Parallelism with the Odyssey
Chapter 6 of Ulysses is titled Hades. Hades was the ancient Greek god of the underworld, place that took his name afterwards. In the Odyssey, Odysseus travelled to the Hades following Circe’s instructions to ask Tiresias how he could return to Ithaca. During this journey Odysseus crossed paths with several people that influenced him in some way.
As Odysseus went to the underworld, Leopold Bloom attended Paddy Dignam’s funeral in Prospect Cemetery. He travelled to the graveyard in a carriage shared with three other men: Martin Cunningham, Simon Dedalus, and Mr. Powers. In the course of the route to the funeral the four men encountered several people and also they talked about some others.
During their itinerary, the characters cross four rivers: Dodder River, Liffey River, Grand and Royal canals. Since Leopold Bloom is “visiting” the representation of the underworld in Dublin, these rivers correspond to the four rivers of Hades.…show more content… Paddy Dignam is the embodiment of Elpenor. While on Circe’s island, Elpenor got drunk and broke his neck when he fall off the roof of the goddess’ palace. His sudden death resembles that of Paddy Dignam since he died in a drunken stupor too. p116
When Leopold Bloom and his companions were on their way to the graveyard, Simon Dedalus saw his son Stephen and he began to flaunt him. “Noisy self willed man. Full of his son. He is right. Something to hand on”, the protagonist thought. This character can be compared with Achilles in the Hades. Achilles was feeling crestfallen, but hearing what Odysseus told him about his glorious son Neoptolemus made him really happy. In this case Simon Dedalus resembled Achilles: both characters were happy when talking about their respective
