, introvert, Penman, Joyce himself
  • Shaun — the postman, extrovert, man of action
  • Cain and Abel, Jacob and Esau, all brother conflicts
  • Always opposed, always interchangeable
  • Sigla: ⌐ (Shem) and ⌐ reversed (Shaun)

Issy (Isolde)​

  • The Daughter — youth, sexuality, mirror
  • Isolde — the beloved, object of desire
  • Split personality — often appears as two (with her mirror image)
  • Sigla: ⊣

Time and History​

Vico's Cycles​

History repeats in four-stage cycles:

  1. Theocratic (gods and thunder)
  2. Aristocratic (heroes and fathers)
  3. Democratic (equality and reason)
  4. Ricorso (chaos, then return to stage 1)

Eternal Recurrence​

Nothing is ever over. The Wake's circular structure—final sentence leading to first—embodies Nietzsche's eternal return and Joyce's vision of history as nightmare from which we're trying to awake.

All History Simultaneous​

The Wake collapses time. Wellington's battle is Caesar's is HCE's pub brawl. The techniques of dream allow all moments to coexist.

Language and Communication​

The Letter​

ALP writes a letter defending HCE against accusations. This letter:

  • Is found in a midden heap by a hen
  • Contains the truth about the crime (maybe)
  • Is analyzed extensively (I.5)
  • Is the Wake itself (perhaps)
  • Is Joyce's work, scratched from rubbish

Babel and Tongues​

The Wake uses 60+ languages because:

  • Dreams don't respect linguistic boundaries
  • All languages share deep structures
  • Joyce aimed for universal communication
  • The Tower of Babel is a recurring motif

The Body and Sexuality​

Bodily Geography​

Dublin's landscape maps onto the sleeping body:

  • Howth Head = HCE's head
  • Phoenix Park = the torso
  • The Liffey = various flowing aspects
  • Chapelizod = the chapel of Isolde

Sexuality and Guilt​

HCE's guilt is fundamentally sexual:

  • Incestuous desire for Issy
  • Voyeurism and exhibitionism
  • Sexual jealousy of the sons
  • The creative/procreative link

Water and Rivers​

Anna Livia is the Liffey, but also:

  • All rivers (the chapter names 500+ rivers)
  • The flow of time
  • The flow of language
  • Female creativity and nurturing
  • The return to the sea (death)

Death and Wake​

A "wake" is both:

  • A funeral vigil — watching over the dead
  • An awakening — to wake up
  • A ship's wake — the trail behind

Tim Finnegan's wake is both his funeral and his resurrection. The book is a vigil over Western civilization and a celebration of its perpetual renewal.

See Also​