PROTEUS

The Homeric title of the Episode is quite applicable – Proteus, the shape shifter, is reminiscent of the shifting of Stephen’s thoughts. Proteus is also called “the old man of the sea” and Stephen’s thoughts are generated and spurned by things he sees as he walks along the shore.

Proteus, so far, is my favorite episode. The way in which Joyce interweaves Stephen’s daydreaming with reality is seamless and compelling. What makes this steam of consciousness/unconsciousness sound cohesive is Joyce’s use of descriptive images. Several of them jumped out at me because they are so unconventional and yet translate an exact impression to the reader: the “two crucified shirts” on the clothesline, the “lemon houses” turned golden in the sun and the “molten pewter surf” of the sea. These instances seem poetic in intent because Joyce is presenting us with banal images that are enlivened and given new meanings through his descriptions.

Elsinore is also referenced again in this episode: “My soul walks with me, form of forms. So in the moon’s midwatches I pace the path above the rocks, in sable silvered, hearing Elsinore’s tempting flood.” Elsinore, in this case, represents a sort of unavoidable reality or calling. At this point Stephen snaps out of his thoughts and is brought back to his surroundings only to notice a “bloated carcass of a dog lolled on the bladderwrack.” When Elsinore was referenced earlier by Haines: “I mean to say, Haines explained to Stephen as the followed, this tower and these cliffs remind me somehow of Elsinore” it causes Stephen to see “his own image in cheap and dusty mourning between their gay attires.” This parallels what Stephen says about “form of forms” and the idea that he is shifting shapes and constantly unsure of his form.