Simon Dedalus Character Analysis in Ulysses

Stephen Dedalus’s father is a popular, charming, but irresponsible man who prefers to spend his money drinking than taking care of his dozen children. Simon struggles to cope with his wife May Dedalus’s death and despises her brother Richie, which leads him to drink and neglect his family even more. Moreover, he disapproves of Stephen’s decision to become an artist, even though he also has immense artistic talent as a singer and is also struggling financially. In turn, Stephen resents his father’s absence and disapproval, so he acts as if he simply didn’t have a father. Simon’s beautiful rendition of “M’appari” impresses the crowd at the Ormond Hotel in “Sirens,” and his emotional range as a singer highlights the fact that he is a deeply tragic character, not a malicious antagonist. The character of Simon Dedalus is clearly based on James Joyce’s own father, John Stanislaus Joyce.

Simon Dedalus Quotes in Ulysses

The Ulysses quotes below are all either spoken by Simon Dedalus or refer to Simon Dedalus. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:

Alienation and the Quest for Belonging Theme Icon

White horses with white frontlet plumes came round the Rotunda corner, galloping. A tiny coffin flashed by. In a hurry to bury. A mourning coach. Unmarried. Black for the married. Piebald for bachelors. Dun for a nun.
—Sad, Martin Cunningham said. A child.
A dwarf’s face, mauve and wrinkled like little Rudy’s was. Dwarf’s body, weak as putty, in a whitelined deal box. Burial friendly society pays. Penny a week for a sod of turf. Our. Little. Beggar. Baby. Meant nothing. Mistake of nature. If it’s healthy it’s from the mother. If not from the man. Better luck next time.
—Poor little thing, Mr Dedalus said. It’s well out of it.
The carriage climbed more slowly the hill of Rutland square. Rattle his bones. Over the stones. Only a pauper. Nobody owns.
—In the midst of life, Martin Cunningham said.
—But the worst of all, Mr Power said, is the man who takes his own life.

Related Characters: Martin Cunningham (speaker), Simon Dedalus (speaker), Jack Power (speaker), Leopold Bloom, Rudolf Bloom, Sr., Patrick (“Paddy”) Dignam, Sr.

Page Number and Citation: 79

Explanation and Analysis:

Bronze by gold heard the hoofirons, steelyringing.
Imperthnthn thnthnthn.
Chips, picking chips off rocky thumbnail, chips.
Horrid! And gold flushed more.
A husky fifenote blew.
Blew. Blue bloom is on the.
Goldpinnacled hair.
A jumping rose on satiny breast of satin, rose of Castile.
Trilling, trilling: Idolores.
Peep! Who’s in the … peepofgold?
Tink cried to bronze in pity.
And a call, pure, long and throbbing. Longindying call.
Decoy. Soft word. But look: the bright stars fade. Notes chirruping answer.
O rose! Castile. The morn is breaking.
Jingle jingle jaunted jingling.
[…]
Done.
Begin!

Related Characters: Lydia Douce, Mina Kennedy, Simon Dedalus, Leopold Bloom, Matt Lenehan, Martha Clifford, Pat , Ben Dollard, Hugh (“Blazes”) Boylan

Related Symbols: Jingling

Page Number and Citation: 210-211

Explanation and Analysis:

Simon Dedalus Character Timeline in Ulysses

The timeline below shows where the character Simon Dedalus appears in Ulysses. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.

Literature, Meaning, and Perspective Theme Icon

Religion, Atheism, and Philosophy Theme Icon

Stephen Dedalus goes on a long soliloquy as he walks on Sandymount Strand, a Dublin beach, in... (full context)

...of his own parents: his ghostly dead mother, as she appears in his dreams, and his distant father . By making Stephen, they fulfilled God’s will. In contrast to the teachings of the... (full context)

...at the pub at 12:30. He ponders moving in with his aunt Sara. He imagines his father ’s voice mocking her family and daydreams about paying her a visit. Stephen’s cousin Walter... (full context)

Passing Larry O’Rourke’s bar, Bloom remembers that O’Rourke never wants to buy ads and how Simon Dedalus imitates him. He considers discussing Dignam’s funeral, but just bids O’Rourke “good day” instead.... (full context)

Martin Cunningham, Mr. Power, Simon Dedalus, and Leopold Bloom get into a carriage to join Dignam’s funeral procession. Bloom notices... (full context)

Irish Identity and Nationalism Theme Icon

...stops by the gas plant and dogs’ home, Bloom thinks of Milly’s childhood illnesses and his father ’s beloved dog Athos. The men discuss Tom Kernan’s impressive singing last night and Dan... (full context)

Cunningham, Dedalus, Power, and Bloom pass Reuben J, laugh at him, and chat about how his son... (full context)

...and he remembers Cunningham’s difficult home life with his alcoholic wife. Then, Bloom remembers finding his father dead of an overdose in a hotel room. The carriage rattles on the cobblestones and... (full context)

...asks Kernan about Dignam’s life insurance and expresses his sympathies for Dignam’s wife and children. Simon Dedalus and Ned Lambert chat about events in their hometown of Cork. Bloom looks at... (full context)

The gravediggers carry Dignam’s coffin out to the churchyard and the mourners follow. Simon Dedalus breaks down when he thinks of his late wife, who is buried nearby. Tom... (full context)

...wonders about Monks’s life and notices him setting type backwards, which makes him think of his father reading Hebrew. He decides to call Keyes—but first, a headline announces, “Only Once More That... (full context)

...Evening Telegraph office and decides to use the phone inside. He enters to find Ned, Simon Dedalus, and Professor MacHugh mocking an overelaborate speech made by the politician and baker Dan... (full context)

...He and Professor MacHugh start making fun of each other, and then Ned Lambert and Simon Dedalus leave for a drink, making cryptic references to Irish military history on their way... (full context)

...and Crawford jingles his keys around and proposes the newsmen go drink with Lambert and Dedalus. O’Molloy, MacHugh, and Crawford light cigarettes and joke about how the British Empire has subjugated... (full context)

Mr. O’Madden Burke and Stephen Dedalus enter the office. Stephen presents Crawford with Mr. Deasy’s letter, which is missing the corner... (full context)

...Quaker librarian William Lyster praises Goethe’s commentary on Hamlet in his novel Wilhelm Meister. Stephen Dedalus mocks Lyster’s obvious remarks, and in turn, librarian John Eglinton mocks Stephen’s ego by suggesting... (full context)

...saw Bloom staring at a statue of Aphrodite in the museum, and that Bloom knows Stephen’s father . (full context)

...Hamlet, Stephen says, because his elderly mother cannot be “the lustful queen” and his father Simon cannot be the troubled King’s ghost. There is no true natural connection between fathers and... (full context)

...Street, grumbling a song, “For England […] home and beauty.” He passes Katey and Boody Dedalus, Stephen’s sisters, and two street children stare at him. A woman in an Eccles Street... (full context)

In this episode’s fourth scene, Katey and Boody Dedalus arrive home and tell Maggy that M’Guinness wouldn’t take Stephen’s books at the pawn shop.... (full context)

In the episode’s eleventh short fragment, Simon Dedalus meets his daughter Dilly outside the Dillon auction house and orders her to fix... (full context)

...how Crimmins admired his coat. The narration briefly cuts from Kernan admiring himself to show Simon Dedalus meeting Father Cowley on the street, then Bloom’s pamphlet floating in the sea, and... (full context)

In the thirteenth vignette, Stephen Dedalus looks through the dusty window of a stonecutter’s shop and imagines that precious stones are... (full context)

The fourteenth fragment starts with the scene of Father Cowley meeting Simon Dedalus from the twelfth vignette. Cowley reports that the moneylender Reuben J. Dodd is sending... (full context)

...episode, such as Tom Kernan, Reuben J. Dodd, the barmaids Miss Kennedy and Miss Douce, Simon Dedalus, Reverend Hugh C. Love, Lenehan and M’Coy, Buck Mulligan and Haines, John Howard Parnell,... (full context)

Simon Dedalus walks into the bar and starts suggestively chatting up Miss Douce, who brushes off... (full context)

Lenehan turns to Simon Dedalus and starts chatting about his “famous son,” Stephen. But Simon doesn’t know anything about... (full context)

...around in the Ormond bar. Someone strikes it, and it lets out a “dying call.” Simon Dedalus plays the piano and sings, “Goodbye, Sweetheart, Goodbye,” while Lenehan keeps trying to get... (full context)

On their way out, Boylan and Lenehan run into Ben Dollard and Father Cowley. Simon Dedalus comes over to chat with Dollard, who encourages Simon to keep singing. A jingling... (full context)

Father Cowley convinces Simon Dedalus to sing the aria “M’appari” from the opera Martha, then offers to accompany him... (full context)

Dollard and Cowley cheer Simon Dedalus on, and he begins to sing in a beautiful, sweeping voice that fills Bloom... (full context)

...the men continue drinking and enjoying the music. Richie starts babbling incoherently about a time Simon sang the song “’Twas Rank and Fame,” and Bloom thinks about the tragic rift between... (full context)

At Tom Kernan and Simon Dedalus’s request, Ben Dollard sings “The Croppy Boy,” an old Irish ballad about a young... (full context)

...and insult her while they march through the lane. They point at “the parson,” Stephen Dedalus, who is walking with Lynch and chanting the Latin mass. An elderly bawd calls them... (full context)

Bloom hears the voice of his father , who criticizes him for wasting money on drinks, then touches his face to identify... (full context)

...look around, but Stephen ignores him and, instead, cries out “Pater! [Father!] Free!” His father Simon Dedalus flies around above him like a buzzard, yelling that he must preserve the bloodline.... (full context)

Suddenly, Simon Dedalus’s voice calls out and tells Stephen to “think of your mother’s people!” Stephen responds,... (full context)

Stephen passes Gumley, a watchman who knows his father , and hides to avoid having to greet him. Then, Stephen runs into his friend... (full context)

...tower in Sandycove is too far. Bloom asks why Stephen moved out of his father Simon Dedalus’s house, and Stephen says it was “to seek misfortune.” Bloom praises Simon and suggests... (full context)

A drunken red-haired sailor asks for Stephen’s name, and when Stephen says “Dedalus,” he asks if Stephen knows Simon Dedalus. Stephen says he’s “heard of him.” The sailor... (full context)

...Protestant hymns. He praises Molly’s talent singing Rossini and Don Giovanni, and he comments on Simon Dedalus’s excellent rendition of “M’appari” earlier that night. Stephen, on the other hand, talks about... (full context)

...hearth, which leads Stephen to reflect on other people who have lit fires for him—like his father , his aunt Sara, his mother, and various people at his school and college. He... (full context)

...“Queen’s Hotel” on a piece of paper. This reminds Bloom of the Queen’s Hotel, where his father committed suicide, but he doesn’t tell Stephen. Stephen tells Bloom about his story, “A Pisgah... (full context)

Leopold Bloom and Stephen Dedalus note a star shooting towards the Leo constellation, and then Bloom sticks his “male key... (full context)

...siblings, and as a boy he looked like his mother, but he now looks like his father . He notices the reflection of his books in the mirror. The novel lists them... (full context)

...numerous books, cards, and letters, as well as random possessions like his mother’s brooch and his father ’s scarfpin. Particularly noteworthy are three letters from Martha Clifford, two pornographic postcards, and a... (full context)

Bloom’s second drawer is filled with important documents and keepsakes that remind him of his father . It contains Bloom’s birth certificate, life insurance policy, and bank statements. There’s also the... (full context)

...of relationship with Molly in the past—including Lieutenant Mulvey, Professor Goodwin, John Henry Menton, Lenehan, Simon Dedalus, multiple priests and politicians, and of course Blazes Boylan. (full context)

...the novel Sweets of Sin. He especially focuses on how the “professor and author” Stephen Dedalus fell while doing gymnastics after dinner. (full context)

...not just the useless old Mrs. Fleming. She also criticizes her husband for bringing Stephen Dedalus over to their house and climbing over the railing to get inside. Again, Molly remarks... (full context)

...had to borrow tight pants for his concert. She reminisces about doing a duet with Simon Dedalus, which leads her to the topic of May Goulding Dedalus’s death and finally the... (full context)

...the crass, unsophisticated, and impulsive Blazes Boylan, especially compared to the fantasy version of Stephen Dedalus that she has constructed in her mind’s eye. She asks if Boylan was eager to... (full context)

Molly’s mind returns to Stephen Dedalus, who she assumes is “running wild” because his mother is no longer around to care... (full context)

Ulysses

Simon Dedalus Character Analysis

Simon Dedalus Quotes in Ulysses

Episode 6: Hades Quotes

Episode 11: Sirens Quotes

Simon Dedalus Character Timeline in Ulysses