This study attempts to view Stephen Dedalus, James Joyce’s alter ego in Ulysses, as a promising artist despite his unfulfilled plan to establish himself abroad. Most scholars regard Stephen’s early return from Europe as a “symbol of failure” (Hayman 47). However this article argues that it furthers his artistic ambition and refines his attitude towards his people. This article mainly discusses the foot-and-mouth disease in Ireland at that time in relation with Stephen’s view on Irish history, politics and his literary plan. The plague also reveals the unionist Mr. Deasy’s double character―betrayer and patriot. He asks Stephen’s help in his attempt to cure this epidemic. Mr. Deasy personifies the Irish’s traditional morality as a self-betraying nation. Although Stephen sees Mr. Deasy’s contradiction, he participates in the old man’s cause for the Irish cows. Ultimately this decision predicts Stephen’s gradual change from a passive victim of betrayal into a subject of hospitality.