After his confession to the Capuchin, Stephen overcompensates for his sins of the past. He becomes a slave, as it were, to the rituals of the Catholic faith. He devotes all his free time to prayer and meditation. Imagining himself to be one of the first Christians "kneeling at mass in the catacombs," Stephen tries simultaneously to experience the privilege and the persecution of practicing his faith. However, by subjecting himself to continual self-denial and repeated physical discomforts, he seems more a sinner than a young, zealous Catholic. Moreover, his compulsion to fill his time continually with some form of devotion reveals a deep fear of allowing himself even one free moment — lest some minor, impulsive "weakness" manifest itself.
In this chapter, Joyce looks back on his own youth, and through Stephen, he "mocks his own religious revival a little" (Ellman). In particular, Joyce satirizes the compulsive, repetitive nature of the Roman Catholic faith. Stephen's obsessive observances of the mass, the rosaries, and the contemplation of each person of the Trinity makes him melodramatically aware of the "great mystery of love" which God has for him, but the discovery of this love is not comforting. It causes Stephen to mortify his flesh increasingly through ever more strict discipline of the senses.
As we have seen on several occasions, Stephen perceives the world through his senses; therefore, his mortification of his senses is a supreme sacrifice. Stephen is voluntarily relinquishing both the judgments and pleasures which he once derived from his sensual perceptions of the world. By shutting his eyes to diversions, enduring foul smells and harsh sounds, observing all fasts and controlling his physical movements in bed, he (like the mythical Daedalus) is creating a restrictive environment in which he is unwittingly imprisoning himself. It is almost inevitable that he will soon feel the urgency to escape this prison.
In spite of Stephen's valiant efforts to suppress his natural instincts, he is aware that his basic sensual self is reemerging. One by one — beginning with anger — his former "sinful" tendencies begin to surface, and, one by one, the "withered" layers of his forced spirituality begin to fall away. Feeling terrified and defenseless against growing temptations, Stephen seeks proof of salvation.
