Scylla & Charibdis - 'Ulysses' - James Joyce
Time:
2pm - 3 pm
Scene:
'The Library'
Persons:
Aristotle - The Rock
Plato - The Whirlpool
Bloom - Ulysses, Socrates, Jesus, Shakespear
Stephen - Ulysses, Telemachus
Mulligan, Egliton - Antinous
Symbol::
-- brain
Art/Science: LITERATURE
This chapter is situated in the National Library of
Ireland, Dublin. Stephen tries to convince scholarly
Dubliners of his theory about Shakespeare.
The discussion ends into a debate and when Mulligan enters
the scene, Stephen knows he fights a 'lost battle'.
At the end, Stephen feels the presence of Bloom, who's
just coming from behind him.
In the seventh book of
The Odyssey Ulysses encounters
Scylla and Charybdis. Circe advised him to stay near Scylla,
the lesser of two evils but he has to sacrifice 6 men of his crew.
Charybdis, the whirlpool, might cost him his crew and his ship.
In Joyce's novel, Scylla and Charybdis are present in Stephen's
effort to convince the others of his theories, while knowing
their collective voices may 'drag' him down.