James Joyce is best known for his novels, epic in flavor, but before those successes he wrote his only play, Exiles. Treating the topics of jealousy, autonomy, and intimacy, Joyce writes about a man who watches his romantic relationship fall to pieces. The protagonist, Richard Rowan, bears striking parallels to Joyce himself, serving as an intermediary between audience and playwright.
Richard, having just finished writing a successful book, returns with his wife and son to his homeland, Ireland. After running into old acquaintances -- Beatrice and Robert -- who are now dating one another, the two couples decide to dine together in Richard's home. By the end of the night, Beatrice, Richard's wife, has told him that Robert has invited her to his home for a late-night rendezvous. The sexual implications are strong. Although the truth of that night is never revealed, Richard awakens early to wrestle through his jealousy and suspicion over his wife's likely affair. He confronts Robert, but Robert invents a plausible alibi. Finally Richard returns home to Bertha and chooses to extend forgiveness without pressing the matter further, but his trust in her is severely compromised. Now he's a single man living a lie, no longer willing to engage in vulnerability with Bertha.
The parallels between Joyce's life and Richard's cannot be ignored. First of all, both men are Irish authors. Based upon these qualities alone, the audience can suppose that Joyce is drawing upon personal experience to inspire Richard's character. Struggling with his romantic relationships throughout his life, Joyce would have had ample material from which to draw for sourcing his play. He would have been no stranger to jealousy and humiliation.
Following this connection between playwright and protagonist, the audience is left with some disturbing conclusions. Richard's behavior in response to Beatrice and Robert reflects a certain degree of masochism. Rather than offering his own opinions, he demands that Beatrice make her own decisions. Surely this reflects a feminist issue of empowerment, but it also demonstrates his judgmental nature. He refuses to act as Beatrice's conscience, instead preferring to willingly allow her to betray him. If she could do it, then he wants to know. He forces the same sort of decision upon her in the third act, making her the judge between Robert and himself. In fact, Robert accuses his friend of setting him up at dinner by seeing the dangerous waters which Robert was treading with Beatrice but not saying anything to prevent the affair.
Doubtless born out of a deeply suspicious nature and self-hatred, Richard forces the people closest to him into compromising situations, as if to test their loyalty. When they fail, he receives all the confirmation he needs to play the victim about his situation, proving to himself that he is unlovable. Bearing in mind Joyce's possible identification with the protagonist, then the reader must understand that Joyce has struggled with similar patterns, abusing his intelligence in order to test his loved ones.
