We stopped at "That was in his eyes." (Gabler 1.632), Penguin (24.7)
Please note that there will be no reading on Tuesday, 17 June.
Buck Mulligan, Stephen and Haines enjoy the rich white milk brought by the old woman. Mulligan continuous to be flippant, Stephen serious, and Haines, who has come to Ireland to study Irish, talks to her in that language. The old woman, who asks him whether he is talking in French, says - on being told that it is Irish -, "I'm ashamed I don't speak the language myself. I'm told it's a grand language by them that knows." Haines brings up the topic of paying the old woman. The bill for the past 10 mornings comes to two shillings and two pence. Mulligan manages to produce a florin, and sends her off. On the topic of having a wash, Stephen comes up with yet another serious statement of his: All Ireland is washed by the gulf stream. Haines is impressed by Stephen's grand statements and would like to note them down, if he will let him. The three leave for a swim. Stephen locks the slow iron door and puts the huge key in his inner pocket. He thinks that Mulligan will want to have the key, saying: "It is mine. I paid the rent." Stephen, who is obviously poor could not have afforded to pay in advance the yearly rent of 12 quids (pounds) for the tower. Buck Mulligan is still playacting, reciting, what Stephen calls, The Ballad of Joking Jesus, before he jumps into the water. That recitation makes Haines ask Stephen whether he is a believer, to which Stephen replies: "You behold in me ... a horrible example of free thought."
The milkwoman here is thought of as the messenger by Stephen linking Ulysses to Odyseey as Athena in disguise appears as a messenger to Telemachus at the beginning of the epic. The old woman also reminds Stephen of the fate of his country. Silk of the kine (the most beautiful of cattle) and the poor old woman (The Shan Van Vocht) are allegories for Ireland. Stephen thinks of the poor old woman as serving the conqueror (Haines/the British) and her gay betrayer (Buck Mulligan/The Irish). That the milk woman does not understand the language Haines speaks (Is it French you are talking, Sir?) is Irish shows the state of the Irish language at that time.
Mulligan's flowery - and not so honest - character is painted well on these pages. He makes jibes at Stephen, once when he says "The unclean bard makes a point of washing once a month", and again when he tells him, "Come out, Kinch. You have eaten all we left." He (Mulligan) tries (Wait till you hear him on Hamlet, Haines) to make Haines feel that he can benefit from knowing Stephen with the intention of getting some money out of him (Haines). He makes grand announcements about his own actions: "Mulligan is stripped of his garments", "And going forth he met Butterly" (this latter phrase being a take off on the biblical phrase, And he went out and wept bitterly.) He is after all Mercurial Malachi, both in the sense of the element mercury that has no fixed shape and as the one who as a Roman God is the patron - among other things - of eloquence and poetry. True to how he refers to himself, he recites the somewhat blasphemous poem, referred to by Stephen as The Ballad of Joking Jesus, which in fact is the poem, The song of the Cheerful (but slightly Sarcastic) Jesus, by Oliver Gogerty, a poem that Joyce freely made use of.
Thus there are allusions to Irish history on these pages. Allegories, images and phrases used hint to Homer's Odyssey, Shakespeare's Hamlet and Macbeth, and of course to the Bible.
Sometimes the same sentence/section can be interpreted in differing manner. For instance, let us look at what Stephen thinks when Mulligan announces that they should go for a swim. He tells himself, "Speaking to me. They wash and tub and scrub. Agenbite of inwit. Conscience. Yet here's a spot." The last sentence is taken from the famous soliloquy of Lady Macbeth. Scholars think that Stephen is referring here to his guilty conscience at his not kneeling at this mother's deathbed. Accordingly, Stephen is thinking that he can wash and scrub as much as he wants but the guilty conscience (Agenbite of inwit / remorse of conscience) is unwashable like the spot on Lady Macbeth's hands. But it can also be interpreted as follows. Especially when we pay attention to what happens just before these thoughts of Stephen surface. Haines tells him, "I intend to make a collection of your sayings if you will let me." Accordingly it is equally plausible that Stephen thinks the British, the current rulers of England, can flatter and cajole as much as they want, but the fact remains - like the unwashable spot on Lady Macbeth's hands - that they are the rulers of the Irish. All I can say is, in Joyce's own words, "I don't know, I'm sure." (Penguin 18.32)
Please note that there will be no reading on Tuesday, 17 June.
Buck Mulligan, Stephen and Haines enjoy the rich white milk brought by the old woman. Mulligan continuous to be flippant, Stephen serious, and Haines, who has come to Ireland to study Irish, talks to her in that language. The old woman, who asks him whether he is talking in French, says - on being told that it is Irish -, "I'm ashamed I don't speak the language myself. I'm told it's a grand language by them that knows." Haines brings up the topic of paying the old woman. The bill for the past 10 mornings comes to two shillings and two pence. Mulligan manages to produce a florin, and sends her off. On the topic of having a wash, Stephen comes up with yet another serious statement of his: All Ireland is washed by the gulf stream. Haines is impressed by Stephen's grand statements and would like to note them down, if he will let him. The three leave for a swim. Stephen locks the slow iron door and puts the huge key in his inner pocket. He thinks that Mulligan will want to have the key, saying: "It is mine. I paid the rent." Stephen, who is obviously poor could not have afforded to pay in advance the yearly rent of 12 quids (pounds) for the tower. Buck Mulligan is still playacting, reciting, what Stephen calls, The Ballad of Joking Jesus, before he jumps into the water. That recitation makes Haines ask Stephen whether he is a believer, to which Stephen replies: "You behold in me ... a horrible example of free thought."
The milkwoman here is thought of as the messenger by Stephen linking Ulysses to Odyseey as Athena in disguise appears as a messenger to Telemachus at the beginning of the epic. The old woman also reminds Stephen of the fate of his country. Silk of the kine (the most beautiful of cattle) and the poor old woman (The Shan Van Vocht) are allegories for Ireland. Stephen thinks of the poor old woman as serving the conqueror (Haines/the British) and her gay betrayer (Buck Mulligan/The Irish). That the milk woman does not understand the language Haines speaks (Is it French you are talking, Sir?) is Irish shows the state of the Irish language at that time.
Mulligan's flowery - and not so honest - character is painted well on these pages. He makes jibes at Stephen, once when he says "The unclean bard makes a point of washing once a month", and again when he tells him, "Come out, Kinch. You have eaten all we left." He (Mulligan) tries (Wait till you hear him on Hamlet, Haines) to make Haines feel that he can benefit from knowing Stephen with the intention of getting some money out of him (Haines). He makes grand announcements about his own actions: "Mulligan is stripped of his garments", "And going forth he met Butterly" (this latter phrase being a take off on the biblical phrase, And he went out and wept bitterly.) He is after all Mercurial Malachi, both in the sense of the element mercury that has no fixed shape and as the one who as a Roman God is the patron - among other things - of eloquence and poetry. True to how he refers to himself, he recites the somewhat blasphemous poem, referred to by Stephen as The Ballad of Joking Jesus, which in fact is the poem, The song of the Cheerful (but slightly Sarcastic) Jesus, by Oliver Gogerty, a poem that Joyce freely made use of.
Thus there are allusions to Irish history on these pages. Allegories, images and phrases used hint to Homer's Odyssey, Shakespeare's Hamlet and Macbeth, and of course to the Bible.
Sometimes the same sentence/section can be interpreted in differing manner. For instance, let us look at what Stephen thinks when Mulligan announces that they should go for a swim. He tells himself, "Speaking to me. They wash and tub and scrub. Agenbite of inwit. Conscience. Yet here's a spot." The last sentence is taken from the famous soliloquy of Lady Macbeth. Scholars think that Stephen is referring here to his guilty conscience at his not kneeling at this mother's deathbed. Accordingly, Stephen is thinking that he can wash and scrub as much as he wants but the guilty conscience (Agenbite of inwit / remorse of conscience) is unwashable like the spot on Lady Macbeth's hands. But it can also be interpreted as follows. Especially when we pay attention to what happens just before these thoughts of Stephen surface. Haines tells him, "I intend to make a collection of your sayings if you will let me." Accordingly it is equally plausible that Stephen thinks the British, the current rulers of England, can flatter and cajole as much as they want, but the fact remains - like the unwashable spot on Lady Macbeth's hands - that they are the rulers of the Irish. All I can say is, in Joyce's own words, "I don't know, I'm sure." (Penguin 18.32)
Chandra
