James Joyce PDF

Language, Linguistics and Literature: the Eureka!
Approach Language and Literature 2004
James Joyce
James Joyce's literary experiments seem to begin with his Ulvsses.
however, as has been clear for decades, his A Portrait of the Artist as a Youne
Man (PA YM) prefigured many of those experiments. Under the guise of a
relatively straightforward story, PAYM has several intricate substructures that
provide the novel a strength that keeps it alive almost a century after
publication. Ulvsses has the more overt experiments and it has proved to have
many more intricate substructures that have taken decades to explore -just as
Joyce wanted. Even with the many scholars and the many decades, the reader
can be sure that there are more Eurekas! coming.
The article below summarizes some of the results when the students are
asked to explore the potential parallels between the trio Leopold Bloom, his wife
Molly, and Stephen Dedalus and the two opposite trios of the Holy Family of
Joseph, Mary, and Christ and the shall we say Unholy Trio treated in the
Apocalypse ofSt John. The article below contains only the results of the latter
exploration, but the former is as intriguing.
Ulysses
The search for pattems in literary stmcture is basic in literary interpretation,
which itself logically precedes the other parts of a ftill literary criticism. Yet
critical positions are often taken and become ossified before a full basic
interpretation has evolved. Earlier examples in LnL referred to Olsen's work on
Dylan Thomas, to the sweeping Biblical basis for Faulkner's The Sound and the
Fury, to Sander's finding the key to unlock The Great Gatsby. A literary mle of
thumb is that it often takes 50 years for a great work of literature to begin to be
analyzed thoroughly. Joyce's Ulysses (1922) has posed even larger problems
than most novels, one of which problems is explored below. Note that
Sprinchom's analysis of PAYM which forms the basis for the PAYM articles
which follow this one appeared about 50 years after the first publication of
PAYM.
Since the Stephen Dedalus of the Portrait is the one in Ulysses as well, he is
a convenient place to begin the exploration. Stephen Dedalus in Chapter V of
PAYM is surrounded by friends and acquaintances whose characteristics (see
Sprinchom) are clearly those of the Apostles and others surrounding Christ. As
will be detailed in the last chapter in this volume, the events of that chapter
parallel those of the Holy Thursday Mass, which itself parallels the Last Supper,
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with Stephen filling the triple role of Christ figure, priest, and prophet of a 'new
covenant' dealing with art. However, the Mass contains other elements which
demonstrate that there is one critical difference between the normal Holy
Thursday Mass and this one, and the element which makes the difference most
clearly is Stephen's villanelle. The poem which occurs where the Mass prayer
would be offered to God actually is offered to the lure of the fallen seraphim:
Are you not weary of ardent ways

Lure of the fallen seraphim?
Tell no more of enchanted days.
Your eyes have set man's heart ablaze
And you have had your will ofhim...
The Seraphim are the highest angels and their lure was Lucifer, who fell as
'Brightness falls from the air'. [Christ's words are an echo of Isaias 14:12
conceming Lucifer's fail.]
The Mass, then, is a kind of Black Mass offered not to God but to Lucifer.
The view of artist as Lucifer, light-bearer of art, was well known to Joyce's
companions and is a basic part of the interpretation of PAYM. Even as in the
priest's sermon on hell Lucifer said 'Non serviam,' Stephen says, 'I will not serve'
in Chapter V. Any interpretation of PAYM that ignores Stephen's role as a
conscious follower of Lucifer, as one enchanted by the lure of the fallen
seraphim, cannot be taken seriously.
This preliminary material is important because in Ulysses the character of
Stephen continues. Even the same Mass parallel is clear in line 5 of Ulysses with
the first words of the Tridentine rite Catholic Mass:
- Introibo ad altare Dei. ('I will go to the altar of God.')
If we accept for the purposes of exploration here the idea that Stephen
continues in the triple role of false Christ, false priest, false prophet, we can tum
to the roles of Leopold and Molly. Leopold shares with Stephen a rather normal
impact on people, but as we readers see more of these two in the novel a
different picture emerges. Molly is a different case and is treated later.
One key to Leopold and Stephen's emerging pictures is in the Circe section,
the section in which a Black Mass is presented. In the Circe section, which is the
15th of the book and the last of the second part, the reader leams all sorts of
information about Leopold which fits into a picture with Stephen within the
Black Mass context. The section begins with the 'introit for paschal time' (p.
424) and Stephen (p. 426) answers the prayer begun in line 5 of the book:
'...ad deam qui laetificat juventutem meam.'
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('To God who gives joy to my youth.)
It is at this point, after the prayers of 'I will go to the altar of God,' that Bloom
appears and his appearance is apocalyptic indeed:
Snakes of river fog creep slowly. From drains, clefts, cesspools,

middens arise on all sides stagnant ftimes. A glow leaps in the south
beyond the seaward reaches of the river. The navvy staggering forward
cleaves the crowd and lurches towards the tramsiding. On the farther
side under the railway bridge Bloom appears fiushed, panting,
cramming bread and chocolate into a side pocket, (p. 426)
In the Apocalypse, St. John writes of a 'beast' arising from the pit and serving a
False Prophet who is mistaken for the Second Coming of Christ. In Ulysses,
Bloom appears from the sewage lines connected to the sea and it is Bloom whom
Stephen serves as false prophet in this elaborate parallel. Bloom himself (p. 429)
refers to the 'Mark of the beast', a reference to St John's Apocalypse, especially
Chapter 13. The Beast which rises from the sea and which derives his power
from Lucifer (the dragon of the Apocalypse) represents the worldly leader of the
evil forces which reign for a time before Armageddon, the final confiict of Good
and Evil during which Christ retums to rescue his Bride, the Church/Chosen
People. The Beast that John saw in his vision was like a Leopard, which may
account for Joyce's choice of 'Leopold' as a name for Bloom. The references to
'beast' abound (p. 451, e.g.) as do other references related to the evil side such as
witches. Hades, hell and so on. The full picture of the Beast as a false pope and
false leader of many who view him as a true religious leader is given by Joyce
(pp. 470 ff) as Bloom is ushered in under papal banner. The'lOOO years of peace
tiiat St. John says are to follow the conflicts are referenced (p. 477) in Henry's
comment on 'the Paradisiacal Era.' Mother Grogan sees through the sham (p.
481) and refers to Bloom as 'You beast! You abominable person.' The
'abominable' parallels the 'abomination of desolation', a Biblical phrase in St.
John for the ultimate desecration of the Temple in Apocalyptic times. In case any
reader has not seen Bloom as flilfiller of the prophecies of the Apocalypse, Joyce
presents it clearly in Alexander J. Dowie's lines (p. 482):
(Violently.) Fellow Christians and antiBloomites, the man called Bloom

is from the roots of hell, a disgrace to Christian men. A fiendish libertine
from his earliest years this stinking goat of Mendes gave precocious
signs of infantile debauchery recalling the cities of the plain, with a
dissolute granddam. This vile hypocrite, bronzed with infamy, is the
white bull mentioned in the Apocalypse. A worshipper of the Scarlet
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Woman, intrigue is the very breath of his nostrils. The stake faggots and
the caldron of boiling oil are for him. Caliban!
Soon they all see Bloom as 'Belial!' and 'false Messiah!' (p. 487), refer to 'the last
day' (p. 494), to the 'Antichrist' (p. 495), to the 'end of the World' (p. 495), to the
'second advent' (p. 497), and to the 'Apocalypse', (p. 509) It is the reference to
the second advent as described in the Apocalypse that is cmcial to the overall
interpretation of Ulysses and will be retumed to later. [Stephen's repetition of his
climactic line in PAYM is repeated within this sequence and should not be
missed: 'Non serviam!' (p. 567)] The references to devil. Apocalypse and Black
Church (p. 525) grow, references to horses of various colors (as if the Four
Horsemen of the Apocalypse) occur, until a culmination of sorts occurs with
Father Malachi's clear statement of the Black Mass aspects of the parallel (p.
583):
Introibo ad altare diaboli. (p. 583)
As in the villanelle of PAYM, this Black Mass in the Circe section is offered to
Lucifer in Ulysses, with the change being that Bloom is the primary figure, the
false Christ, and Stephen is his felse prophet.
The false Christ-like figure and his false prophet are two of the three major
figures of the pertinent chapters of the Apocalypse. Chapter 14 of the
Apocalypse spells out the details of the Scarlet Woman of the Apocalypse, the
Whore of Babylon. Surely, Molly as the adulteress with Boy-Ian (a delicious
Joycean pun on Baby-Ion) fits many of the characteristics of the Scarlet Woman
who will rest on the altar of worship. The final or Penelope section finds Molly
on her bed, which makes a fine Biblical picture since St. Paul talks of
worshipping false gods as fomication (i.e. same as sex outside marriage) because
the body is a temple of the Holy Spirit. Joyce surrounds her with a density of
words dealing with 'red,' such as 'red,' 'mbio,' 'mby.' For example, in the Circe
section (p. 432) we see Molly in 'scarlet trousers', surrounded by gold and
dmnken people (see Apocalypse 14:8). Recall that Dowie's words quoted above
refer to Bloom as 'worshipper of the Scarlet Woman.' Molly fits the Apocalyptic
picture of Bloom/Stephen/Molly as the false Christ/false prophet/ Scarlet
Woman of the end of the world, just before the second advent.
A remaining question to be explored is the identification of a 'Ulysses' figure
in this (anti-)religious parallel. The parallel between Homer's Ulysses and Joyce's
Ulysses should suggest a character in Joyce who parallels the original Ulysses
who retums home after a long time away to find his bride beset with would-be
usurpers of his role. Neither Stephen nor Bloom parallels all-wise, all-good hero
Ulysses.
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In the particular parallel outlined herein - one parallel of the many Joyce
wove into the fabric - the 'second advent' suggests that the Second Coming of
Christ, which occurs just after the Scarlet Woman sits on the altar, is the parallel
to Ulysses. Christ will retum to lead the forces of good against the forces of
Lucifer in a climactic battle at Armageddon. He will protect His Bride the
Church against those false prophets and false Messiahs who would follow the
lure of the fallen seraphim. The pieces of evidence for this sub-stmcture within
the overall stmcture of Ulysses are clearly marked by Joyce himself Where
PAYM paralleled Christ's First Advent, at least through Chapter 18 of the
Apocalypse. Ulysses expands on that stmcture. It is all the more interesting, then,
to note tiiat Joyce's Ulysses contains just that number of chapters and both end
with a picture of fallen Whore of Babylon, where thoughts of her 'sorceries'
blend with the 'prophet' and 'saint' which are part of her trio that appear at this
climactic time in world history.
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A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man

James Joyce reworked A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man (PAYM)
from manuscript materials that were edited and published much later as Stephen
Hero (1959). Sprinchom (1965) suggests a number of intersecting templates -
as they are called in LnL - that Joyce built into the structure of PAYM. Many of
these templates are carried on by Joyce through his later Ulvsses. Among these
are templates from Home, Ovid, Rites of Initiation, New Testament, Catholic
Liturgies, and especially a Dantean Inferno for the overall structure of PA YM.
Dante
In re-working his early manuscript into the earliest edition of PAYM, Joyce
structured it into seventeen unnumbered parts within the five numbered
chapters. Joyce's version echoes a Dantean structure in its seventeen-part
structure that parallels the eight levels through which Dante travels to the
bottom of the Inferno and the eight levels that retum to the surface. Joyce places
the dramatic sermon on hell in the very middle of the work. The midmost point
of the seventeen point structure in PAYM is the line 'Hell! Hell! Hell! Hell!
Hell!' By reports, Joyce worked with the printer to make sure that the line
appeared at the exact middle. Joyce's use of the seventeen-part V-structure does
not involve similar scenes on the way down and back up. Rather, Joyce in the
latter sections enlarges on symbols set up earlier, expands early references,
reverses major episodes. Sprinchom provides a chart of the structure that is
much abbreviated and re-arranged here. In addition there is some added
material that the students will need later in their exploration.
1. Principal symbols. The frightening bird.
2. Separatedfrom his mother and is sick and afraid
3. A'brimming bowl'symbolizes a personal victory
4. Wins his girl in his imagination
5. Loses girl at Whitsuntide play. Blames father
6. Loses all respect for father
7. Visits prostitute and defiles himself
8. From lust to other deadly sins. Heart is like a desert flower
9. Sermon. Center line of book is 'Hell! Hell! Hell! Hell! Hell!'
10. Confesses his sins. His heart like a white rose.
11. Mortifies his senses
12. Regains some respect for his father
13. Regains girl. Early symbols recur in climactic scene on beach
14. Loses girl in reality.
15. His poem: 'the chalice flowing to the brim'
16. Renounces Mother Church and by implication Motherland and mother
17. The bird as the creative artist Daedulus.
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Various details of the Descent/Rise sections are available to the student

elsewhere.
The students are asked to investigate whether PAYM presents Stephen as
one who as Dante travels down the Infemo but then exits, thus completing a V-
pattern.
The Double Descent in PAYM
As with his Ulysses and Finnegan's Wake - although not to the same extent
Joyce built several templates into his first novel. He used templates from various
sources in earlier literature and added his own literary stmctures to the finished
novel. The final version is to some extent, then, based on his predecessors but
extends beyond them. The Dante's Inferno template shows a V-stmcture in
which Dante descends but then goes on to exit the Infemo and travel on
upwards.
The use of the name Daedalus is also interesting for this novel. In the story
of Daidalus and his son Icams, the son tries to escape the labyrinthe by attaching
wings to himself and fiying out. The heat of the sun melts the adhesive material
and Icams falls to his death. The stmcture of his joumey is an inverted V-
stnicture. A close inspection of the text of PAYM gives evidence of both those
templates and of a related one that goes beyond them in interesting ways.
This PAYM analysis explores this more expanded template. The
exploration is in three parts: (a) some intersection points in the two templates
above; (b) an inspection of Stephen's spiritual development after the sermon on
hell in the middle of the novel; and (c) a suggested template - tentatively called
a 'Double Descent' - that integrates a number of apparent anomalies in the
analysis and interpretation of the novel.
A. Intersection Point in Daedalus/Icams and Dante's Infemo

In PAYM Joyce decided on the family name Daedalus for his young
protagonist. As the junior member of the family, Stephen should parallel Icams
more that his father Daedalus. Where Dante travels in a Descent/Rise pattem
back to life, Icarus travels in a Rise/Descent pattem that leads to death in the
depths. Thus the stmctural pattem of Dante's Inferno and Ovid's Icarus story are
the reverse of each other. The two templates intersect only at the center point of
one and the end of the other, the depths of hell. This mirror imaging of two
critical templates in PAYM suggests that the stmcture of PAYM is a template
that uses stmctural elements from Ovid and from Dante, but in a pattem unique
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Language, Linguistics and Literature: the Eurekal Approach Language and Literature 2004
to PAYM. The resolution of these two pattems may lie in a closer inspection of
the spiritual path that Stephen follows in PAYM.
B. Stephen's spiritual trajectory

Stephen's progress in his attempts to reform his life is given in detail in
PAYM. The midpoint sermon on hell has a strong infiuence on Stephen and he
decides to repent, to go to confession, to receive absolution, to atone for his sins,
and to amend his life. In superficial terms, he appears to begin that sequence. A
closer inspection shows that his spiritual joumey upward is fatally fiawed from
the beginning. Two different pattems of evidence show the results of Stephen's
spiritual activities.
Pattem 1
The first pattem of Stephen's behavior correlates with the sequence of
punishments in hell as given in the priest's sermon on the day following the
midpoint. The priest reminds the listeners that he has already discussed the
physical punishments and 'shall consider for a few moments the nature of the
spiritual torments of hell'.
The greatest of these torments is the pain of Joss. The person is deprived of
divine light and is as if 'exiled from hearth and home'. The person is then alone
without divine love and divine light.
The second pain is that of conscience, which has a 'triple sting': the memory
of past pleasures: the late and fruitless sorrow for sins committed; the
knowledge that you had very chance to repent and reform but you willed to fall.
The third pain is the pain of extension: the torments lend greater force to
each other. The imagination is filled with horrible images, the intemal state
varies between longing and rage, the mind realizes its intemal darkness.
The fourth pain is that of intensitv. in which things that are good in and of
themselves become evil to the person: friends, family, knowledge, light.
The last and crowning torture is the etemitvof hell. An 'instant of rebellious
pride of the intellect' led Lucifer and a third of the angels to fall.
Just after this sermon and after all recite the Act of Contrition, Stephen goes
to his room to be alone. His conscience causes him to remember his many sinftil
pleasures and his mind becomes filled with images of 'goatish creatures' with a
'rictus of cmel malignity' on their faces. After he finds a distant parish to go to
confession [discussed in the next section], he begins a rigorous regimen of
amendment of his life. After days on this regimen, he mentions 'brief anger' at
his mother for sneezing and disturbing his devotions and has to have an
'immense effort of will' to master the impulses which urged him to give outlet.
After these difficulties a long scene occurs in which a priest suggests that
Stephen consider the priesthood. After Stephen does so, he thinks of the
remoteness of his soul from what he had hitherto imagined her sanctuary, at the
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frail hold which so many years of order and obedience had ofhim when once a
definite and irrevocable act of his threatened to end forever, in time and in
etemity, his freedom. ...
The snares of the world were its ways of sin. He would fall. He had
not yet fallen, but he would fall silently, in an instant. Not to fall was
too hard, too hard: and he had felt the silent lapse of his soul, as it
would be at some instant to come, falling, falling, but not yet fallen,
still unfallen but about to fall.
Stephen has experienced by this point a taste of all the pains of hell as described
by the priest other than that of etemity. Although it is seventy pages or so before
Stephen echoes Lucifer's non serviam with his own 'I will not serve', the
spiritual pattem has already predicted the 'instant of rebellious pride of the
intellect'. Stephen may, like Icams, escape from a kind of labyrinth, yet his
etemal fate is not to be salvation.
Pattem 2
A second pattem of behavior also begins on the page after the priest's
repetition of 'Hell!' at the midpoint. Stephen hears his own voice 'ftill of the
quietude of humility and contrition'. He declares to that he will:
... repent in his heart and be forgiven; and then those above, those in
heaven, would see what he would do to make up for the past: a whole
life, every hour of life. Only wait.
-All, God! All, all!'
Yet as he enters the confessional to start the sequence, he decides he wants to

confess 'far away from there. In some dark place he would murmur out his own
shame'. He will not 'dare to confess in the college chapel'. With this decision he
ignores the fact that the confessor and place of confession make no difference in
sacramental terms, and the fact that a Catholic is expected under normal
circumstances to confess in his home parish - in this case, with the other boys.
Stephen's alleged 'humility' is suspect, since his pride will not allow him to
'shame' himself by confessing where people know him. This first example of
pride dictating behavior is followed by others. On the surface his behavior in his
own eyes is contrite and pious, but his motivation stems from pride.
Stephen finds a distant parish and confesses sins of omission (Mass
attendance, praying) and commission - 'sins of anger, envy of others, gluttony,
vanity, disobedience' and purity'. After absolution he retums and is able to go to
communion with his friends in the chapel. Thus far, all seems well. Soon after,
however, he sets up a spiritual regimen that would stagger a Saint. 'Every part of
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his day... circled about its own centre of spiritual energy'. In fact, 'every
thought, word and deed, every instance of consciousness could be made to
revibrate radiantly in heaven'. After pages of intense concentration on his
spiritual activities, he remembers that 'he had been forewamed of the danger of
spiritual exaltation'. The key point alluded to in this statement is that a Catholic
should only begin such a spiritual regimen under the guidance of a Spiritual
Director. The Director insures that the person avoids the very pitfalls that
Stephen experiences during this time, that the person has the right motivation,
and that the regimen is followed in all humility to the will of God. Stephen's
guidance is of his own making, as he demonstrates when he is not able to pursue
his spirituality to his own satisfaction'. He even seems to think that he is now
beyond the human condition and cannot again fall into sin after temptation: he
has for a time a 'clear certitude of his own immunity'. His level of Pride seems to
be moving toward Hubris, in the sense of a Pride that leads to a great Fall or
Descent.
Another example of his growing pride occurs in the section where a priest
suggests that Stephen has a vocation to the priesthood. The priest's invitation to
consider a vocation is couched in curious terms, with 'a strong note of pride' in
his voice.
- To receive that call, Stephen, said the priest, is the greatest

honour that the Almighty God can bestow upon a man. No king or
emperor on this earth has the power of the priest of God. No angel or
archangel in heaven, no saint, not even the Blessed Virgin herself has
the power of a priest of God: the power of the keys, the power to bind
and to loose from sin, the power of exorcism, the power to cast out
from the creatures of God the evil spirits that have power over them,
the power, the authority, to make the great God of Heaven come down
upon the altar and take the form of bread and wine. What an awftil
power, Stephen!
A flame began to flutter again on Stephen's check as he heard in

this proud address an echo of his own proud musings.
Stephen gives an example of his earlier proud musing about his priesthood, one
in which he saw himself as a celebrant of the Mass in 'a church without
worshippers'. Apparently he does not want to share the love of God with anyone,
but to have 'secret knowledge and secret power'. Again he thinks as priest he
would be 'immune' to sin.
In PAYM, Stephen's Pride quite literally goeth before the Fall. Within a few
pages of his thoughts of 'secret knowledge and secret power' he thinks he is
destined to fall into the 'snares of this world... He would fall. He had not yet
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fallen but he would fall silently, in an instant'. The words echo the priest's
sermon about hell in which he discusses the fall of Lucifer and his rebellious
angels. The paragraph in which this idea is discussed reads as follows:
- Adam and Eve, my dear boys, were, as you know, our first parents
and you will remember that they were created by God in order that
the seats in heaven left vacant by the fall of Lucifer and his rebellious
angels might be filled again. Lucifer, we are told, was a son of the
moming, a radiant and mighty angel; yet he fell: he fell and there fell
with him a third part of the host of heaven: he fell and was hurled with
his rebellious angels into hell. What his sin was we cannot say.
Theologians consider that it was the sin of pride, the sinftil thought
conceived in an instant: non serviam: I will not serve. That instant was
his min. He offended the majesty of God by the sinftil thought of one
instant and God cast him out of heaven into hell for ever.
This reference to an 'instant' fall culminates later in Stephen's own 'I will not
serve'. Stephen's alleged spiritual transformation after the midpoint was
motivated by a powerftil pride that echoes the Pride of Lucifer, who gazed upon
the Face of God from his position as the brightest of the Seraphim, yet decided -
in Milton's terms - to reign in hell rather than serve in heaven.
The imagery surrounding Lucifer in the Bible and in Dante's Inferno
pervades the end of the novel as Stephen deliberately makes the same choice not
to serve God. The imagery surrounding Lucifer includes the repeated reference
to
—Brightness falls from the air.
The phrase is an echo of Christ's words in Luke 10:18:
I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven.
The villanelle which Stephen composes and which on the surface is addressed to
a temptress is on another level a poem to Lucifer, the brightest of Seraphim who
lured the other angels to follow him:
Are you not weary of ardent ways.

Lure of the fallen seraphim?
Your eyes have set man's heart ablaze

And you have had your will ofhim.
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Are you not weary of ardent ways?
Above the flame the smoke of praise

Goes up from ocean rim to rim.
Our broken cries and mournful lays

Rise in one eucharistic hymn.
While sacrificing hands upraise

The chalice flowing to the brim.
And still you hold our longing gaze

With languorous look and lavish limb!
The 'you' in line 1 is addressed to the 'Lure of the fallen seraphim', so that the
parallel with Lucifer is hard not to notice. The 'eucharist' in line 11 and 'chalice'
in line 14 in connection with Lucifer suggest a Mass offered to Lucifer rather
than to God. A Mass template mns through Chapter V of PAYM (see the next
chapter), but is a Black Mass, a precursor of the Black Mass carried on into the
Circe section of Joyce's Ulysses. Stephen's spiritual trajectory is toward the
bottommost sublevel of the ninth level of the Inferno. The ice tiiat ensnares the
occupants of the ninth level is from the 'spiritual-heroic refrigerating apparatus,
invented and patented in all countries by Dante Alighieri', as Stephen writes in
this diary only four entries from the end of PAYM.
The imagery in PAYM preceding the above description of the ninth level
includes 'darkness', 'swirling bogwater', dark 'winged creatures' , 'strange
figures' with 'red-rimmed homy eyes', and other such images that fit the bottom
level of the Inferno. The imagery leads to the last few lines of PAYM:
... to forge in the smithy of my soul the uncreated conscience of my

race.
27 April: Old father, old artificer...
In the context here, 'artificer' is the one who took something created for one
purpose and re-made it; i.e. a Lucifer who created nothing but re-directed
himself and other created beings into his own kind of kingdom. Stephen's use of
'forge' fits here as well, since 'forging' in the primary sense is a re-working of
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existing materials (i.e. not ex nihilo creation) and in the secondary sense the
making of an artificial/false product.
One last point about Stephen's spiritual trajectory is that his decision to leave
to pursue his destiny has several correspondences to all four of the sublevels of
the Inferno. Stephen will leave his mother and family and friends, he will leave
his Motherland, he will leave Mother Church in the sense of the priests who
tried to benefit his spiritual joumey, and he will leave Mother Church in the
sense of separating himself from tiie Mother of God. His leaving behind of
family, country, benefactors and God parallels the betrayals that define the four
sublevels of the Inferno depths. The levels are here described in terms of Mother
to emphasize one of the intersecting points of this template and several others:
the different women in PAYM. The 'winged creatures' and the wings of Lucifer
slowly moving in the Inferno's icy bogwater intersect other templates in terms of
the bird images and symbols of the novel, not least of all the template of the
winged Icarus.
Stephen's spiritual trajectory following the midpoint of PAYM moves from a
spiritual high point of exaltation to a willftil, knowledgeable decision to lose his
own soul. The stages along this trajectory are clearly described and explained in
PAYM. The outline of the Descent is given above. Much of the evidence is left
for ftirther exploration.
C. The Double Descent Template

The major points of the Double-Descent template are here repeated from the
foregoing. In tiie DaedalusAcams story the Rise/Fall template begins in a
labyrinth and has echoes or parallels to Lucifer's fall. Lucifer is seen as
concluding that worship of God is binding and even as one created at the highest
level of angels wills to fall for etemity. In this interpretation, Icams in flying too
close to the sun was as if challenging the primacy of God and his fall into the
depths is seen in spiritual terms as well as physical ones.
In Dante's Inferno story, Dante as a character in the story only views the
various unrepentant sins that result in people's souls being assigned to different
levels of punishment for etemity. The Descent/Rise template that Sprinchom
suggests does not fit the Stephen Daedalus story in a direct way in terms of a
spiritual joumey. His template fits in the fashion. In the first half of PAYM,
Stephen commits many of the sins of the Infemo, mostly sins of the upper
levels. He leams in detail of hell and its punishments as well as leaming the
motivation of Lucifer who is consigned to the lowest depths. At the midpoint of
PAYM, Stephen in effect has a choice: will he decide to be a priest of tiie First
and only Tme Word (the Logos, or Christ the 'Word' as in John's gospel) or to be
a priest of the Word in the sense of a prose artist whose creative products are of
a different order. Stephen decides to be a priest of the second 'Word', seen as one
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who needs to be free of all restrictions to pursue art wherever it takes him - even
if that means that he willingly damns his own soul with a non serviam to be free.
In the Double Descent template, Stephen falls into a sinful life which he
comes to view as if spectator during the sermon on hell. This first Descent is
followed by a Rise as a Young Artist moving to a ftiture destiny. In spiritual
terms, the second half is a knowledgeable and willftil rejection of restrictions, a
literal non serviam which can only be an intentional parallel to Lucifer's decision
and his Descent into the depths of the real Infemo.
The second half of PAYM, then, has both a Rise pattem (as artist) and a
Descent pattem (his soul) which intersect in both imagery and symbol at the end
of Chapter IV. There the images and symbols of females, of birds (winged
creatures), of water (ocean, depths), of the spirit, of the imagination are all found
in a few pages. This climax of the novej is a nexus of several intersecting
templates. The power and intensity of this nexus are so strong that the
denouement of the novel. Chapter V, seems all but insipid. Yet it is there that
Stephen inexorably descends toward the nethermost depths of the Infemo
prepared for Lucifer and his followers for all etemity.
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The Mass
Joyce's A Portrait of the Artist as a Youns Man (PAYM) is by far the most
complicated of all the topics in this volume. I have had some success in
including the material in this chapter in lower division classes, but it works
better in upper division or graduate classes. In PA YM there is not one or two
templates but a plethora of them. Some levels of complexity were included in the
preceding chapter and others are included here. There are of course even more
levels that occupy Joyce scholars in advanced seminars and research.
In the classes the students develop their thoughts on the overall structure
of the novel as outlined in the preceding section. They look at the descent into
sin in the first half that ends with the midpoint line consisting only of repeated
uses of 'Hell!' in the sermon. Then they look at Stephen Daedalus' rise into
freedom as an artist This descent and rise structure is then contrasted to the
double descent of Stephen falling into sin in the flrst half and then replicating
that fall in the most serious of ways as his Lucifer-like 'non serviam' leads him
on a spiritual descent into the inferno.
The next step taken in class is the focus on the critical flfth chapter of the
book In the J'* chapter of PAYM, as Sprinchom has suggested, Joyce uses as
one substructure the fundamental elements of the Tridentine Mass of the
Catholic Church. That version of the Mass was largely replaced in the 1960s by
a different Mass. The Tridentine Mass had grown organically for many
centuries and had developed a beauty, an intellectual depth, and a spiritual
clarity that Joyce uses in PAYM. There is a large number of parallels between
the words and actions in PAYM and those in the Tridentine Mass. (Hereafter
'Mass' will be usedfor the Tridentine Mass unless otherwise specified.) The fact
that those parallels are in the same sequence as the Mass demonstrates the care
with which Joyce used that substructure when he wrote PAYM and later
Ulysses. Joyce' interest in the complexities of meanings and the multiplicity of
levels of meanings suggests that he must have been intrigued by those elements
of the Tridentine Mass.
The elements of the Mass that Joyce built into PAYM and their intricacies
both in the Mass and in the novel are now unknown to any reader of Joyce other
than a few people who studied and remember the fullness of the Mass. In my
almost forty years of studying and teaching Joyce materials, I have never
encountered a student who has any knowledge to speak of about the fullness of
that Mass. Those Catholics and others who attend only the newer versions of the
Mass see only a 'streamlined' version of a Mass, one with little of the historical
meanings of all parts of the earlier Mass.
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Sacrifice
One element that is less clear now is that the Mass is a Sacrifice, that is, it
is the continuation of the sacriflce on the cross by which Christ redeemed man
from the effects of Original Sin and reopened the gates of heaven. The 'Canon'
or fixed part of the Mass made clear that the sacriflce of Christ is closely linked
to the sacriflce of Abel, to the near sacriflce of Abraham and to the sacriflce of
the high priest Melchisedech. These types of sacriflces were precursors to that
of Christ Abel who offered an offering of'an unblemished victim', theflrst-born
of his flock, as Christ was both unblemished by sin and a first-born (a technical
term which does not imply a second child). Abraham began the process of
sacriflcing his own and only son, but the Lord told him to substitute an animal.
Christ is the Son of God. Melchisedech made offerings of bread and wine,
foreshadowing the sacriflce that Christ would ask his apostles to perpetuate in
the Mass.
Etements of the Mass

In classes the students receive some templates of the elements of the Mass
that underlies chapter five of PAYM. Three short examples are given here.
For one example, the various physical items used in the Mass have a
deep significance. The chalice (the inside of which must be gold or gold-plated)
containing the wine that is transubstantiated into the blood of Christ may be
compared to the tomb in which He was laid after death on the cross. The pall (a
small square of stiffened linen or cardboard covered with linen) covering the
chalice represents the stone which was rolled across his tomb. The paten (a
small plate of precious metal) that rests on the pall represents the vases
containing the unguents used to anoint his body. The corporal (a linen cloth
spread on the altar by the priest) is the square offline linen carried in the bursa
and placed under the chalice during Mass. It must always be white for it
symbolizes purity. The host or bread to be consecrated is placed upon the
corporal which covers part of the altar. The altar itself represents the altar of
sacriflce from the Old Testament The purificator (a small linen cloth)
represents the other cloths that were used at Christ's interment; the veil (a cloth
covering of the same color as the outer vestment that the priest wears for that
Mass) of silk covering the chalice represents the veil of the temple that was torn
from top to bottom at the moment of His death; the two cruets (containing the
wine and the water that is used during the Mass) represent the vessels which
contained the wine and the gall given Christ to drink upon the cross. The three
altar cloths under the chalice at Mass also represent the shroud in which he was
laid to rest (According to Catherine Emerick, the visionary whose writings were
consulted for Gibson's 'The Passion of the Christ', there were three cloths used
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at the time of the Last Supper.) Everything on the altar and everything the priest
does or says is packed with such levels of meaning.
A second example of the complexities and levels of meaning that might have
appealed to Joyce is the meaning associated with the various vestments that the
priest wore for the Mass. [The Tridentine Mass is still officially offered in a very
few places, but no student in my experience has ever attended one.] The
meanings are associated with the Passion story leading up to the sacrifice on
the cross. The Amice (a small square of white linen) is symbolic of the linen
cloth that covered Christ's face when he was called before Caiaphas. The alb (a
long white linen garment reaching to the feet) represents the white garment
which Christ wore in the house of Herod. The linen cord with which the priest
girds himself represents the cord wherewith Christ was bound in the Garden of
Olives. The maniple on the priest's left arm represents the bonds with which
Christ was tied to the pillar when he was scourged. Interestingly, the priest
takes this off when he leaves the altar to give his sermon because he gives the
sermon as Christ's representative but he prays the Mass as an alter Christus or
'another Christ' The stole represents the chains laid upon Our Lord after He
was sentenced to death. The outer garment or chasuble represents the robe that
the Roman soldiers laid upon his shoulder. No matter what color chasuble is
worn, it bears upon it the outline image of a Cross which represents the cross
that Christ carried on his shoulder on the way to death on Calvary.
A third topic of interest to Joyce scholars is the use of colors in the
Mass. While PAYM is not as intricate in its use of colors, Ulysses has a
predominant color associated with each chapter. The liturgical meaning of the
colors is one element in Joyce that needs further work White, a symbol of
purity, sanctity and triumph, is used on festivals of Christ and of the Blessed
Virgin, of the Angels, of Pontiffs, of Confessors, and of Virgins. (All these are
among the official categories used by the church.) Red, which suggests both
blood and fire, is used on all feasts of Christ's Cross and Passion, on feasts of
the Apostles, and for masses for Martyrs. Purple is a color for penance and
expiation and thus is used in the seasons of Advent, Septuagesima, and Lent and
on fast days on most vigils. Pink (aka Old Rose) is for joy as in the Third Sunday
of Advent ('Gaudete') and the Fourth Sunday of Lent ('Laetare') when the
penitential tone of the season is tempered with a call to rejoice in the goodness
of God. Green, which symbolizes hope, is used for ordinary Sundays andferias
(weekdays). Blue is used for Masses of The Blessed Virgin Mary, especially in
Latin countries. Black is of course used at funeral Masses.
The most important elements of the Mass that are neededfor understanding
the complexities underlying PAYM are the components of the Mass itself The
students receive templates of the overall structure and of the major parts.
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Overati Structure of the Mass

The structure of the Mass combines two services. The flrst is called the
'Mass of the Catechumens'. In the early days of the church, the unbaptized who
were receiving instructions in the faith (i.e. 'catechumens') were allowed only at
this flrst part of the Mass. The flrst part extends to the Creed (see below) and
some prayers that prepare for the second part, which is called the 'Mass of the
Faithful' The second part is the sacrificial part that begins with the Offertory
and extends to the end of the Mass. The material listed below is given to the
students as a handout The fuller description of each part is given in the text part
of this chapter.
The Mass of the Catechumens

1. PRAYERS AT THE FOOT OF THE ALTAR: The priest approaches the
altar and the priest and people, as represented by the altar server, recite lines
from Psalm 42 (43 in the alternate system). The fourth verse reads in the Latin
'Introibo in altare Dei' or 'I will go to the altar of God.' In fact, most of the
prayers from the Mass of the Catechumens are taken flom the Bible.
Immediately after this, in the CONFITEOR, both priest and people
(server) in turn, proclaim their sinfulness before heaven and earth and implore
God's mercy and pardon.
2. INTROIT: This entrance song or processional used to be longer but was
reduced to a small portion of a Psalm. The longer version is still sung at a
solemn Mass while the sacred ministers are approaching the altar. The priest
reads these verses at the Epistle side of the altar, that is, on the right side of the
altar as the congregation faces it
3. KYRIE ELEISON: These Greek words preserved in the Latin liturgy mean
'Lord have mercy on us'. The prayer includes CHRISTE ELEISON, that is,
'Christ have mercy on us.' This element of the Mass is a remnant of an ancient
litany used many centuries ago.
4. GLORIA IN EXCELSIS: The 'Gloria' was the song with which the Angels
greeted Jesus at His birth. (Luke 11,14) In its present form this hymn praises the
Three Divine Persons of the Blessed Trinity.
5. PRAYER: This is also known as THE COLLECT, which is the prayer of
the people 'collected' or gathered before the altar. This important prayer often
expresses what we should specially pray for on a particular day or during a
particular Mass.
6. EPISTLE (or LESSON): These instructional lessons are read flom the
letters of the Apostles, especially those ofSt Paul.
7. GRADUAL: The Gradual is the oldest and most important of the four
chants that make up the choir's part of the Proper of the Mass. Whereas the
three others (Introit, Offertory, and Communion) were introduced later, it fills
up the time while something is being done around the altar. The Gradual (with
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its supplement, the Tract or Alleluia) represents in the Mass the singing of
psalms which in earlier times alternated with readings from the Bible. These
verses occur while on a step (in Latin, gradus); hence, the name Gradual They
often echo of the Epistle reading and/or anticipate the Gospel
8. ALLELUIA: That is, 'Praise the Lord!' It signifies joy; hence, it is omitted
during penitential seasons and in Requiem Masses.
9. TRACT: A psalm or part of a psalm which replaces the Alleluia during the
penitential seasons.
10. GOSPEL: In Old English, godspella or 'Good stories. Good tidings'. A
portion of one of the four Gospels written by Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, is
read.
11. CREED: ln early days the catechumens made a solemn profession of faith
at their baptism. The 'Mass of the Catechumens' ends with a public affirmation
of faith in everything that God has revealed.
The Mass of the Faithful

In the Second Part of the Mass, Jesus as the High Priest of the New
Covenant offers Himself as an unbloody Sacriflcial a Victim to His Heavenly
Father, as He did on the Cross. This Part which begins with the Offertory Verse
and comprises three major Actions: a. The Offering, b. The Consecration, c. The
Communion.
A. The Offering
1. OFFERTORY: In ancient days the people brought and offered to the priest
bread and wine for the Holy Sacriflce. Today we have instead the offertory
collection. The priest in the name of the Church offers to God the bread and
wine which by his words, at the Consecration, will be changed into Christ's
Body and Blood.
2. LAVABO: That is, 'I shall wash.' Formerly the priest handled the bread
and wine brought by the people at the Offertory and he then washed his hands.
Together with part of Psalm 25 it is now a ceremony symbolizing the purity with
which priest and people should approach this Holy Sacriflce.
3. SECRET: A prayer now said quietly before the Preface, asking that God
may favorably receive the offering of the Church and make all present holy.
B. The Consecration
4. THE CONSECRA TION: This second great Act of the Eucharistic Sacriflce
begins with the Preface and erids with the Amen, just before the Pater Noster
(Our Father). It is a most sacred ACT OF THANKSGIVING (Eucharist), having
at its center the changing of the species into Christ's Body and Blood.
5. PREFACE: This is a solemn beginning with a hymn of thanksgiving; just
as Jesus at the Last Supper 'gave thanks' when He instituted the Sacriflce of the
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Mass 'to be done in commemoration of Me.' It ends with the SANCTUS, a hymn
of adoration borrowedfrom Isaias (VI:5).
6. TE IGITUR: The Roman Missal calls the part that begins with these words
the 'Canon of the Mass' because its contents are almost invariable. This prayer
implores God's favor for all the clergy and the faithful, especially for those
present, andfor the special intention of the priest who celebrates the Mass.
7. COMMUNICANTES: Here the priest asks for God's grace and protection,
that all may obtain eternal glory in heaven. He invokes the intercession of the
saints, in particular, the Blessed Mother and the Apostles.
8. CONSECRATION: This, according to St Thomas, is Christ's greatest
miracle, although we do not perceive the change of the bread and wine into
Christ's Body and Blood which makes Him sacramentally present with His
complete Humanity and Divinity. The separate consecration of the bread and
wine signifies the separation of His Body and Blood on the Cross, shows Christ
under the aspect of physical death, and sacramentally renews His Sacrifice on
the Cross.
9. OFFERING (OF THE VICTIM TO GOD): This Offering recalls not only
Christ's Sacriflce on Calvary, but His Resurrection and Ascension. The priest
that all who shall receive Holy Communion maybe filled with every grace.
10. COMMEMORATION OF THE DEAD: The priest prays for all the faithful
departed and mentions those people that the congregation wishes particularly to
help with the prayers.
11. THE MINOR ELEVATION: This solemn elevation of Sacred Host and
Chalice, offers praise to the Blessed Trinity, concluding with the words
'Through Him, with Him, in Him'. (RomansXI:36)
C. The Communion
12. THE COMMUNION: 'The bread that I will give is My flesh for the life of
the world'Jesus, who spoke those words (John VI: 52) gives us this food in Holy
Communion, strengthening the life of grace for all who receive Him.
13. PATER NOSTER: The preparation for receiving Holy Communion
includes the Lord's Prayer, in which the request is not only for daily bread that
sustains bodies, but for the Bread that feeds souls.
14. THE BREAKING OF THE SACRED HOST: 'Breaking of bread' (having a
meal) was an expression that was used to designate the Mass. Christ at the Last
Supper 'took bread, gave thanks and broke (it).' (Matthew XXVI:26) At this time
the priest breaks the Consecrated Host
15. AGNUS DEI: At this point in the Mass, the parallel to the life of Christ is
that Christ has just 'been broken', i.e. has physically died on the cross. The
'unblemished lamb of sacrifice' has just died. At this point the words of John the
Baptist recall the prediction that Christ would be the sacriflcial victim: 'Ecce
Agnus Dei, ecce Qui tollit peccatum mundi' (John, 1:29) or 'Behold the Lamb of
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Language, Linguistics and Literature: the Eurekal Approach Language and Literature 2004
God, who takes away the sins of the world.' In the Mass, John's words are given
three times, recalling clearly to mind that this point in the Mass is the most
solemn moment of the Redemption story.
[At this point in the discussion, I note in class that in the new version of the
Mass, the rubrics call for the congregation to turn to each other and give the
'kiss of peace' or a sign of peace such as a handshake. The theology of such an
act is unfathomable, since this new Mass calls for some social interaction just at
the instant that all attention should be on the Cross where Christ has just
redeemed us all from sin. This is the moment for which Christ became Man and
is the most solemn moment in human history.]
16. COMMUNION: After the priest receives communion, the congregation
moves forward to receive communion as well. During this section of the Mass,
an antiphon and a psalm were formerly sung while Holy Communion was being
distributed. Those parts are recited after that distribution in the Tridentine
Mass.
17. POSTCOMMUNION: After communion, the priest and people complete
their prayers of thanksgiving privately.
18. ITE MISSA EST: The Mass ends with a suggestion of Matthew XXVIII:20.
The people are told that the Mass is over and that they are sent on their way.
It should be noted that within the overall structure of the Mass, the
sequence of structural elements parallels to some extent the life of Christ The
physical birth of Christ is recalled by the Gloria. The Epistle and Gospel below
refer to Christ's life and that of his apostles. The Consecration is a reenactment
of that of the Last Supper. The Breaking of the Host is the death of Christ on the
Cross. The Communion of priest and people is their participation with the
Apostles at the Last Supper in partaking of the Body and Blood of Christ
The Apostles
The parallels between Joyce's flfth chapter of PAYM and the Mass should
involve not just Stephen but also others who were are the Last Supper when the
Mass was instituted. PAYM includes the apostles in an interesting way. Each of
the characters around Stephen has at least one characteristic associated with
one of the apostles. (Sprinchom)
Cranley is pictured as chewing figs, which is one of the things that John
the Baptizer ate in the desert. He is connected with Leopardstown', which
makes little sense in the novel but does in the parallel. One place where John
baptized people is in English 'the place of the leopard.'
The four evangelists are present The three who were apostles include the
Dean of Studies who is called a 'receipt of custom' and the word 'face' is used.
Matthew was a tax collector and his emblem is a face. Glynn carries around a
portfolio of papers to mark The apostle Mark was a scribe and of course his
name fits Glynn as well The apostle John is Davin, who is much loved by all the
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girls and is connected with birds. John is called the 'beloved disciple' and his
emblem is a bird. The evangelist who was not an apostle is also represented in
the chapter. Dixon, who is a medical student and reads about diseases of the ox,
is Luke. He was a medical doctor and his emblem is an ox.
The professor of Italian notes a recipe for risotto alia bergamasca and
Barnabas founded the church in Bergamo. The professor of physics is an
atheistic freemason and Thomas is well known as the 'doubter' of the apostles.
Bartholomew is called the mystic disciple and one who teaches the mental
sciences. The professor of economics is a 'squat' professor of economics: the
'squat' seems to fit James the Less, as does perhaps the word 'less'.
The President is always reading his office or other religious work and
Andrew is pictured with gospel in hand. One priest wrote devout verses and
June was an epistle writer.
The Prefect or head of the sodality was married and was descended from
Baldhead. Peter was head of the apostles, married, and by tradition bald.
Judas was the disciple who betrayed Christ and in his cowardice hung
himself Lynch swears constantly and mentions 'yellow' at times, which may be a
reference to cowardice.
Another person called an Apostle, but not one of the original twelve, is St
Paul, the preacher of the new law, whose emblems are book and sword.
MacCann talked about disarmament, a 'new gospel', and has a wooden sword.
Other people involved in the Christ story are present, but those above are
those that are importantfor the Last Supper/Mass parallel
The Tridentine Mass in PAYM

The Mass that underlies the fifth chapter of PAYM is that designed for
Maundy Thursday, also known as Holy Thursday. It was during the first Holy
Thursday that Christ instituted the Mass at the Last Supper. Stephen, who as we
saw in the last chapter of this volume has decided to leave the Catholic Church
and pursue becoming a priest of the imagination, is in this chapter of PAYM
undergoing a sequence of parallels to the Tridentine Mass. His Mass is,
however, definitely not that of Christ.
Mass of the Catechumens

The first part of the rite is the Mass of the Catechumens, but this chapter
begins with the preparations before Mass. The washing before vesting is
paralleled by Stephen's washing early in the chapter.
The first prayer of the Mass is the 'Introibo ad altare dei.' This opening part
of the ceremony, the prayers at the foot of the altar, reveals Stephen meditating
on the words 'ivy' and 'ivory,' the former symbolizing the resurrection, the latter
the Virgin Mother.
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A Confiteor or confession occurs when Davin (John the Beloved Disciple)

confesses when he tells Stephen of the Irish peasant woman who tried to seduce
him.
In a Solemn High Mass, the version of the Mass used on the major holy
days, the censer (filled with some buming charcoal briquettes) is used at the
altar. The Censing in PAYM occurs when the dean of studies lights the fire in
the physics classroom. The ritual incensation of the altar is taking place. The
bucket and lamp alluded to several times in this section ftinction together as the
thurible. In PAYM, it is not God to whom the incense is offered but rather it is
to the spirit of language. Stephen is of course the priest of the word and not the
Word or Logos in the theological sense.
The Introit or Procession occurs when the students pour into the physics
theatre and the roil is called.
The Kyrie Eleison, also knovm as the Formula, is paralleled by the
mathematical formula discussed by the atheistic professor of physics. Already
the pattem is established that this Mass will be far different in its intentions than
the tme one.
The Gloria in Excelsis Deo is intoned in by the monotonous voice of the
professor as he explains electric coils, perhaps an appropriate substitute for a
modem god. It is in this section that Stephen jokes about offering himself as a
subject for electrocution, for which the parallel would be cmcifixion.
In the Collect the congregation petitions God. In PAYM MacCann urges
the gathered students to sign his peace petition.
The Epistle in the Mass is generally from St. Paul. Here MacCann (Paul)
delivers his 'gospel' of utilitarianism and quarrels with Stephen: 'If you must
have a Jesus, let us have a legitimate Jesus', Stephen says.
In the Gradual the versicles were originally sung on the step or gradua. In
PAYM, we find the dean of studies at the lectem with 'a foot on the lowest step'.
The subject matter of the Gradual refers back to the Epistle. And such is the case
here too. Stephen reiterates his intention to fiy past the nets of nationality,
language, and religion.
The Tract is intended for a great solo voice and replaces the Alleluia on
Maundy Thursday. Here Stephen delivers the first part of his tract on aesthetics
to Lynch.
The Sequence is filled with hymns of strong longing and passion for the
Lord. At this point Stephen is nearing his revelation of the point which informs
the entire novel. Stephen is thinking of Thomas Aquinas' hymn Pange lingua
CNow my tongue; the mystery telling').
The Ordination in the Mass on Holy Thursday commemorates the
ordination of the apostles. At the last supper, the Apostles were 'ordained' (i.e.
received the sacrament of Holy Orders which made them priests) when told to
continue the Mass throughout time. In PAYM the seven deacons (students) who
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aided the 'apostles' are admitted to Holy Orders when they partake of a stew
instead of the consecrated bread and wine of the Last Supper. Here again we see
that the Mass parallel of PAYM is nearing a reversal of meanings.
The reading of the Gospel brings the Mass of the Catechumens to its
climax. In the gospel reading, Christ teaches us what to believe and what to do
in our lives. Here Stephen tells us what he believes and what he will do. He
finishes his lecture on aesthetics. Instead of discussing a God who knows the fall
of every sparrow, Stephen's god of artistic creation seems to be an indifferent
god. His god is one that creates not ex nihilo ('from nothing'), but from pre-
existing matter and ideas. Thus his god will be a rather impersonal 'artificer', as
he makes clear later.
The Credo is said by the believers at Mass as a synopsis of all that they
believe as Catholics. In PAYM the medical students in front of the library chant
in Latin of the bloody cruel life of a doctor contrasts vividly with the credo of
the church. During the Credo the corporal representing Christ's body is spread
on the altar to prepare the altar for the sacrifice is that is about to occur. Thus
ends the instmctional part of the Mass, that for the Catechumens.
The Mass of the Faithful [also known as the Mass of the Mysteries]
The Mass of the Faithftil begins with the offering of the sacrifice to God,
continues with the Consecration, and ends with the distribution of the Holy
Eucharist to the believers present.
The section that parallels the Offertory and the Preparation of the Bread
and Wine begins his Stephen's 'soul lying amid cool waters,' with the sound of
'faint sweet music' (the Oremus) around him. The seraphim are 'breathing upon
him.' Stephen feels inspired and begins to compose a villanelle. His Mass of the
Faithftil will not have Christ or Word made fiesh, but rather 'In the virgin womb
of the imagination the word was made fiesh.' His villanelle begins:
Are you not weary of ardent ways.

Lure of the Fallen seraphim?
Tell not more of enchanted days.
As noted in the preceding chapter, this Offering poem addresses itself not to
God but to the lure of the fallen seraphim, to Lucifer who led the fallen angels in
rebellion and who was consigned to hell fi)r etemity. The type of Mass in which
Stephen is symbolically participating is one that would more properly be called
a Black Mass.
As he ends the first few lines of the villanelle, he mentions 'smoke' from
the earth, the earth 'like a swinging swaying censer, a ball of incense.' The
Preface and Sanctus of the Mass are occurring as incense rises around the altar.
The altar bell that is rung is the 'bell' that Stephen hears. The three birds that
140
Stephen hears suggest the three-fold 'Sanctus. Sanctus, Sanctus' that is being
said. The 'Holy, holy, holy. Lord God of Hosts!' is designed to be the identical
hymn which the faithftil seraphim, chembim and other angels etemally repeat
before the throne of God. Stephen has here changed the focus of the Mass in a
ftindamental way.
The Canon or Epiclesis begins at this point. The Epiclesis (or from the
Latin the 'Invocation') is the name of a prayer in which the celebrant prays that
God may send down His Holy Spirit to change this bread and wine into the
Body and Blood of His Son. This part of the ritual symbolizes Christ mounting
the cross. The descent of the Holy Ghost is invoked by the celebrant in verses
that commemorate the living, primarily the Virgin Mary. In the place of calling
on God, Stephen thinks of a time that he was fiirting with a girl, who called him
a heretic. 'His own image started forth a profaner of the cloister, a heretic
franciscan...'
When Stephen recalls the episode, a 'mde bmtal anger' fills his soul. At this
point of the Elevation of the Host and the Chalice, Stephen's passion of anger is
contrasted with Christ's Passion upon the cross. Instead of the Holy Ghost
coming down to transubstantiate the bread and wine into the Body and Blood of
Christ, Stephen thinks of himself as the 'priest of the etemal imagination,
transmuting the daily bread of experience into the radiant body of everliving
life.' Recalling the fiirtation with the girl, Stephen feels a 'rude bmtal anger'
bursting from his soul. From his bittemess and despair he sings his poem, a
eucharistic hymn in which 'sacrificing hands upraise /The chalice fiowing to the
brim.' The Elevation of the Chalice in the Mass is paralleled by Stephen's poetic
chalice.
The Anamnesis (Remembrance) or Commemoration of the Dead is
suggested in Stephen's memories of his past friendship with the girl. His
'remembering' corresponds to the Remembrance in the Mass.
The Minor Elevation or the Thanksgiving occurs in the Mass with an
elevation of the host and chalice, both raised together. Now the bread and wine
are become one with the Body and Blood of Jesus. Stephen continues to think
about his girl and his anger changes to compassion, for she too has known
humiliation. Reconciled to her in thought, he feels a sensual desire for her. 'Her
nakedness yielded to him' in a type of'becoming one.' He thinks of his Eucharist
hymn, the villanelle he has been composing, that now fiows forth 'over his
brain.' He is becoming one with his 'words' while in the Mass Christ the 'Word'
is about to become one with the people in the communion.
The liturgy of the Mass reminds us that the Elevation signifies Christ's
Passion. For this Minor Elevation of the Host and Chalice signals the moment
when Christ was nailed to the cross.
After the Little Elevation the liturgy continues with the Pater Noster ('Our
Father'). This is Jesus' own prayer which has been part of the basic prayers of
141
the church since the beginning. [Around the 8th century a pious monk added the
ending that is characteristic of the Protestant version of the Our Father, ln the
new Mass that ending is included but it is clearly separatedfrom the traditional
text.] Corresponding to it is Stephen's invocation at the beginning of the
sixteenth section to the spirit of 'the hawklike man whose name he bore'. Icams
tried to fiy from the labyrinth, but fell and died. Stephen wonders if it was
...folly that he was about to leave for ever the house of prayer and
pmdence into which he had been bom and the order of life out of which
he had come...
Rather than leaving a prayer behind as Christ did, Stephen will leave the house
of prayer forever. His thoughts of'departure' parallel the eminent death of Christ
that will occur in the next part of the Mass.
The Fraction or Breaking of the Host corresponds to the moment of
Christ's physical death on the cross. In PAYM, Joyce uses a symbolic action that
is part of the traditional lore of Christ's death. There is a gathering of swallows
fiying overhead in PAYM and the episode reminds us of the moment of Christ's
death when swallows hovered over the cross.
In the Agnus Dei ('Lamb of God') the words of John the Baptist recall the
prediction that Christ would be the sacrificial victim: 'Ecce Agnus Dei, ecce Qui
tollis peccata mundi' (John, 1:29) or 'Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away
the sins of the world.' In the Mass, John's words are given three times, recalling
clearly to mind that this point in the Mass is the most solemn moment of the
Redemption story. The three sacrifices that are precursors of this moment are
also recalled. Abel made a sacrifice of the unblemished first-bom of his fiock.
Abraham was willing to sacrifice his only Begotten Son. Melchidech offered
bread and wine. Here the innocent unblemished Son of God is offered in
atonement for the Original Sin and for all other human sins in the sacrificial act
of Atonement. In PAYM Stephen comes across Cranly, who is the parallel to
John the Baptizer in the novel. Since Stephen is making a different choice than
Christ, there is no selfiess sacrifice of self for others at this point.
In the Priest's Communion the priest consumes the transubstantiated Host
and Wine, now the Body and Blood of Christ. In PAYM, the host and wine
which would be the direct parallel become lice and sweat: 'lice bom of the sweat
of sloth.' Where Christ offers His Body and Blood under the appearances of
bread and wine, Stephen seems to leave behind only bloodsuckers and
exudations from his body.
At this point in PAYM, Stephen thoughts tum to negative things and he
momentarily feels a kind of despair. This feeling may involve a rather intricate
part of the Christ parallel. Christ from the cross said, 'Eloi, Eloi, lama
sabachthani' or 'My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken me?' This phrase
142
would seem to indicate a feeling of despair. However, the line is the beginning
of Psalm 22 in which several predictions about Christ were made. Rather than a
cry of despair, the phrase was a reminder to the Jews at the foot of the cross that
his cmcifixion was part of the redemption story. Hi^ physical death completed
the redemption, the gates of heaven were re-opened, and paradise was again the
goal of believers. The reversal of Christ's actions in Stephen's feeling of despair
is rather thorough.
The Communion of the People occurs in the Mass with the congregation
moving forward to receive the consecrated hosts. In a typical reversal in PAYM,
only Cranly (John the Baptizer) is eating but he continues to eat his figs as he
has for some time. When another student is offered something to eat, it is not
eaten. What Stephen will try to leave behind are his words, but his friends and
colleagues do not seem to think much of those.
The Communion prayer of the Mass was originally said after all had
received communion. Psalms and songs were part of this section. In PAYM
some music is heard in the background.
In the new Mass, this time that earlier was given over to personal
communion with God and Christ is given over to announcements of parish
activities and other social activities. Communion has, then, been changed from
unity and communion with Christ to unity of social activities with others.
The Post-Communion is also given over to the private devotions of the
congregation. Stephen and Cranly have a long conversation in which Stephen
begins to talk about his decision 'I will not serve.' As noted in the last chapter.
That 'non serviam' is the phrase that Lucifer used when he said he would rather
mle in hell than serve in heaven. Stephen informs Cranly that he has broken
with his mother and with Mother Church. As Stephen continues to talk of
breaking all ties to Ireland, he indicates his break with 'mother' on multiple
levels. He is tuming his back on his alma mater ('soul mother' or school), on his
physical mother, on Mother Church, and - by leaving the Church- on the
Blessed Virgin Mary as the Mother of Christ. Instead of paralleling Christ as one
who brings unity and communion on all levels of life, Stephen is bringing only a
disunity between himself and all parts of his past life. Cranly's phrase toward the
end of this section is an apt quotation that fits Stephen's decisions: 'Depart from
me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire?' In the gospel of Matthew, during the part
on the Final Judgment day, we find (Matthew 25:41) the original version, 'Then
shall he say also unto them on the left hand. Depart from me, ye cursed, into
everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels.' Where Christ indicated
that those who receive communion would have everlasting life, Stephen has
chose the opposite course.
Cranly tries one more argument to convince Stephen to make a different
decision than his climactic one. 'Then... you do not intend to become a
protestant?' Stephen's answer is an important one for the reverse parallel
143
Stmcture that underlies PAYM. He says that 'I said I had lost the faith... but not
that I had lost selfrespect.' Stephen's decision will match that of Lucifer who
gazed upon the glory of God and yet betrayed and that of Judas who gazed upon
the face of God the Son, the Redeemer, and yet betrayed. Stephen knows and
willingly accepts the same fate as those betrayers who reside in the ninth or
bottom level of the Infemo.
The Ite Missa est which closes the Mass is paralleled in the diary entries
that conclude A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. They begin with an entry
on the discussions with Cranly and roam across many of the ideas already
presented in PAYM. Where the priest indicates that the encounter with Christ in
the Mass has been completed and the people are to retum home, so to speak,
Stephen indicates that he will leave home to encounter his inverted 'Christ.' The
last entry in the diary is:
27 April: Old father, old artificer, stand me now and ever in good
stead.
Stephen leaves to meet the old artificer, the lure of the fallen seraphim, and
leaves behind colleagues, friends, family, church and God. His Mass is now
complete.
Appendix
For the students - usually only the Catholic ones but not always so - who
want to know more about the Tridentine Mass and all that it entails, a few other
topics are appropriate. One topic is the variety of Masses, from a 'Low' Mass
through a series of more elaborate one up to ihe Solemn High Mass which
involved a priest, a deacon, a subdeacon, and various types of acolytes. A
version of this Mass can still be seen in the Vatican and a few other places when
the liturgy of the Mass is televised. Student who have traveled to Rome and seen
the glories of the traditional ceremonies are usually astonished at the beauty
and solemnity or such a Mass. The Tridentine Mass is still accepted by the
Catholic Church as an accepted Mass, but the permission for a priest to say it
must be given by the local bishop. Not all bishops freely grant the permission.
Another topic is related to this last point The music that accompanies the
new Mass is oflen pedestrian and rather simplistic. The music for the Tridentine
Mass rangedfrom the Gregorian chant that is still a music lover's favorite to the
great Masses of the great composers. Most parts of a Solemn High Mass are
sung, usually with a fine choir of multiple voices. The composers who wrote
these Masses include many of the great classical composers. Some examples of
the music that can be heard with these Masses are:
144
Bach Mass in B minor

Beethoven Mass in C
Brahms Mass in B minor
Dvorak Mass in D major
Handel Te Deum
Haydn Lord Nelson Mass
Mozart Mass in C minor
Mozart Requiem Mass, which includes his incredible Dies Irae
Puccini Mass in A flat
Verdi Requiem Mass and his version of the Te Deum
The list could go on and on. For more recent work, Faure's Requiem Mass was
selected by Pope John Paul IIfor a ceremony at the Vatican.
The liturgical movement in the US to recover the sacred music in the
liturgy is gaining ground. In addition to the use of the great music of the past,
some composers are returning to Gregorian chant and composing new music
within the limitations of that ancient chant (M. Hoffer)
Chant has been a part of religious ceremonies since long before the
Christian era. It was used in early Masses. By the 5** century Pope Gregory the
Great unified all the chants used in liturgical services into one collection. This
collection became an essential part of worship in the monasteries. Eventually
there was sufficient Gregorian chant to be used for all the liturgical services.
Even today such chant can be heard in monasteries and some churches. Every
decade or so a CD of chant is released and becomes a best sellers.
The power of the chant and of the Masses and other music of the great
composers of history lend their spiritual power to that of the Mass. As with the
structure of the Mass, the music is also intricately woven from the threads of the
Christian experience.
The last topic to be mentioned here that fascinates some students is that of
stained glass windows. For many centuries the stained glass windows that were
found in the great cathedrals and churches contained multiple pictures that
portrayed important stories and people from the Bible andfrom Judeo-Christian
history. For the interested student, the stained glass windows of the cathedral at
Chartres are a good starting place. Each of the beautiful windows contains so
many different scenes that a book could be devoted to the explanation of that
window. To make the point again, the intricacies of such windows would have
intrigued the complex mind of Joyce. All these intricate elements related to the
faith could have been a sort of model for the usually secular or non-Christian
intricate substructures that Joyce built into his Ulvsses and his Finnegans Wake.
145

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Language, Linguistics and Literature: the Eureka!

Approach Language and Literature 2004

Are you not weary of ardent ways

- Introibo ad altare Dei. ('I will go to the altar of God.')

'...ad deam qui laetificat juventutem meam.'

('To God who gives joy to my youth.)

Snakes of river fog creep slowly. From drains, clefts, cesspools,

(Violently.) Fellow Christians and antiBloomites, the man called Bloom

Introibo ad altare diaboli. (p. 583)

A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man

Various details of the Descent/Rise sections are available to the student

The Double Descent in PAYM

A. Intersection Point in Daedalus/Icams and Dante's Infemo

B. Stephen's spiritual trajectory

Yet as he enters the confessional to start the sequence, he decides he wants to

- To receive that call, Stephen, said the priest, is the greatest

A flame began to flutter again on Stephen's check as he heard in

—Brightness falls from the air.

The phrase is an echo of Christ's words in Luke 10:18:

I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven.

Are you not weary of ardent ways.

Your eyes have set man's heart ablaze

Are you not weary of ardent ways?

Above the flame the smoke of praise

Our broken cries and mournful lays

While sacrificing hands upraise

And still you hold our longing gaze

... to forge in the smithy of my soul the uncreated conscience of my

C. The Double Descent Template

Etements of the Mass

Overati Structure of the Mass

The Mass of the Catechumens

The Mass of the Faithful

The Tridentine Mass in PAYM

Mass of the Catechumens

A Confiteor or confession occurs when Davin (John the Beloved Disciple)

Are you not weary of ardent ways.

Bach Mass in B minor

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