Conjuring the Shades of Queen Victoria in Ulysses

Abstract

Conjuring the Shades of Queen Victoria in Ulysses Ann Wilson Green (bio) James Joyce conjures many shades of Queen Victoria in Ulysses. Stephen describes the Queen as the "[o]ld hag with the yellow teeth" in "Proteus."1 In "Cyclops," Joe Hynes remembers her as "the flatulent old bitch that's dead" who cavorted "blind drunk" with her coachman (U 12.1392, 1394). Yet, Bloom's recollections of the Queen are more sympathetic. In "Lestrygonians," he recalls her bearing nine children and aging in isolation as the "old queen in a bathchair" (U [End Page 146] 8.378-79, 710). In "Hades," he recalls her forty years of mourning for her husband, Prince Consort Albert (U 6.549-53). Many of the phrases Joyce added to this passage in the second setting of placard 11 reveal a major shift to a more human portrait of the queen.2 In fact, of the three Irish men who reflect upon the Queen in Ulysses, Stephen, Hynes, and Bloom, only Bloom seems to look beyond her as a political figure and sympathize with her struggles as a woman. This essay traces the trajectory of Joyce's intention to describe a more improbable aspect of the Queen's womanliness, one more commonly associated with Molly Bloom: infidelity. As Phillip F. Herring observes, throughout the British and Buffalo collections, Joyce records phrases which equate the Queen's private life with the tradition of an unfaithful Penelope and, thus, with Molly Bloom.3 The essay begins by tracing Joyce's intent to link the queen with an unfaithful Penelope as early as 1918 in the Zurich notebook. There, Joyce describes an ancient theory first suggested by Duris of Samos (340-270 B.C) that Penelope sleeps with one of the suitors and gives birth to the monster, Pan (Notes 32).4 That Joyce was interested in the subject of marital infidelity is unsurprising since the theme obsessed him throughout his writing. That he was exploring the subject through Penelope and Queen Victoria is rather startling. Herring maintains that the suggestive parallel equating a wanton queen with Molly through Penelope never went further than prepublication notes (Notes 45-46). In the second part of this essay, however, I argue that the link found its way into Ulysses. Ultimately, I consider how this evidence reframes not only how we see Penelope and the Queen but also Molly. Arguably, drawing connecting lines between Queen Victoria and Molly problematizes the widespread interpretation of the unfaithful Molly as ironic counterpart to Homer's faithful Penelope (Notes 7). Homer's Penelope is rarely cited as a model for Molly's unfaithfulness. Joyce, however, found this model in one post-Homeric variant that has Penelope prostitute herself to the suitors ("Bedsteadfastness" 54). In the Zurich notebook, he writes: [End Page 147] Joyce's source for these notations is the entry for "Penelope" in W. H. Roscher's Ausführliches Lexikon der griechischen und römischen Mythologie ("Bedsteadfastness" 54).5 There Johannes Schmidt mentions that "the most fantastic anecdote of Penelope getting involved with all of the suitors and giving birth to the goat-legged Pan was already reported by Duris of Samos."6 Duris v. Samos. B (Pen = Freier [German for suitor] / banished by U to Sparta) R, III, 1909; "Eumaeus" 5:9 B (Pan Antinous) R, III, 1909 Pen = Amphinomos killed by U R, III, 1909 B (LB what kind of child can much fucked whore have) Cf. R, III, 1909; "Circe" 1:86 Pen = Apollo ∣ Pan. … R, III, 1910 L (Priapea Pen (vetula) sits smutty talking amg the Freier) R, III, 1910 (MS V.A.2.a [p. 9], Notes 17) These same notes also implicitly connect Penelope to Molly. First, Joyce describes Penelope as one who "sits smutty talking" among the suitors—a description that sounds like a preview of Molly. The genetic trajectory of the line about "LB" and the child of a "much fucked whore" offers some evidence that this line is referring to Molly. Joyce recycles this line in "Circe," when Virag says to Bloom, "A son of a whore" (U 15.2575). One logical interpretation is that Joyce is referring to Rudy as the son and...