Throughout Ulysses, we are exposed to Joyce’s subtle conceptions and criticisms of religion. Episode 9 features an intriguing conflation of religiosity and Shakespearean discussion. Early in the episode, the writing of Hamlet is considered by the men to be a force that brings their “minds into contact with the eternal wisdom” (52, 152). Immediately, Shakespeare’s literature is depicted as something divine, Shakespeare being an exalted progenitor of sorts.

However, as the episode progresses, the topic of fatherhood is broached and Stephen offers some particularly scathing words, “A father…is a necessary evil” (828, 170). Going further, Stephen makes the claim, “Paternity may be a legal fiction. Who is the father of any son that any son should love him or he any son?” (844-845, 170). Essentially, Stephen argues that fathers and sons don’t have the physical and emotional bonds that a mother and a son would have. They two masculine figures exist to be in tacit conflict with one another, one waning, and one taking the other’s place.

From past class discussions regarding the history of Ulysses publication, we know that Stephen was viewed as a sort of literary alter ego of Joyce. If Stephen is perceived as a written representation of Joyce, and if Shakespeare is described as a father of English writing, do you think Joyce is to some degree challenging the paternalistic legacy of Shakespeare? Do you think Joyce is using Ulysses to make a claim of ascendency, experimental modernist prose finding its place in the wake of the classical verses of Hamlet?