Still, however, the chapter is also about hope, and the prognosis for Stephen is not as bleak as some critics have maintained. It is true that there will be no Tempest-like "seachange" for the drowned and swollen body, but for Stephen there is at least the strong possibility of renewal; and this rebirth is suggested by two crucial actions. In the first, Stephen, realizing the pretentiousness of his earlier literary endeavors, tears off part of Deasy's letter and begins to write. In the second, he urinates, an action that in much of Ulysses is associated with creativity.
With Stephen teetering between solvency — both emotional and monetary — and insolvency, hope and despair, sanity and madness, creativity and waste, the first part of Ulysses comes to an end. The capital letter S began Stephen's section in "Telemachus"; a capital M, for Molly, will begin Bloom's journey in the next section, "Calypso."
The fact that the S is used to form part of Mulligan's description ("Stately") and the fact that the M is used to form part of "Mr" Bloom's name refer to the interrelatedness of all things. Stephen, even at the start of his own section, needs the gruff masculinity of Buck, and Bloom and Molly heavily (and perhaps ultimately) depend upon one another.
