The Forlorn Loves in James Joyces novel, Ulysses Essay -- Joyce Ulyss

The Forlorn Loves in Joyces novel, Ulysses Greek has words for four kinds of love agape, or spiritual love storge, or familial love the love between friends, or philia and sexual love, the familiar eros. All four figure in Joyces novel Ulysses, yet all eventually evade the two male protagonists, Stephen Dedalus and Leopold blossom forth Ulysses proves ultimately to be a love-less work. Agape -- spiritual love, the charitable love among coreligionists or between Man and God -- seems sure to appear, given Ulysses protagonists backgrounds and the host of Christian symbols that flock about them. Yet Stephen Dedalus is torn with doubt in his Catholicism, and we find in the course of the novel that Bloom renounced his Judaism, first to transpose to Protestantism with his father and then, conveniently, to convert to Catholicism to marry Molly both have fallen from their original faith. Within two paragraphs of Ulysses opening we see a mock Mass -- Introibo ad altare Dei (p. 3) -- and hear the lurking Stephen scornfully called a fearful jesuit by mocking Mulligan. Stephen is certainly no recipient of agape here Interestingly, Simon Dedalus identifies Mulligan as Stephens fidus Achates (p. 73), a glancing Virgil image to set Stephen up as pius Aeneas, pious Aeneas, Virgils hero of proper behavior to gods and men. But, as we see, home-stealing, ever-jeering Mulligan is no more fidus than whoring, drunken Stephen is pius. Stephen Dedalus is a wordy speaker, an engaging theorist and theologian, well versed in ecclesiastical history, particularly in the Churchs early heresies. Yet, for all his knowledge and cogent arguments, he shows little disceptation for belief. His arguments on ... ...9), yet that is exactly what Bloom does -- kiss her buttocks, the most anonymous and androgynous part of her body. In fact, Mollys final thoughts in Ulysses only underscore the privation of eros that has afflicted Bloom throughout the book. She begins to menstruate (this bl oody pest of a thing (p. 642)) even as she considers trying to re-establish sexual relations, and moves in her thoughts to their assignation on Howth Hill -- the same rendezvous Bloom has recalled so fondly before. Yet, like all too many of the happy occasions in Ulysses, this integrity is in the past, dead and gone. Indeed, the book ends in Mollys yes I said yes I will Yes. (p. 644), but the Yes is in the past, only another sad comment on Blooms lack of love. Love is a thing of the past, dreams are sick counterfeits and cheats agape, storge, philia, eros, the four loves, are forlorn.