Stephen Dedalus Stephen Dedalus Stephen Dedalus is James Joyce's literary alter ego, appearing as the protagonist and antihero of his first, semi-autobiographical novel of artistic existence "A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man" and an important character in Joyce's "Ulysses". In "Stephen Hero", an early version of what became "Portrait", Stephen's surname is spelled "Daedalus" in more precise allusion to Daedalus, the architect in Greek myth who was contracted by King Minos to build the Labyrinth in which he would imprison his wife's son the Minotaur. Buck Mulligan makes reference to the mythological namesake in "Ulysses", telling Stephen, "Your absurd
Ariadne (poem) lover as brave and fair and true!" Pasiphaë smiles darkly, having already divined the attraction between Theseus and Ariadne. In her chamber that night Ariadne thinks about Theseus – and about the sort of husband her father is likely to choose for her. Her brilliant little sister Phaedra, who witnessed events in court and who is also smitten by Theseus, urges her to seek help from Daedalus, who built the Labyrinth. Daedalus, a Greek exile, has long loved Ariadne in silence, this fair-haired daughter of Minos by a Thracian captive-woman of royal blood. In the small hours Ariadne calls on