The Odyssey And Hamlet Comparison Essay

tephen Dadalus; James Joyce’s Version Of Shakespeare’s Hamlet In the Victorian Era Those who were close with James Joyce say that he was determined to become a better writer than the beloved William Shakespeare. James Joyce considered his work Ulysses to be seen as a literary reference to a variety of styles, points of view, and is in fact full of reference to literature and Victorian culture. Although this classic harmonizes with Homer’s The Odyssey, there is more allusion to Hamlet’s character in William Shakespeare’s Hamlet through the character Stephen Daedalus. Both men are conflicted with their inner thoughts and conceptions of whom they are supposed to be as men, share a father-son motif,face tragedy, and undergo similar thought strategies. Although both characters illustrate great similarities it also important to notice that their differnces demonstrate the specific and individualized nature of their character while still portraying to the reader that they are everyman. Stephen reflects Hamlet throughout the novel by appearing as the misunderstood outsider that constantly analyses himself, his family, and his country. Again, there are instances in Ulysses where Hamlet’s charcter traits are not evident in Stephen. For instance Hamlet’s motives througought the play are revenge driven where as Stephen’s character’s motives are more preoccupied with guilt; both characters experinces tradegedy however their motives are different.
Stephen in particular questions the essesnse of a ghost, “What is a ghost?..One who has faded into impalpability through death, through absence, through change of manners” (Joyce 154). Futhermore, the fatherson motif of Hamlet and the ghost of his father is potrayed through Leopold Bloom and Stephen Dedalus’s relationship. Stephen Dedalus can be seen as the ghost because he has “faded into impalpability” in his home (Killeen