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James Joyce’s “Two Gallants” is an exploration of poverty, gender, and betrayal. The short story follows Lenehan and his friend Corley, who wander through the streets of Dublin while they talk about women and their latest money-making scheme on the way to Corley’s date with a maid, or “slavey,” as they call her. In order to fully analyze “Two Gallants,” we must begin by contemplating the short story’s title. A gallant individual is someone who is heroic and brave, and who both pays attention to and respects women. Clearly, the title of this short story, “Two Gallants,” is meant to be ironic because Corley and Lenehan are anything but fine, chivalrous men. Instead, they are two deeply misogynistic individuals who make an unpleasant practice of duping maids into stealing from their employers. Like many of the protagonists in the short story collection Dubliners, Lenehan and Corley do not paint Dubliners in a particularly flattering light.
The story opens with the image of two men walking down a Dublin street. Joyce then proceeds to give an overview of their respective personalities. He characterizes Lenehan as a quiet, awkward individual who allows Corley to control their conversation. Joyce continues that Lenehan repeatedly allows Corley’s carelessness to force him off of the sidewalk and onto the street. This seemingly insignificant detail serves as a microcosm of their entire relationship because Corley, a large, aggressive man who is both a proud womanizer and police informant, plays the dominant role in their dynamic while Lenehan acts as his faithful sidekick. This introductory section is essential to the story as a whole because it establishes the way that the two main characters will act throughout the rest of the text.
The inciting incident actually occurs before the events of the story take place due to the text’s unique narrative structure. “Two Gallants’” plot begins in media res, meaning that it is a piece of fiction that opens in the middle of a narrative. Texts that begin in media res thrust their readers into the meat of the action without immediately explaining the chain of events that led to that moment. Readers become increasingly aware that Lenehan and Corley are plotting something over the course of the story, but they do not actually learn that the pair has been planning to get the maid to steal money from her wealthy boss until the text’s final moment. Joyce’s use of plot structure is effective because the lack of initial information forces the reader to make their own assumptions about the situation. This generates a suspicious tone that is perfect for a text that is largely about paranoia and betrayal.
The rising action begins while Lenehan and Corley are walking through the streets together. Their conversation first turns to women and the reader is able to get a glimpse of Lenehan and Corley’s misogynistic natures as the two men exclusively refer to the women that they have dated as “tarts” or “girls,” joke about a woman that Corley dated who has since become a prostitute, and laugh about the many different ways that Corley likes to deceive women. Throughout the conversation, the two continue to make vague allusions to their undisclosed plan, which furthers the suspicious tone that permeates the text. The tension only continues to rise, especially after Corley briefly entertains the thought that Lenehan is trying to cut him out of the plan.
The rising action continues once Lenehan is left alone while Corley goes on his date with the maid. The misogynistic themes that Joyce introduces at the start of the text return as Lenehan leers at and objectifies the maid while he briefly follows Corley and the maid from a safe distance. The maid is unaware that she is being both perceived and followed by Lenehan, giving the interaction a predatory and unsettling air. Lenehan, keen to avoid any social interaction, then goes to sit alone at a restaurant while he waits for the date to be over. While he does so, he contemplates his pitiful existence and yearns for a future where he has a stable job and a healthy, loving home life. As a result, Lenehan can be viewed as the antithesis to the Dubliners protagonists who bemoan the constrictions of the domestic sphere such as Little Chandler from “A Little Cloud” and Mr. Doran from “The Boarding House.” However, Lenehan’s domestic escapism is not portrayed in a hopeful or positive light; the text implies that this fantasy will always be just out of reach because Lenehan does not have it in him to change the trajectory of his life.
Lenehan eventually makes his way back to the agreed-upon meeting point (the house where the maid works), but Corley is nowhere to be seen. Lenehan’s paranoia builds to a crescendo until, in the text’s climax, he assumes that Corley has abandoned and betrayed him. However, in the falling action, Corley and the maid arrive and the reader learns that the two friends have been plotting to convince the maid to steal from her boss. Lenehan trails after Corley and asks him if the plan worked and, in response, Corley opens his fist to reveal a glinting gold coin in the palm of his hand. This final image is the perfect summation of the text. These two men lead dissolute lives with few prospects, and nothing but easy money gives them hope. The meanderings of the story ultimately culminate in a gold coin, suggesting that for both of these men, this cold piece of metal is their ultimate reward and desire.
