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The Harpist
Traditional national images connect Lenehan’s and Corley’s desperate and shallow lives with Ireland itself. For example, the harp, a traditional symbol of Ireland, appears in “Two Gallants.” Outside a wealthy Anglo-Protestant gentleman’s club, the men pass a harpist who is playing "Silent, O Moyle," a mournful song about Irish legends on a bare, and “weary” instrument. Interestingly, Lenehan personifies the instrument as the two friends take in the harpist. More specifically, he feminizes the harp. Lenehan notes that the harp appears to be “heedless that her coverings had fallen about her knees” and seems “weary alike of the eyes of strangers and of her master’s hands.” This brief description has a deeply sexual undertone that feels both vulnerable and nonconsensual. It is as if the feminized harp is being stripped bare and subjected to a voyeuristic male gaze and unwanted hands. This brief moment contributes to the story’s theme of misogyny.
The harpist’s melodies later follow Lenehan and pace his steps as the text continues and Lenehan resumes his walk through the Dublin streets. While Corley gallivants with his maid, Lenehan acts as the harpist, tapping his hands to the notes as he walks through Dublin. This parallel suggests that Lenehan is in some ways guilty of the same swindling as Corley, of taking advantage of a woman in the form of his country. This ambiguous connection between Lenehan and the harp is typical of Joyce’s national references. Joyce both leaves the inferences open to his readers and continually complicates them.
The Coin
“Two Gallants” ends with Lenehan nervously smoking a cigarette as he waits for Corley because he is worried that Corley has cut him out of the unexplained plan. Finally, he spots Corley and the maid and stealthily walks behind the couple until they stop at the wealthy residence where the maid works. Once they arrive, the maid runs inside through the servant’s entrance and reemerges a few moments later from the front door where she briefly meets Corley and then runs back inside. Lenehan trails after Corley, calling his name, until Corley finally turns around. Lenehan asks Corley if “it” worked. In response, Corley opens his palm into the lamplight to reveal a gold coin.
The glinting gold coin is the final image that Joyce leaves with the reader for this particular story and it is important on two levels. On a more literal or narrative level, the presence of the coin finally explains that Lenehan and Corley have been plotting to convince the maid to steal money from her employer for the entire story. On a more figurative or symbolic level, the gold coin symbolizes the transactional nature of all the relationships in the text. The piece of metal in the palm of Corley’s hand is all that these men have to show for themselves. Instead of cultivating meaningful, personal, and enriching relationships, Lenehan and Corley have taken the easy way out and given into greed.
