# A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man — Character guide

> Key figures in A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce.

- [Stephen Dedalus](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_portrait_of_the_artist_as_a_young_man_se/characters/stephen_dedalus.md): Stephen moves through Clongowes and Belvedere as an outsider who studies the rules of church and school with unsettling intensity, testing each doctrine until it exposes his own condemnation. His imagination and pride pu
- [Cranly](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_portrait_of_the_artist_as_a_young_man_se/characters/cranly.md): Cranly meets Stephen in Dublin's university circles as a companion for long walks and longer arguments, prodding at his friend's religious scruples and artistic ambitions. He offers loyalty without surrender, listening c
- [Simon Dedalus](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_portrait_of_the_artist_as_a_young_man_se/characters/simon_dedalus.md): Simon Dedalus moves through Cork and Dublin as a man of stories, songs, and old connections, proud of a past that keeps shrinking around him. His warmth toward Stephen is real, but so is his failure to hold the family's 
- [Dante Riordan](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_portrait_of_the_artist_as_a_young_man_se/characters/dante_riordan.md): Dante Riordan presides over the family's meals and prayers with an authority that brooks no dissent, turning questions of faith and Irish politics into tests of loyalty. Her piety is rigid and her temper quick, and Steph
- [Cranly](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_portrait_of_the_artist_as_a_young_man_se/characters/cranly_friend.md): Cranly appears in Stephen's Dublin years as the friend who walks beside him through arguments about art, religion, and Ireland, never quite conceding a point. He is loyal but unimpressed, and his refusal to be converted 
- [Father Arnall](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_portrait_of_the_artist_as_a_young_man_se/characters/father_arnall.md): Father Arnall addresses the boys of Belvedere during a retreat, his voice building the four last things into a landscape of fire and eternal loss. He is not cruel but utterly certain, and that certainty is what makes him
- [Emma](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_portrait_of_the_artist_as_a_young_man_se/characters/emma.md): Emma exists for Stephen first as a name to hang his romantic and aesthetic ambitions on, a figure of imagined nobility rather than a person he truly knows. When he finally encounters her in youth, the meeting exposes the
- [Lynch](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_portrait_of_the_artist_as_a_young_man_se/characters/lynch.md): A cynical friend of Stephen at university.
- [Temple](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_portrait_of_the_artist_as_a_young_man_se/characters/temple.md): An eccentric and outspoken student at the university.
- [Mrs. Dedalus](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_portrait_of_the_artist_as_a_young_man_se/characters/mrs_dedalus.md): Stephen's mother, a devout Catholic and caring parent.
- [Uncle Charles](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_portrait_of_the_artist_as_a_young_man_se/characters/uncle_charles.md): Stephen's great-uncle, an elderly and kindly relative.
- [Mr. Casey](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_portrait_of_the_artist_as_a_young_man_se/characters/mr_casey.md): A friend of the Dedalus family, involved in political arguments.
- [Wells](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_portrait_of_the_artist_as_a_young_man_se/characters/wells.md): A bully at Clongowes Wood School who torments Stephen.
- [Fleming](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_portrait_of_the_artist_as_a_young_man_se/characters/fleming.md): A classmate of Stephen at Clongowes.
- [Nasty Roche](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_portrait_of_the_artist_as_a_young_man_se/characters/nasty_roche.md): A boy at Clongowes known for his unpleasantness.
- [Vincent Heron](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_portrait_of_the_artist_as_a_young_man_se/characters/heron.md): A rival student at Belvedere College who taunts Stephen.
- [Eileen](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_portrait_of_the_artist_as_a_young_man_se/characters/eileen.md): A childhood neighbor and early crush of Stephen.
- [Cardinal Newman](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_portrait_of_the_artist_as_a_young_man_se/characters/cardinal_newman.md): Religious figure referenced in Stephen's intellectual musings.
- [Eve](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_portrait_of_the_artist_as_a_young_man_se/characters/eve.md): Biblical figure referenced in religious imagery.
- [Sir Walter Scott](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_portrait_of_the_artist_as_a_young_man_se/characters/sir_walter_scott.md): Author referenced in Stephen's childhood reading.
- [Maurice Moriarty](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_portrait_of_the_artist_as_a_young_man_se/characters/maurice_moriarty.md): A student at the university.

HTML index: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_portrait_of_the_artist_as_a_young_man_se/characters