Hades In The Odyssey

Truth be told, Joyce’s novel Ulysses contains the work of a lifetime. Although not always easy to understand, the novel is created so that readers have to search throughout the novel to find answers.
With a fascination for the supernatural and the macabre, “Hades” was by far the most intriguing chapter to analyse. Not only do we get a glimpse of Joyce’s idea of Hell, but also Bloom’s descent, and escape, from the Underworld. All great heroes must undergo a journey. However, a hero’s voyage cannot be completed without said hero facing great dangers. The ultimate danger lies within death; the worst failure in a journey is when the hero falls to the fiery grasp of Hell.
Much like Odysseus – a Greek hero whose tale can be found in The Odyssey
– Leopold Bloom travels into Hades in episode six of Ulysses. The theme of death is a constant reoccurrence throughout Ulysses, and “Hades”, as its name implies, is the one chapter where death reigns. But “Hades” centers more on escaping Hell and returning to the land of the living. The heroes, in the face of death, come back to life. Odysseus and Bloom are mirrored characters, and they both have managed to escape the Underworld. This essay’s main goal will be to analyse the Homeric parallels between Odysseus’ journey in the Underworld and Bloom’s travel to Paddy Dignam’s funeral, a real-life journey into the depths of Hell.

First of all, the Homeric parallels in episode six begin with the use of the number eleven. (I should note right away that the funeral for Paddy Dignam begins at eleven a.m.) Eleven is an essential piece of the episode, since it is a number that represents sin and death. To understand why eleven is considered a bad number, we must go back to old times.
In ancient societies, specifically Christian and/or Catholic cultures, the Decalogue, or the Ten Commandments, was used as a reference into writing laws. The number ten was considered a holy number, because there were ten fundamental laws to be followed in Catholic communities. Seeing as the number eleven oversteps ten, it was considered by many to be a “transgression of law and of sin” (Saint-Augustine, 464). Both Homer and Joyce were aware of the symbolism of the number eleven. The two authors went out of their way to weave the number into their works. However, the two writers did not use eleven as a symbol of sin, but rather death. For example, in Homer’s The Iliad, Achilles grants the Trojans eleven days to complete Hector’s funeral rites before the battle recommences. (Bell, 404)
If we were to compare The Iliad with The Odyssey, we would see a similarity in the funeral rites. When Odysseus descends into the Underworld, he meets the ghost of one of his men, Elpenor, who had fallen to his death when he fell asleep in the tower on Circe’s island. Elpenor begs Odysseus to give him a proper funeral, just as Hector had received.
Let’s now switch over to Ulysses: because Dignam’s funeral begins at eleven o’clock, Dignam is a parallel to Elpenor, who is a parallel of Hector. These parallels explain why Joyce uses the number eleven in “Hades”.
But enough about numbers. Let’s discuss parallels in the novel. Joyce has a habit of linking each chapter in some way or another. By this, I mean themes and concepts from previous chapters parallel chapters further on in the novel. For example, “Sirens” focused on the element of sound, whereas “Cyclops” contrasts and concentrates on sight. Similarly, “Hades” is a parallel to “Proteus” with its life and death themes.
At the beginning of episode three, the themes of life and birth appear immediately.
Stephen encounters a midwife carrying a bag; he thinks the bag holds a “missbirth with a trailing navelcord, hushed in ruddy wool.” (3.36) Midwives are seen as a symbol of birth, because they assist women giving birth. However, the chapter’s theme quickly switches when Stephen realizes the baby is deceased. The “ruddy wool” solidifies this mood change; in chapter four, we learn that Bloom’s son, named Rudy, had passed away around ten years ago. Rudy had been buried in a “ruddy red” wool sweater. With Stephen thinking of his dead mother, and his seeing a dead dog on the beach, the concept of death is present throughout the
episode.
By contrast, “Hades” begins with an immediate mention of death. Bloom, Martin Cunningham, Simon Dedalus and Jack Power are heading to Paddy Dignam’s funeral. Just like when we get a glimpse of death in the ‘life chapter’ “Proteus”, we get a glimpse of life in the ‘death chapter’ “Hades”. As Bloom climbs into the carriage to get to the cemetery, he wipes off bits of crumbs on his suit. These crumbs are a reference to the “potted meat” (17.2124-5) we see on Molly’s bed; the crumbs are a metaphor for copulating, and thus birth and life.
The main difference between “Proteus” and “Hades” is that, in episode six, the theme of death is far more elaborated. From the coffin-tight carriage the men travel in, to the cattle being shipped off to the slaughterhouse, to the mention of Bloom’s father’s suicide, to the rats crawling out from the graves, Joyce has created a real-life depiction of Hell. What is scary about this episode is the fact that, given the God of Death’s reputation in Greek and Roman literature, if Bloom really is descending into Hades, he may not make it out.
Greek mythology describes Hades as the God of the Dead. According to legends, the lord of the Underworld kept a close eye on the dead souls, ensuring they do not flee the Underworld. One of Homer’s plays, The Odyssey, recounts Odysseus managing to escape from Hades. Odysseus was lucky, since not many heroes have succeeded in escaping the Underworld. The very fact that anyone had been able to break out of the Underworld is a miracle.
With this in mind, we are left to wonder if Bloom can make it out of the cemetery ‘alive’. The descent into Hell is seen as a dangerous, but also heroic act, especially in Greek and Roman literature. While attending a funeral may not seem heroic, the fact that Bloom lasts through the whole funeral and stays calm and collected is enough to deserve praise. Facing the dead not only requires the hero to have physical strength, but also mental stability. Bloom has had to relive the deaths of both his father and his son, and has been cast aside as the black sheep of the group. Not to mention he finds out Blazes Boylan is sleeping with his wife. With all these events pouring down on him, Bloom is clearly not mentally fit to travel into Hades. But he does all the same, with an outstanding courage. (Schmoop, Dec.
6th)
Unlike the other men who are grieving and wallowing in despair, Bloom keeps his head. At first, he is ridiculed for his difference and for being the pariah of the group. But, in the end, his difference is what saves him from Hell. He is “the only man truly alive in the funeral entourage that accompanies Dignam’s corpse”. (Henke, 95) He is finally able to leave Hades and return to the land of the living, for he “does not like that other world”. (3.1002)

Works Cited

James Joyce. “Ulysses”.
Vintage Books: a Division of Random House, Inc., 1986
Print.

Jessica Svendsen. “Hades”
Modernism.research.yale.edu. The Modernism Lab at Yale University. 2010
Web. 2 Dec. 2014

Robert H. Bell. “Preparatory to Anything Else: Introduction to Joyce’s “Hades.””
Journal of Modern Literature, Indiana University Press, Vol. 24, No. ¾. 2001. pp. 363 499.
Web. 28 Nov. 2014

Shmoop Editorial Team. "Ulysses Hades Analysis Summary."
Shmoop.com. Shmoop University, Inc., 11 Nov. 2008.
Web. 7 Dec. 2014.

St-Augustine. “The City of God”, Books VIII-XVI
The Catholic University of America Press, Vol. 14. 1952.
Web. 3 Dec. 2014

Suzette A. Henke. “Joyce’s Moraculous Sindbook: A study of “Ulysses.””
Ohio State University Press, 1978.
Web. 28 Nov. 2014