Hades In The Odyssey

Truth be told, Joyce’s novel Ulysses contains the work of a lifetime. Although not always easy to understand, the novel is created so that readers have to search throughout the novel to find answers.
With a fascination for the supernatural and the macabre, “Hades” was by far the most intriguing chapter to analyse. Not only do we get a glimpse of Joyce’s idea of Hell, but also Bloom’s descent, and escape, from the Underworld. All great heroes must undergo a journey. However, a hero’s voyage cannot be completed without said hero facing great dangers. The ultimate danger lies within death; the worst failure in a journey is when the hero falls to the fiery grasp of Hell.
Much like Odysseus – a Greek hero whose tale can be found in The Odyssey
Stephen encounters a midwife carrying a bag; he thinks the bag holds a “missbirth with a trailing navelcord, hushed in ruddy wool.” (3.36) Midwives are seen as a symbol of birth, because they assist women giving birth. However, the chapter’s theme quickly switches when Stephen realizes the baby is deceased. The “ruddy wool” solidifies this mood change; in chapter four, we learn that Bloom’s son, named Rudy, had passed away around ten years ago. Rudy had been buried in a “ruddy red” wool sweater. With Stephen thinking of his dead mother, and his seeing a dead dog on the beach, the concept of death is present throughout the
Greek mythology describes Hades as the God of the Dead. According to legends, the lord of the Underworld kept a close eye on the dead souls, ensuring they do not flee the Underworld. One of Homer’s plays, The Odyssey, recounts Odysseus managing to escape from Hades. Odysseus was lucky, since not many heroes have succeeded in escaping the Underworld. The very fact that anyone had been able to break out of the Underworld is a miracle.
With this in mind, we are left to wonder if Bloom can make it out of the cemetery ‘alive’. The descent into Hell is seen as a dangerous, but also heroic act, especially in Greek and Roman literature. While attending a funeral may not seem heroic, the fact that Bloom lasts through the whole funeral and stays calm and collected is enough to deserve praise. Facing the dead not only requires the hero to have physical strength, but also mental stability. Bloom has had to relive the deaths of both his father and his son, and has been cast aside as the black sheep of the group. Not to mention he finds out Blazes Boylan is sleeping with his wife. With all these events pouring down on him, Bloom is clearly not mentally fit to travel into Hades. But he does all the same, with an outstanding courage. (Schmoop, Dec.