James Joyce’s classic modernist novel Ulysses was published in 1918, eighteen years after Sigmund Freud released the first edition of his book Die Traumdeutung, or The Interpretation of Dreams. Freud would go on to publish several more highly influential works on psychoanalysis and his theories of the subconscious mind, such as The Ego and the Id and dozens of essays on sexuality. The Interpretation of Dreams began developing what would eventually become Freud’s Oedipus theory and introduced his theory of dream interpretation, in which Freud argued that every dream a person had was psychologically meaningful and could be linked directly to happenings when that person was awake (Freud 7). In his theory, Freud distinguished between the latent content of a dream, or the true subconscious meaning of it, and the less significant manifest content of a dream, which were the actions and events the dreamer remembered and experienced directly, filtered and censored by the dreamer’s mind (126).  Freud also argued that dreams go through several transformations to transform the latent content of dreams into the manifest content, such as condensation, displacement, representability, and secondary revision. The transformations change certain aspects of dreams, create symbols to make things simpler, disguise the true meanings of conversations and situations, and serve to mask the true wishes and desires being dreamed about.  

     The advancements in the fields of psychology and psychiatry, especially with regard to psychoanalysis, unquestionably influenced James Joyce in his writings. The longest section of Ulysses, and, arguably, the climax of the plot, Circe, is similar to a very long, very detailed dream sequence. Although there are no literal dreams present in it, Circe is composed of several hallucinations experienced both by Stephen Dedalus and Leopold Bloom. The distinction between hallucination and reality is sometimes unclear, as is the identity of the person who is actually hallucinating. Freud’s conceptualizations of how latent and manifest dream content relate heavily influenced Joyce’s characterization of Bloom and the format in the hallucinatory sequences in Ulysses. These conceptualizations are represented in the text as the Freudian concepts of dream revision such as secondary revision, condensation, and wish fulfillment.

     Secondary revision, the last change that a dream goes through to reach the manifest stage, is reflected in the format of the episode itself and its style. Freud explains secondary revision as the psyche’s attempt to “transform [the dreams] into dream-content,” or to create a coherent, censored version of the dream that contains a narrative out of the latent dream-work, which is disjointed and illogical (Freud 328).  Secondary revision suppresses the original dream thoughts and eliminates any contradictions in the dream itself by causing the dreamer to not acknowledge they were there.  Although secondary revision isn’t used to characterize Bloom, the concept of creating a narrative structure out of dreams is represented in the way the episode is written. The episode is presented in play form, with “technical language and proxemic stage codes, the detailed blocking of the cast, [and] the elaborate physical routines in the stage directions” (Paraskeva 117).  Most of the episode is composed of long, often confusing hallucinations. However, there is still a narrative structure present in the context of the episode, and events still happen in logical, often associatively based order. There are clear transitions from one event to the next, even though it is unclear how much time passes during and between each situation or meeting. The logical associations combining the happenings aren’t always obvious, and the sense of disorientation is further heightened through interludes of reality that come up occasionally. The episode represents the manifest content of a dream, organized into a plot-like structure with moments of reality (essentially, waking moments) through the Freudian dream transition process of secondary revision. Circe is the filtered content that is presented directly to the dreamer or, in this case, the reader, rather than the direct thoughts and emotions featured in previous and subsequent sections in the novel.

     Another aspect of Freudian dream revision, condensation, is used to portray Bloom’s anxieties, particularly those about being a father. Freud defines condensation as when one image in the manifest content of a dream stands for multiple emotions in the latent content of a dream. For example one person in a dream might have a “fusion of traits belonging to more than one actual person and is then called a "collective person" (Sammelperson)” (Jones 285-6).  Multiple people present in the latent content of a dream are represented in the manifest content through one collective person, who essentially embodies all of the individual perceptions of the people the dreamer has, making the collective person a symbol for all of the thoughts and associations the dreamer has about those specific people. Rudolph “Rudy” Bloom, Leopold Bloom’s deceased son, is a condensation when he appears at the end of Circe, “a fairy boy of eleven, a changeling, kidnapped, dressed in an Eton suit with glass shoes and a little bronze helmet, holding a book in his hand.” Bloom calls his son’s name “wonderstruck,” “inaudibly,” and “a white lambkin peeps out of his [Rudy’s] waistcoat pocket” (Joyce 609).  Rudy not only functions alone to remind Bloom of what he has lost, but also as a collective person of the sons in the novel.  His appearance in a suit is reminiscent of Patrick Dignam’s young son, who appears at his father’s funeral earlier that day as a finely dressed young boy in a “brandnew collar” and with “sleek combed hair.” Bloom sympathizes with the boy when he sees him, wondering if he was there when his father died (103). Rudy has a similarly polished look when he appears at the end of Circe, which establishes an association with the oldest Dignam son.  Bloom’s connection with Paddy Dignam’s boy also ties into Bloom’s own experiences with his dead father and Bloom’s own fears about his role of a son. Rudy can also be connected to Stephen, another character in the book who functions primarily as a son, being this story’s Telemachus to Bloom’s Odysseus. Stephen is highly educated and well-read, and Rudy’s appearance in which he only looks up from a book once suggests a parallel between them.  One of Bloom’s previous encounters with Stephen also happened when Stephen was ten, one year younger than the age at which Rudy is described as being when Bloom sees him at the Circe (680). However, Bloom never had the chance to see his son at that stage in his development, while he could have gotten to know Stephen better when he was that age and rejected the chance. Another figure in Rudy’s “collective person” is the archetypal son, Jesus. This aspect of Rudy’s image is present in Bloom’s subconscious and manifests through the little lamb peeping out of Rudy’s pocket, representing the sacrificial Lamb of God title that is assigned to Jesus in the Bible. Rudy carries attributes of the sons in the novel that Bloom thinks about the most, with his grief for his dead son, his sympathy with Patrick Dignam’s boy, and his worry for Dedalus’s well-being, as well as expanding Bloom’s anxiety to his fears about his religion and the attitude towards religion that he possesses.  Rudy’s appearance brings back Bloom’s guilt about the death of his son, but Stephen is the only person in the collective figure that Bloom can still make an impression on: there is possibility within Stephen and Bloom’s relationship, and Rudy’s figure also shows hope for the promise of closure that acting as a father to Stephen might bring to Bloom.

     The most prominently featured aspect of Freudian dream psychology in Circe is wish fulfillment. Wish fulfillment serves to elaborate on Bloom’s sexual anxiety and his desire to feel accepted in the community and his country. Freud introduced wish fulfillment as one of the basic components of his theory of dream psychology, and he even states that “it [is] for the sake of wish-fulfilment [sic] that the processes of thought [are] transformed into a dream during sleep” (347).   At its core, wish fulfillment consists of living out unconscious or socially unacceptable fantasies in dreams. These fantasies are present in the latent content of the dream, but to keep the dreamer from realizing his desires, the content is then censored and distorted when they appear directly to the dreamer in the manifest content. Bloom’s fantasies are widely present throughout Circe, and he acts out many of them out in his hallucinations. In one sequence, Bloom has a conversation with Molly’s friend Mrs. Breen in which she states that Bloom was “always a favorite with the ladies” (Joyce 444) and later tries to seduce him by asking him to “kiss the spot to make it well” and saying that Bloom wanted to. Although Bloom reacts in shock, saying “Molly’s best friend! Could you?”, the conversation still shows how Bloom wants to be seen as sexually appealing, especially now that Molly has begun a sexual affair with Blazes Boylan (446). By acting out a seduction with Molly’s best friend in his hallucination, he is fulfilling his wish to be seen as attractive and desirable by women, particularly by women who are close to Molly, whom he desires attraction from the most.  

     Another example of wish-fulfillment in Circe is the sequence in which Bloom is celebrated as a hero of Dublin.  Bloom is described as “the famous Bloom” and “the world’s greatest reformer” (481).  He has significant power over his people, telling them that “a new era is about to dawn. I, Bloom, tell you verily it is even now at hand. Yea, on the world of a Bloom, ye shall ere long enter into the golden city” (484). Throughout the novel, Bloom has been ostracized and isolated from the community in Dublin. His wife is gossiped about and Mulligan and his friends mock him. Bloom is left generally unsatisfied with his social interactions, ranging from being genuinely upset about things people said to mildly annoyed or apathetic. He seems to have few friends and doesn’t command that much respect amongst his fellow Irish citizens. His wish, as showcased in the episode, is to be loved, venerated, and admired. Women “whisper eagerly” at his entrance (481) and he is finally accepted as an Irishman, no longer an outcast because of his Jewish heritage, with an applewoman proclaiming, “he’s a man like Ireland wants” (484).  Bloom has a lot of power in this sequence, named the “lord mayor of Dublin” (478) and “Leopold the first” (482). In this fantasy sequence, Bloom possesses a lot of influence over Dublin, which he doesn’t have otherwise. Bloom also lacks control in other parts of his life, like his family and his marriage. Joyce uses wish fulfillment to define what is important to Bloom—his role as a husband, especially as a lover; his status in the community; and the way people perceive his national or cultural identity. Thus Bloom gains depth as a character in Circe as the delineation of his wishes is made  visible and dramatized in sequences that allow him to live out his conscious and unconscious desires.

     Freud is mainly credited today for the historical significance of his theories and the idea that a conversation between therapist and patient could treat psychological illnesses, but the accuracy of his theories, particularly with regard to female sexuality, have attracted significant criticism in modern times. However, his influence on modernism and the literary world cannot be disputed. Joyce clearly incorporated several components of Freudian dream theory in the episode, such as condensation, secondary revision, and wish fulfillment. Through the use of these concepts, he defined Bloom’s anxieties about his role as a father and as a member of society, developing Bloom’s character through his unconscious or impossible desires and wishes. Freudian dream theory is also present in Circe through the format the narrative falls in, as it is reminiscent of secondary revision that all dreams go through to achieve the manifest stage.

 

Works Cited

 

Freud, Sigmund. The Interpretation of Dreams. New York: Oxford University Press, 1999. Print.

 

Jones, Ernest. "Freud's Theory of Dreams." The American Journal of Psychology 21.2 (1910):

     283-308. JSTOR. University of Illinois Press. Web. 8 Nov. 2014.

 

Joyce, James. Ulysses. New York: Vintage Classics, 1990. Print.

 

Paraskeva, Anthony.  "In the Beginning Was the Gest." Bloomsday 100. Ed. Morris Beja, Anne

     Fogarty. Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 2009. 118-134. Print.