Chapter Summary Of 'The Death Of Old Man' By Stephen

In chapter three, Stephen experiences an alarming bout of agony during a sermon about Hell. Stephen explains how, “his flesh shrank together as if it felt the approach of the ravenous tongues of flames…”, and, “his brain was simmering and bubbling within the cracking tenement of the skull” (148). Stephen’s agony during the sermon and seemingly literal hellish suffering is a result of the guilt he feels for his material sins and sins of the flesh he perpetrated in chapter two. Stephen becomes convinced that he is going to hell. While agonizing about the fate of his eternal soul, Stephan receives a vision of Mary in which she says, “You have erred but you are always my children” (139). This serves as a turning point for Stephen. Up until this point, his life has been one of a slow descent into sin and depression. Despite all this, he believes that his faith in God and in the Virgin Mary can save him from eternity in Hell.
After his realization that he can still yet be saved from Hell, Stephen goes to his room, “to be alone with his soul” (160). This action marks a key moment of transformation in Stephen, in which he isolates himself and is confronted with his past sins in the form of six goat-like demons. He awakes from this transformative experience as a new man. He rushes out into the streets at night not to find a prostitute as he had done so many times before, but to find a church. There, he repents to God directly for his sins. His decision to confront and confess his sins serves as the first step in his eventual control of his spiritual