Modernist writers like Joyce often pushed the envelope in their portrayals of sexuality. In deliberate criticism of what he saw as Victorian prudishness, Joyce’s writing often features frank discussion of sexuality and criticism of sexual repression. “A Painful Case” shows that strict adherence to sexual moral standards leads to sexual repression, with tragic consequences. Both Duffy and Mrs. Sinico are celibate and pursue a platonic friendship. Then, their relationship is destroyed when Duffy panics over a perceived sexual overture from Mrs. Sinico. In this plot trajectory, the story shows that conformity to strict sexuality morality and fear of sexual expression can be destructive of authentic human connection.
Duffy is initially portrayed as lacking passion and sexual desire. He is out of touch with physicality, either by choice or by nature. The imagery used in the opening paragraph to describe Duffy’s home suggests his lack of passion. His home is “sombre,” unadorned, all black and white, with only “a black and scarlet rug” at the foot of the bed. The color red connotes passion and sexuality, and the rug with its hint of red near Duffy’s bed suggests that Duffy’s sexuality is also only a hint, almost an afterthought. Duffy’s disinterest in sexuality is further symbolized by the description of the contents of his desk. Lifting its lid causes a faint fragrance to escape, giving a sensual connotation. However, one smell from the desk is of “an overripe apple which might have been left there and forgotten.” Hearkening back to the Garden of Eden and “forbidden fruit” as associated with sexual knowledge, this apple represents Duffy’s sexuality, which has withered away through disinterest and lack of use. Building on these symbolic references, the story states more directly that Duffy is out of touch with his physicality. He is said to live “at a little distance from his body, regarding his own acts with doubtful side-glances.” He does not fully inhabit his body. Instead, he is detached and alienated from himself: “He ha[s] an odd autobiographical habit which le[ads] him to compose in his mind from time to time a short sentence about himself containing a subject in the third person and a predicate in the past tense.”
By contrast with Duffy, Mrs. Sinico is portrayed as more sexually alive and aware. Despite lack of interest from her husband and her advancing years, she has stayed connected to sexual passion. Mrs. Sinico’s sexuality is portrayed subtly in her first physical description. Her pupils sometimes blend in with her dark blue irises, described as a “deliberate swoon of the pupil into the iris.” The word “swoon” gives Mrs. Sinico’s appearance a subtle connotation of sexuality, since to swoon means to faint or grow dizzy as a result of intense emotion or romantic interest. Her eyes also reveal “a temperament of great sensibility” or capacity for deep feeling that is only visible sometimes. This expression of feeling will fall quickly fall back “under the reign of prudence,” suggesting that Mrs. Sinico keeps her passion in check in order to conform to social norms of prudent, respectable behavior. Her clothing and body further suggest her sexual potential: “her astrakhan jacket, moulding a bosom of a certain fullness, struck the note of defiance more definitely.” Referring directly to Mrs. Sinico’s full bosom and specifying that her jacket is made of astrakhan—soft, textured fleece—further gives her appearance sensual connotations. Her physical description suggests that she is sexually awakened and therefore has the potential to defy the norms of the time.
Duffy ends their relationship completely in a moment of sexual panic, thinking that Mrs. Sinico wishes to defy social norms and have an adulterous sexual relationship with him. As Duffy holds forth one night, lecturing Mrs. Sinico on “the soul’s incurable loneliness,” she establishes physical contact with him: “Mrs. Sinico caught up his hand passionately and pressed it to her cheek.” This gesture leaves Duffy “very much surprised.” He then breaks off contact with her, not seeing her for a week. He is left “disillusioned” by Mrs. Sinico’s “interpretation” of his speech, thinking that she is expressing sexual interest in him. The word choice “disillusioned” is significant, showing that Duffy had placed Mrs. Sinico on a moral pedestal and imagining that she would commit adultery causes her to fall from it. Moreover, he has seen her as an intellectual companion, not as a sexual partner. Duffy’s action is based on his belief that Mrs. Sinico’s gesture of placing his hand on her cheek was a sexual overture. In fact, she might have merely been expressing care and concern for him in her “maternal” way, letting him know that he was not really alone. Alternatively, if she were expressing sexual interest in him, it is possible that he could have rejected her advance without panicking, judging her harshly and completely ending the relationship. Duffy’s sexual prudery, repression, and insistence on conventionally correct moral standards leads to the end of what has been a meaningful, authentic connection, and Mrs. Sinico dies a few years later. Ultimately, the story suggests that a sexual affair between the two, though forbidden by moral and social conventions, would have been preferable to the life of isolation, tragedy, and death that results from Duffy’s sexual repression, prudery, and conformity to social scruples.
Related Themes from Other Texts
Sexual Repression ThemeTracker
Sexual Repression Quotes in A Painful Case
He lived at a little distance from his body, regarding his own acts with doubtful side-glasses. He had an odd autobiographical habit which led him to compose in his mind from time to time a short sentence about himself containing a subject in the third person and a predicate in the past tense. He never gave alms to beggars and walked firmly, carrying a stout hazel.
One evening he found himself sitting beside two ladies in the Rotunda. The house, thinly peopled and silent, gave distressing prophecy of failure. The lady who sat next him looked round at the deserted house once or twice and then said:
—What a pity there is such a poor house tonight! It’s so hard on people to have to sing to empty benches.
He took the remark as an invitation to talk. He was surprised that she seemed so little awkward.
He wrote seldom in the sheaf of papers which lay in his desk. One of his sentences, written two months after his last interview with Mrs. Sinico, read: Love between man and man is impossible because there must not be sexual intercourse and friendship between man and woman is impossible because there must be sexual intercourse.
Captain Sinico […] also gave evidence […] He was not in Dublin at the time of the accident as he had arrived only that morning from Rotterdam. They had been married for twenty-two years and had lived happily until about two years ago when his wife began to be rather intemperate in her habits.
Miss Mary Sinico said that of late her mother had been in the habit of going out at night to buy spirits. She, witness, had often tried to reason with her mother and had induced her to join a League.
It was after nine o’clock when he left the shop. The night was cold and gloomy. He entered the Park by the first gate and walked along under the gaunt trees. He walked through the bleak alleys where they had walked four years before. She seemed to be near him in the darkness. At moments he seemed to feel her voice touch his ear, her hand touch his. He stood still to listen. Why had he withheld life from her? Why had he sentenced her to death? He felt his moral nature falling to pieces.
He turned back the way he had come, the rhythm of the engine pounding in his ears. He began to doubt the reality of what memory told him. He halted under a tree and allowed the rhythm to die away. He could not feel her near him in the darkness nor her voice touch his ear. He waited for some minutes listening. He could hear nothing: the night was perfectly silent. He listened again: perfectly silent. He felt that he was alone.
