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Charles Stewart Parnell
Son of Victoria, Edward VII ruled the United Kingdom from 1901-1910, including the year in which Joyce’s “Ivy Day” likely takes place, 1902. The Nationalist canvassers in Joyce’s story see Edward as a representative of English oppression over Ireland. Wherever “Edward Rex” or “King Eddie” appears, readers can expect a heavy dose of sarcasm and disdain. Edward is at the center of a small scandal within the Nationalist party: when Joe Hynes reveals that their employer, the Nationalist candidate Richard Tierney, plans to welcome Edward on his upcoming visit to Dublin, his colleagues are aghast. Joyce uses Edward’s visit (which actually occurred in history) not only as a means of anchoring his story to a specific time and place but primarily as a means of illustrating Tierney’s selfish mishandling of hot party issues. Joyce also uses the Edward controversy to bring out telling attitudes in each of his characters: the jingoistic Hynes objects to Edward’s visit simply because his hero Charles Stewart Parnell would have, the prudish Bantam Lyons objects because Edward has a bad moral reputation, and the sleazy John Henchy finds a way to brush off the issue in order to win voters.
Edward VII Quotes in Ivy Day in the Committee Room
The Ivy Day in the Committee Room quotes below are all either spoken by Edward VII or refer to Edward VII. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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Ivy Day in the Committee Room Quotes
—But after all now, said Mr Lyons argumentatively, King Edward’s life, you know, is not the very…
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—What I mean, said Mr. Lyons, is we have our ideals. Why, now, would we welcome a man like that? Do you think now after what he did Parnell was a fit man to lead us? And why, then, would we do it for Edward the Seventh?
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Edward VII Character Timeline in Ivy Day in the Committee Room
The timeline below shows where the character Edward VII appears in Ivy Day in the Committee Room. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Ivy Day in the Committee Room
Jack asks what Hynes means, and Hynes references plans for a welcome address honoring King Edward’s upcoming visit, which he characterizes as “kowtowing to a foreign king.” O’Connor insists that Tierney,...
(full context)
...or indifferent.” Lyons asks how Henchy handles the issue of Tierney’s rumored plans to welcome Edward VII, but Henchy brushes this off not just as inconsequential, but as beneficial to Dublin’s...
(full context)
Lyons says that Edward’s character is the wrong kind to welcome to Dublin. Again, Henchy rejects him mid-sentence, so...
(full context)
