Chapter 9

Scylla and Charybdis Summary

The time is 2 p.m., with Stephen in the office of the director of the National Library are the poet, A.E. (George Russell), John Eglinton and the librarian, Lyster. Lyster has been speaking approvingly of GoetheÂ’s picture of Hamlet as the "ineffectual dreamer" destroyed by confrontation with reality. After the librarian leaves the office, Stephen firmly expresses his disagreement with this conventional point of view. He feels his anger rising when the others patronizingly mock his youthful enthusiasm for clever theories. Russell, as a Platonist, disapproves of all criticisms, which treat Hamlet as if he were a real person. Another librarian, Best, comes in and recounts a provincial French performance of the play. Stephen looks upon the play as a "sumptuous and stagnant exaggeration of murder." But this thought he keeps to himself. He prefers to air his views on the nature of the ghost. He describes vividly the scene at the first performance of the play. Shakespeare himself, according to the old tradition, played the ghost. The ghost, therefore, speaks with ShakespeareÂ’s own experiences of death. The living Shakespeare had a dead son Hamlet, the dead King Hamlet had a living son the Prince. Russell observes that this is an idle prying into the personal life of the writer. Stephen remembers that he owes Russell some money ("A.E.I.O.U"). He recalls Mr. DeasyÂ’s earlier comments on frugality. Eglinton realizes that the drift of StephenÂ’s theory is to emphasize the importance of ShakespeareÂ’s love for Anne Hathaway. He points out that for scholars she was of no great importance in his life. Stephen disagrees strongly. He traces the influence of ShakespeareÂ’s love affair through his writings. He holds the view that she was the goddess who defied his imagination.

Stephen welcomes Mulligan. The librarians return to the subject of Shakespeare. Best recounts Oscar WildeÂ’s ironic story, The Portrait of Mr. W.H. The group is interrupted by an attendant, who wishes to introduce a visitor to the library. It is Bloom, in search of a copy of the Kilkenny paper that had the Keyes design. Lyster goes out to look after him. Mulligan, recognizing Bloom as a man he had seen a few moments before in the Museum, refers coarsely to his Jewish ancestry.

Stephen returns to his discussion of Shakespeare. He explains that during his years as a playwright in London, the dramatist was obsessed with the idea of his wifeÂ’s infidelity to him. Then delighted by the close attention of his audience, Stephen makes references to the plays. He proves Shakespeare to have been a mere time-server, and all things to all men. Eglinton asks Stephen to prove that Shakespeare was a Jew. Stephen, instead, speaks of the dramatistÂ’s avariciousness and uxoriousness. Eglinton suggests that Shakespeare was in fact not deeply affected by family ties. Stephen realizes that his friend is in fact shying away from his own family situation. So, Stephen realizes with sudden self-insight, is he in a similar situation. He thinks of his father, and of the father-son relationship, as evident in ShakespeareÂ’s life and plays and in the Christian religion. He makes further attempts to relate the incidents in the plays to the dramatistÂ’s own life. He ends with the final peaceful scene of ShakespeareÂ’s return to Stratford and the epilogue of The Tempest. Eglinton summarizes: "He is the ghost and the prince. He is all in all."

Mulligan has meantime been working on a play of his own, which he flourishes. It is a crude piece, with an obscene title and a smutty cast-list. As Stephen and Mulligan leave the library, a man passes between them. It is Bloom on his way out. Mulligan recognizes him, and refers, crudely but with some prophetic irony, to his salute to Stephen: "The wandering jew...Did you see his eye? He looked upon you to lust after you. I fear thee, ancient mariner."

Table of Contents | Printable Version