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Corley is more of a straightforward character than his faithful sidekick, but that does not mean that he is an inconsequential figure. In fact, Corley’s presence is essential to the narrative because it is his scheming that sets the story’s plot in motion. A police informant and skilled at taking advantage of women, Corley provides one of the most critical and unsympathetic portraits of Dubliners. He is characterized as a self-serving, manipulative man whose large build complements his domineering personality. One gets the sense that Corley does not care about anyone or anything unless it can be of use to him. This trait is best exemplified by his relationships with Lenehan and the maid. Corley and Lenehan are theoretically friends but Corley clearly only values Lenahan for his sidekick status and he becomes suspicious and borderline hostile when he thinks that Lenehan might try to come up with his own plan. In a similar vein, Corley is clearly taken with the maid’s beauty but he is really only interested in the role that she can play in his robbery scheme. The text implies that Corley would be quick to drop both Lenehan and the maid the moment that they stopped being useful to him.
