Stephen Dedalus as a Ghost of Prince “Hamlet” in Joyce’s “Ulysses”

Abstract

The author's English summary from the article:

Key words: Stephen Dedalus, Hamlet, Shakespeare, Joyce, Ulysses.

James Joyce’s Ulysses, after Homer’s Odyssey, probably most frequently parodies Shakespeare’s Hamlet. In the novel, the character who corresponds to Prince Hamlet is Stephen Dedalus. Stephen is alienated from his father. Therefore, he feels spiritual closeness to Prince Hamlet who also misses his father. He admires the father-son relationship that is revealed between them. Stephen has worked out a kind of theory about Shakespeare’s life and work. This “theory” can be regarded as one of the starting points for interpreting Ulysses. In Stephen’s opinion, Shakespeare is the prototype for the Ghost of King Hamlet, while Prince Hamlet is a fictional incarnation of his deceased son Hamnet.

This suggests the bereaved father’s attempt at a kind of compensation for his spiritual lack. The subject matter of Ulysses clearly echoes the mutual father-son quest as its main motivating force. Parallels between Stephen and Hamlet are revealed not only in the world depicted in the novel, but also in Stephen’s stream of consciousness. The parallels are often of contrasting nature, which serves to intensify the parody. Stephen and Hamlet both mourn the deaths of their parents. The ghosts of the deceased parents appear to both of them. The ghost of Hamlet’s father discloses the secret of his death to his son. The ghost of Stephen’s mother exposes her son’s fornication.

Leopold Bloom, the main protagonist of Ulysses, is regarded as a parody of the Ghost of King Hamlet in relation to Stephen being a parody of Prince Hamlet. By the same principle, other characters of the novel represent parodies of different characters from Hamlet. The ninth episode of Ulysses, “Scylla and Charybdis”, where Stephen sets out his “Shakespearean theory”, reminds us of Hamlet’s “To be or not to be” dilemma. Stephen also faces a kind of dilemma in this episode. He must finally decide what creative path to take. For Stephen, art should not be one-sided in any aspect. It should include and show everything in every possible angle, which according to him and thus in Joyce’s opinion, is possible only in a tragicomic plane.

Therefore, the tragic image of Shakespeare’s Hamlet undergoes a peculiar transformation with Joyce, and obviously acquires a tragicomic flavour. Hamlet has an acute perception of the reality presented by Shakespeare, and cannot accept a compromise solution – Stephen’s golden mean resembling the passage between Scylla and Charybdis – to neutralize the dilemma to a certain extent. The prince is entrusted by fate to repair the “disjointed time”. It is as if the destiny of all humanity depends on him. In contrast to this heavy burden, Stephen’s problem seems very small. The juxtaposition of such an unheroic mortal with the world cannot be only tragic.

There will also be much comic in it. However, it is possible that a greater tragedy is hidden behind Joyce’s tragicomic view as it expresses human decadence and spiritual emptiness. On this basis we can assume that Ulysses largely carries tragic essence in its depth, although it is mostly comic in form, which creates an overall tragicomic effect.

Published in the journal Sjani, vol. 16 (2015), pp. 249–258. Open the paper