The Dead by James Joyce: The Ghost of a Man's Wifes Old Admirer Torments a Husband.

Oh, ye Dead! oh, ye Dead! whom we know by the light you give
From your cold gleaming eyes, though you move like men who live.
Why leave you thus your graves,
In far off fields and waves,
Where the worm and the sea-bird only know your bed,
To haunt this spot where all
Those eyes that wept your fall,
And the hearts that wail'd you, like your own, lie dead? It is true, it is true, we are shadows cold and wan;
And the fair and the brave whom we lov'd on earth are gone,
But still thus even in death
So sweet the living breath
Of the fields and the flow'rs in our youth we wander'd or
That ere, condemn'd, we go
To freeze mid Hecla's* snow,
We would taste it awhile, and think we live once more!
By Thomas Moore 1807-34

James Joyce's short story "The Dead" refers to the long lost memories and the people that have an effect on our lives after they are gone. The story gives voice to the emotions of the character of Gabriel Conroy. A husband who's wife's old romance to a person who died years ago, forces him to realize that there is a chapter of his wife's life that he did not know about.

Gretta and Gabriel Conroy attend the "Misses Morkan's Annual Dance," held by his two aging aunts, Kate and Julian Morkan, and their niece Mary Jane. The Dead is a subject in Gabriel's speech at the dinner after the dance. "Were we to brood upon them always we could not find the heart to go on," Gabriel says in respect of the dead. Gabriel Conroy's amiable character is exemplified by his capacity for affection and his high education. He is conscious of his superior education and does not want his speech to be above the heads of his aunts. Gabriel loves his aunts and considers them to be of a different "Grade of Culture."

Gretta's reminded twice of her past love, Michael Furey, at the dance. The first time is when a friend invites Gretta and Gabriel to Galway, the place where she had had her relationship with Michael, the second when Gretta hears the song "The lass of Aughrim," when it is played by Mr. D'Arcy at the dance in the upstairs parlor.

Gabriel brings Gretta to a hotel after the dance, anticipating a romantic evening and perceiving that they had escaped from their lives and duties. At the hotel, Gabriel questions Gretta's apathetic mood at the dance. She then tells him her tragic story of her long lost friend Michael Furey who discovering his illness, has revealed to her that he no longer wanted to love after Gretta refused him.

Gabriel becomes tormented by his wife's confession. His thoughts turn to what a dull, pathetic life he has provided for his wife when another man devoted such deep-felt passion to her even in death. Gabriel rather than be angered or misinterpreting Gretta's tale of lost love, comforts Gretta instead.

Joyce's "The Dead" asks if a glorified bold death of some passion is better than fading slowly into death with age. This theme is what people have tried to answer for themselves for centuries. Gabriel compares himself to Aunt Julia and Michael Furey. Michael died with a passion for Gretta, while his Aunt Julia will just slowly wither through the years and die. Gabriel realizes what a small impression he has had on his wife in comparison to the impact of a person who had given so much for her love. He is concerned he will have the same fate and die without leaving an effect on anyone.

The emotions he feels reshape his perceptions of his wife, his marriage and his own life.
"The Dead" is the third in a collection of James Joyce focusing on the meeting between life and death. The First "Dubliners," opens with "The Sisters" which explores death and remembering the dead and closes with the "The Dead" which explores the quiet calm between the dead and the living.