Ulysses

Bloom passes a candy store, and a man hands him a flier, advertising a show by an American preacher. The name of the show—“Blood of the Lamb” (144)—initially tricks Bloom into thinking that his own name is on the flier. He passes Stephen’s sister, Dilly, whose bedraggled, hungry appearance draws his pity. Bloom blames the Catholic Church for encouraging families to have children “every year almost” (145). Tossing the flier over the O’Connell bridge, he buys himself two cakes with which he plans to feed the seagulls. As he passes through the city, he examines billboards and imagines all the places that he could put advertisements. He thinks about an advert for a “quack doctor” (146) who treats sexually transmitted diseases in men’s bathrooms. The thought makes him worry that Boylan may have such a disease. His thoughts turn to astronomy. He has “never exactly understood” (147) the concept of a parallax, the apparent difference in position of an item when viewed from two different lines of sight. The thought reminds him of the discussion about metempsychosis he had that morning with Molly. A group of men passes Bloom, each wearing a sandwich board with a different advert for Wisdom Hely’s, a stationary shop where Bloom once worked. His innovative ideas to advertise the brand were roundly rejected. Now, Bloom struggles to remember where he and his wife lived during that period of his life.

Bloom meets an old girlfriend named Josie Breen, who is now married to an erratic man named Denis Breen. She says that Denis received a strange postcard that morning that bore the words “U.P.:up” (151). Denis wants to take legal action against the sender. Bloom asks about Mina Purefoy, a mutual friend who has recently gone into labor. She has spent three days in the maternity hospital. As they talk, the famously “dotty” (152) Cashel Boyle O’Connor Fitzmaurice Tisdall Farrell passes by. Bloom parts ways with Josie. He passes the offices of the Irish Times, where he placed the advert that led to his correspondence with Martha. Another reply was from Lizzie Twigg, but Bloom dismissed her for being too literary. Mina Purefoy, he decides, is always pregnant. Spotting “a squad of constables” (154), Bloom remembers when he saw a group of police officers pursue medical students who are shouting political slogans about Irish nationalism. Bloom notes the irony that those students are likely now part of the same establishments they once criticized. They are not alone in their betrayals. Other turncoats include Carney, who turned on the Invincibles, and servants who tell the police about their employers’ behavior. As a cloud passes over the sun, the sudden darkness makes Bloom think about the contrast between Dignam’s death and Mrs. Purefoy’s labor. Both seem meaningless to him.

Bloom passes an optician and thinks about eclipses and parallaxes, trying to blot out “the sun’s disk” (159) with his finger. He remembers a late-night walk with Molly and Boylan. Now, he wonders whether they were holding hands. Bob Doran passes by and Bloom wonders whether he might have embarked on one of his yearly drinking sprees. Bloom, unlike other men, does not rely on alcohol to socialize. Feeling hungry, he visits the Burton restaurant. The poorly mannered “dirty eaters” (162) disgust him, so he heads to the Davy Byrnes “moral pub” (163). There, he is greeted by Nosey Flynn, who asks about Molly and her tour. He mentions Boylan, which annoys Bloom. As Flynn talks about a horserace (the Gold Cup), Bloom eats and quietly resents Flynn.

The sight of flies on the window reminds him of a romantic walk on Howth he once took with Molly. Bloom barely recognizes himself compared to the memory of his youth. Struck by the pleasant wood of the bar, he thinks about the nature of beauty. He compares beauty with the divine statues of ancient goddesses that can be found in the National Museum, then wonders whether the female statues have anything carved under their clothing. Finishing his wine, he visits the pub outhouse. In the pub, Davy Byrne asks Flynn about Bloom. Flynn talks openly about Bloom’s job, about his membership of the Freemasons, his disdain for drinking, and his hesitancy to sign any contract. Three men—Bantam Lyons, Paddy Leonard, and Tom Rochford—enter the pub. They drink and talk about the Gold Cup. When Bloom returns, Lyons mentions to the others that Bloom gave him a tip on which horse to bet on in the race. Bloom exits the pub and decides to walk to the National Library to research his advert for Keyes. He helps “a blind stripling” (173) cross a busy road and, in doing so, wonders to himself whether the man’s “other senses” (173) are heightened. He imagines how he might function if he were blind. Then, he spots Boylan on the other side of the street. Bloom panics and rushes into the nearby National Museum.

Just after 1:00pm, Stephen sits in the director’s office of the National Library and presents his theories about Hamlet to a small group of people. The group includes John Eglinton (a critic), A. E. (the pseudonym for poet George William Russell), and Lyster (a Quaker librarian). Stephen’s theory posits that Shakespeare’s main association is not with the eponymous Hamlet, but with Hamlet’s father. Stephen is already annoyed that the group seems to harbor such outmoded, dull opinions on Shakespeare. Eglinton chastises Stephen’s impatience by reminding him of his lack of accomplishments in the literary world. A. E. criticizes Stephen’s theory for relying too heavily on knowledge of “how the poet lived” (181), rather than the contents of the play itself. Defending himself, Stephen notes that Aristotle was comparatively youthful next to his teacher, Plato, and he shows off his understanding of the Greek philosopher’s work. The discussion is interrupted by the arrival of Best, the institution’s librarian, who has just shown Lovesongs of Connacht by Douglas Hyde to Haines. The group talks about Hyde’s work before Stephen returns to his theory, talking about London as seen from Shakespeare’s perspective. Stephen imagines Shakespeare walking to his theatre along the riverside, preparing to play Hamlet’s father in a production of Hamlet. Stephen notes that Shakespeare’s dead son was named Hamnet, so he likens the title character to the dead son. Meanwhile, Gertrude in Hamlet represents Ann Hathaway, Shakespeare’s own unfaithful wife. A. E. again encourages Stephen to focus on the play, rather than the playwright. Eglinton dismisses mentions of Ann Hathaway as irrelevant; he claims that most modern Shakespeare biographers view this marriage as a mistake of youth. Shakespeare, he says, rectified this “mistake” (182) by moving to London and leaving his wife and family behind. Stephen believes that Shakespeare was a genius and that geniuses do not make mistakes. He uses examples from Shakespeare’s plays to suggest that Ann (older than her husband) seduced the youthful Shakespeare.

A. E. announces that he must leave; Eglinton arranges with him to meet at the house of Irish novelist Moore, where Buck Mulligan and Haines will also be in attendance. They discuss Moore’s work and A. E.’s attempts to compile a collection of work by young Irish poets. With resentment, Stephen notices that his name is not mentioned in this discussion and that he is not invited to attend the gathering. He swears to hold this grudge. Eglinton returns to Stephen’s theory, insisting that Shakespeare sees himself in Hamlet, rather than Hamlet’s father. The character is too personal to be anyone but the writer, he argues. Stephen contends that Shakespeare was talented enough to empathize with many different characters. He associates the infidelity of Ann Hathaway with the darkly tragic tone of the plays written in the middle period of Shakespeare’s work. After this period, the plays became lighter in topic, with younger, more innocent female characters. This period coincided with the birth of Shakespeare’s granddaughter, which—Stephen suggests—led to Shakespeare’s reconciliation with his estranged wife. Stephen also suggests that Shakespeare grants an almost omniscient knowledge to Hamlet’s father (a ghost who knows the nature of his own murder). This, he suggests, proves that Hamlet’s father is actually Shakespeare. Buck Mulligan appears in the doorway. He sarcastically claps for Stephen’s theory then approaches Stephen, brandishing the cryptic message sent via telegram that announced that Stephen would not be present at the Ship Inn. Mulligan jokes that Stephen stood him up.

Lyster is summoned by one of his colleagues to help someone find the newspaper, Kilkenny People. This person is actually Bloom. Mulligan recognizes Bloom and mentions that he saw Bloom not long ago, trying to glance under the robes of the female statues in the National Museum. Mulligan implies that Bloom may be gay and then teases Stephen about his association with Bloom. Stephen is not deterred. He continues to talk about Shakespeare, claiming that Shakespeare had many sexual partners while estranged from his wife. In Stratford, he says, Ann was equally as unfaithful. He notes her absence from Shakespeare’s plays and the fact that, in his will, Shakespeare left his wife only his “secondbest” (195) bed. Eglinton mentions that Hamlet’s father may correspond better to Shakespeare’s own father, which Stephen dismisses out of hand. Shakespeare, he says, was already old at the time that he wrote Hamlet. To Stephen, fathers seem inconsequential to the play and inconsequential in general. They are only linked to their children, he says, but by one fleeting sexual act. He claims that Ann may have had romantic relationships with her husband’s brothers, Richard and Edmund. These brothers’ names “are recorded in the works of sweet William” (200); both characters are dishonorable usurpers or adulterers. When pressed by Eglinton, however, Stephen concedes that he does not necessarily believe this theory. If he does not believe the theory, Eglinton says, then he cannot be expected to be paid to write about it. Mulligan encourages Stephen to join him for a drink. He mocks Eglinton and reads to Stephen a passage from a play that he was writing while listening to Stephen’s debate. As they leave the building, Stephen senses Bloom’s presence behind him. Bloom passes Stephen and Mulligan on the steps outside. Once he has passed, Mulligan again mocks Bloom as the “wandering jew” (209) and implies that he is gay. Stephen descends the steps, feeling exhausted.