We read as far as "All smiled their smiles." (Penguin 264.1) Gabler ( )
The topic of Shakespeare leaving (only) his secondbest bed to his wife Ann Hathaway dominates these pages. In the last section Eglinton had said to Stephen, ' 'We want to hear more. ....Till now we had thought of her .... a Penelope stayathome.'
Thus the next part of Stephen's discourse starts with a reference to Penelope. Antisthenes, a student of Socrates, is supposed to have said that Penelope because of her (stayathome) virtue is more beautiful than the beautiful Helen. But soon Stephen is back to Shakespeare and his twenty-year long sojourn in London. (Here is a connection to Odysseus, who also spent twenty years away from home.) Stephen says about Shakespeare: 'His life was rich", and goes on to imagine how his dining table would have looked (marchpane = marzipan), how he dallied between conjugial love (for Ann Hathaway) and scortatory love (with prostitutes), listing names of women with whom he is supposed to have had liaisons.
This part interspersed with Buck Mulligan's buffoonery and Stephen's interior monologue (... Encore vignette sous,... Do and Do. Thing done... Old wall where sudden lizards flash...) is not always easy to decipher. Additionally Stephen's discourse demands that the readers be very well versed not only with Shakespeare's works, which he liberally quotes from, but also with his life as well as with the lives of Aristoteles, Socrates, Plato etc.
The talk then moves on to Shakespeare's will, according to which he left only his secondbest bed to Ann. Stephen seems to want to prove (though he announces that the burden of proof is with you not with me) the marital disharmony between William S and Ann H. Eglinton mentions that the will ... has been explained ... by jurists.
Stephen is obviously bothered about this act of Shakespeare's leaving only the secondbest bed to Ann. Because Shakespeare was rich. Because he had amassed much property. Because he does not come out with flying colors when his behavior is compared with that of Aristotle (who on his deathbed made sure that his slaves are freed, that he will be buried next to his wife, and that his mistress should be allowed to live in one of his houses) and with that of Charles II, whose dying request was 'Let not poor Nelly starve.' (Gifford, 9.720-24)
The next topics they touch upon are homosexuality (love that dare not speak its name), and the bard's strict sense of business dealings which led him to create, for example, the character of Shylock in The Merchant of Venice. Whether or not Shakespeare was a jew is also touched upon, with Eglinton quoting from a paper by the dean of Studies at the University College in Dublin that Shakespeare was catholic.
Mulligans' playacting (Ora pro nobis, ..Pogue mahone...) saves the day when Stephan starts next on Saint Thomas. All smiled their smiles.
Note: If you also wonder what happened to Shakespeare's firstbest bed, there is an interesting explanation here!
The topic of Shakespeare leaving (only) his secondbest bed to his wife Ann Hathaway dominates these pages. In the last section Eglinton had said to Stephen, ' 'We want to hear more. ....Till now we had thought of her .... a Penelope stayathome.'
Thus the next part of Stephen's discourse starts with a reference to Penelope. Antisthenes, a student of Socrates, is supposed to have said that Penelope because of her (stayathome) virtue is more beautiful than the beautiful Helen. But soon Stephen is back to Shakespeare and his twenty-year long sojourn in London. (Here is a connection to Odysseus, who also spent twenty years away from home.) Stephen says about Shakespeare: 'His life was rich", and goes on to imagine how his dining table would have looked (marchpane = marzipan), how he dallied between conjugial love (for Ann Hathaway) and scortatory love (with prostitutes), listing names of women with whom he is supposed to have had liaisons.
This part interspersed with Buck Mulligan's buffoonery and Stephen's interior monologue (... Encore vignette sous,... Do and Do. Thing done... Old wall where sudden lizards flash...) is not always easy to decipher. Additionally Stephen's discourse demands that the readers be very well versed not only with Shakespeare's works, which he liberally quotes from, but also with his life as well as with the lives of Aristoteles, Socrates, Plato etc.
The talk then moves on to Shakespeare's will, according to which he left only his secondbest bed to Ann. Stephen seems to want to prove (though he announces that the burden of proof is with you not with me) the marital disharmony between William S and Ann H. Eglinton mentions that the will ... has been explained ... by jurists.
 |
| (Shakespeare-LastPg.jpg) |
The next topics they touch upon are homosexuality (love that dare not speak its name), and the bard's strict sense of business dealings which led him to create, for example, the character of Shylock in The Merchant of Venice. Whether or not Shakespeare was a jew is also touched upon, with Eglinton quoting from a paper by the dean of Studies at the University College in Dublin that Shakespeare was catholic.
Mulligans' playacting (Ora pro nobis, ..Pogue mahone...) saves the day when Stephan starts next on Saint Thomas. All smiled their smiles.
Note: If you also wonder what happened to Shakespeare's firstbest bed, there is an interesting explanation here!
