The Role Of Religion In James Joyce's Ulysses

In his novel Ulysses, James Joyce depicts and criticizes a dystopian society where the people are highly influenced by the depressing environment, yet their attempt to change the current situation remains futile.
A major source of depression as described in the novel is the religion. As Stephen said, “I am the servant of two masters, […] an English and an Italian” (Joyce 19). Here, the Italian master refers to the Roman catholic church. During the 20th century, the unstable political state in Ireland allowed Roman Catholics’ power to pervade, becoming a driving force in Irish politics and a restriction of people’s thoughts. The metaphor Joyce uses in this quotation compares Irish citizens to servants, and Roman Catholics to the master. This metaphor emphasizes that people’s minds were easily influenced by the religion and their surroundings in general. By doing so, Joyce depicts people’s pusillanimity when ideas are forced upon by the society, just as servants when controlled by masters. The sense of depression is strengthened by Leopold Bloom’s thoughts during the funeral. A significant item Bloom describes is the “aristocratic” wine that only the priests are served with (72). The wine here symbolizes power and privileges. The fact
Ulysses is accepted to be a hero of the Trojan war while characters in Joyce’s work appear cowardly, unable to escape their fate. Thus, critics usually contrast Ulysses and the Odyssey. However, I believe that there are similarities between the two of them. In Dante’s work The Divine Comedy: Inferno, Virgil and Dante’s conversation with Ulysses shows that Ulysses can be considered sinful. More specifically, Ulysses’ Trojan Horse has led to the fall of Troy. Though this strategy has been accepted as heroic, from Trojan people's perspective, Ulysses is sinful. Thus, Ulysses cannot escape his sins, just as Joyce’s characters cannot escape the