Celibacy In Dubliners

The relationship between Michael Furey and Gretta Conroy could very well have progressed to a fulfilling relationship that eventually included marriage. Unfortunately, Michael and Gretta were involved in a courtship that would never flower. Gretta was moving away and Michael fell ill; they wouldn't even be able to say good-bye because of Michael's declining health. Deeply in love with Gretta, yet faced with never seeing his love again, Michael's actions grew desperate when he went to Gretta's home the snowy night before her departure. His frantic and adoring intentions lead to his downfall because the visit caused a violent and fatal climax to his ailment. He decided that he would rather ignore his health and possibly die, rather than never say goodbye to his love. Gretta's husband Gabriel summed up Michael's reasoning well by saying "Better pass boldly into that other world, in the full glory of some passion, than fade and wither dismally with age"(176). Dying a virgin is possibly the most effective way to remain celibate, and Michael's actions prove that one's present love is more important than any promise of future happiness. Certainly Michael could have met another girl later in life, married and lived happily ever after. .
             In other cases social customs play a larger part than anything else in a person's choice to remain celibate. James Duffy exemplifies this idea well in "A Painful Case". He and Mrs. Sinico are involved in a relationship in which they often find themselves alone, talking for hours in quiet quarters. He enjoyed her company, something unusual for such an isolated character; it appeared as if an intimate relationship might evolve. "Her companionship was like a warm soil about an exotic. Many times she allowed the dark to fall upon them, refraining from lighting the lamp. The dark discreet room, their isolation, the music that still vibrated in their ears united them" ( 87).