James Joyce's 1922 novel, Ulysses, is a reformulation of one of the most formulaic and foundational plots in the Western canon, Homer's Odyssey. The novel is divided into eighteen episodes, set on 16 June 1904 in Dublin. Joyce fills the long novel with bathetic mythical parallels and displays mimesis with his main protagonist, Leopold Bloom, "othered" in every sense by his classifications as a Jew and a cuckold whose wife, Molly Bloom, "consumes" an affair around "four in the afternoon". clock'.[1] This essay will aim to discuss the positive representation of women within this modernist epic. As Callow cites in her work, 'Joyce's Female Voices in “Ulysses”', Joyce's relationship with 'feminism' remains undeniably 'problematic', receiving criticism from critics such as Carolyn Heilbrun and Mary Ellmann.[2] The focus of this topic will be on the deviation of Leopold and Stephen's narrative during the episodes 'Nausicaa' and 'Penelope'. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay Not only his novels, but Joyce himself, has been criticized by feminist theory, with Suzette A. Henke even arguing that Joyce "apportioned" femininity to his "sexual aspects" with Molly Bloom.[3] However, reading the entire book and only deducing the sexual aspects of Molly's character cannot help but fit into a radical feminist opinion on sexuality. Her governess and her sexual agency establish her as one of the main vehicles that advance the novel's plot, and she is in no way passive. The lack of a strong female voice in literary history has led feminist literary theory to seek to examine old texts within the literary canon through a new lens. Anette Kolodny, a feminist interpretive theorist, states that it is "her right" to choose which features of a text she considers "relevant".[4] Within this notion of feminist literary theory, this essay will analyze the contents of the two episodes narrated by Ulysses' women, "Nausicaa" and "Penelope". Joyce allows Molly Bloom, the novel's dark object of initial desire, to counter the crowds of canon-dominated male novels, which leave women as voiceless subjects seen only through a limiting male narrative. Second, as Hugh Kenner notes, "Penelope" is the only episode in which Joyce does not "interrupt".[5] This idea of ​​her interrupted soliloquy working contingently with the episode's form, "outside the fixed language of androcentrism" gradually moves towards an empowering feminine language that alludes to Hélene Cixous's feminist theory of écriture féminine, refutes Henke's criticism of Molly Fioritura's portrayal.[6] Gerty McDowell is the object of Bloom's attention within Nausicaa, autonomy cannot be denied as it is her perspective and interpretation of the episode's sequel that even on the surface transforms her from a passive character to an active one, as it is she who guides the readers. Contained in Molly's infamous final soliloquy, the flow of the narrative shows the transience of emotional processes as they occur, deviating from conventional narratives with second thoughts. Free of punctuation, Molly's ideas and thoughts progress naturally, without interruption, with her mind free from constraints, she is finally given the chance to have her say on her actions and subsequent events, in which she ruminates that Leopold must be "came" somewhere because of his 'appetite'.[7] Her narrative encapsulates her husband, subjecting her to her own criticism andit also gives her autonomy by enriching her as a person, no longer limiting her character through observations made by the men in the book. The writing style is linked to notions theorized by French feminist Luce Irigaray, who hypothesizes that "feminine" writing is "always fluid".[8] The fluidity of "Penelope" with its lack of punctuation and shapeless stylization fuels l'écritureféminine, a theory already mentioned, which according to Henderson "anticipates" Irigaray's feminist theories.[9] Écriture féminine is a theory associated with second-wave French feminism, and looks at the inscription of the female body and difference in text and language, to quote Showalter's definition.[10]Henderson goes on to theorize that this anticipation of écriture the feminine deconstructs patriarchal structures, formally implemented in the novel. Molly's ramblings enrich her character, and although sexuality underlies much of her reflections, she is always in control of the situation, using her physicality to become the controller of situations, such as the one with Lieutenant Jack Joe Harry Mulvey , which she mocks. opening her blouse denying him permission to touch her anywhere. In comparison to "Nausicaa", which presents a complex narrative, with some critics such as Arthur Power inferring that nothing happened between Leopold and Gerty MacDowell, however, this essay will reject that idea as it undermines Gerty's female voice and addresses the events, setting the episode in a patriarchal structure. Gerty MacDowell, influenced by Victorian popular culture, mirrors some of the "libidinal desires" of Flaubert's Emma Bovary. This can be observed in the pleasure gained from Leopold's infamous masturbation at Sandymount. Emma Bovary and Gerty MacDowell are two women whose circumstances are determined by the position of women in their respective eras. Gerty, although physically lame and vulnerable, also occupies a vulnerable position in early twentieth-century Dublin, where she is female, unmarried, and poor. Coming from a low-income background which limits her mobility within society, coupled with her disability from an accident down "Dalkey Hill", places Gerty's position precariously in society. Both women, Molly and Gerty, feel the effects of their patriarchal society which dictates the specific roles of mother and wife to fill. Notably, both women fail in both of their roles, which deconstructs the Victorian feminine ideal of an angel in the attic, a literary trope criticized by feminist Virginia Woolf. Gerty is unmarried and childless, while Molly is an adulteress with a dead child, who she refuses to allow to anger her further during "Penelope". Victorian popular culture has a thoughtful influence on Gerty of "Nausicaä," which much of her interior monologue focuses on, showing how Victorian culture shaped her behavior, shaped her perception of chastity and obsession with the image. "Nausicaa" can be interpreted as a critique of the way Victorian society wronged its women, molding Gerty to be flexible and accepting of Leopold's sexual perversion. In "Prostitution, Incest and Venereal Disease in Ulysses" "Nausicaa" cites the jarring juxtaposition of Gerty's section with Bloom's, suggests a parallactic perspective - a common motif running throughout Ulysses - which acts as a vision" satirical" of both femininities. and masculinity.[13] Molly also shares Gerty's "penchant" for the "romantic", as noted in her final reflections on how Leopold considered her "flower of the mountain". Molly's soliloquy ends with reflection on’