ENGL2035: Modernism : Ulysses -- the Gilbert schema

ENGL2035:
Modernism

Ulysses: the Gilbert schema

TITLE	SCENE	HOUR	ORGAN	ART	COLOUR	SYMBOL	TECHNIC
I. Telemachiad
1. Telemachus	Tower	8 am		theology	white, gold	heir	narrative (young)
	Telemachus, the son of Odysseus, is mocked by the parasitic suitors of his mother Penelope, and sets out from Ithaca in search of his father, ten years absent after fighting in the Trojan wars.				Stephen Dedalus, living in the Martello tower with the boisterous and flippant Malachi Mulligan after having been called back from Paris by the news of his mother's death, is champing against the bit of Ireland.
2. Nestor	School	10 am		history	brown	horse	cathechism (personal)
	In his search for Odysseus, Telemachus first visits his old tutor, Nestor.				Stephen earns a living teaching at Mr Deasy's school in Dalkey.
3. Proteus	Strand	11 am		philology	green	tide	monologue (male)
	Proteus, the Old Man of the Sea, is adept in the art of changing shape.				Stephen wanders along Sandymount Beach, in a chapter which is an intricate and ever-changing interior monologue.
II. Odyssey
4. Calypso	House	8 am	kidney	economics	orange	nymph	narrative (mature)
	The nymph Calypso, a daughter of Atlas, kept Odysseus languishing in captivity for many years.				Leopold Bloom has breakfast before saying goodbye to his wife Molly, still in bed.
5. Lotus eaters	Bath	10 am	genitals	botany, chemistry		eucharist	narcissism
	The Lotus-eaters gave Odysseus's crew lotus, the narcotic effect of which made them forget entirely about their homeland.				On his way to the bathhouse, Bloom daydreams and fantasises.
6. Hades	Graveyard	11 am	heart	religion	white, black	caretaker	incubism
	Odysseus visits Hades, where the shades of many dead companions throng about him.				Bloom goes to Patrick Dignam's funeral.
7. Aeolus	Newspaper	12 midday	lungs	rhetoric	red	editor	enthymemic
	Odysseus is the guest of Aeolus, ruler of the winds.				Bloom works as a canvasser for the Freeman's Journal and National Press.
8. Lestrygonians	Lunch	1 pm	esophagus	architecture		constables	peristaltic
	Odysseus and his crew run foul of the cannibal Lestrygonians.				Hungry Bloom is disgusted by the Burton restaurant.
9. Scylla and Charybdis	Library	2 pm	brain	literature		Stratford, London	dialectic
	Odysseus and his crew must steer a path between the deadly rock of Scylla and the whirlpool of Charybdis.				Stephen and acquaintances argue in the library.
10. Wandering Rocks	Streets	3 pm	blood	mechanics		citizens	labyrinth
	The Wandering Rocks (an alternative route to that through the straits of Scylla and Charybdis) mean doom to all ships attempting to navigate them.				Citizens of Dublin (including Bloom and Stephen) cross paths in the streets.
11. Sirens	Concert room	4 pm	ear	music		barmaids	fuga per canonem
	The Sirens enchant sailors with their singing.				At the Ormond Restaurant, Bloom eats a belated lunch, to the sound of song from the adjacent room.
12. Cyclops	Tavern	5 pm	muscle	politics		Fenian	gigantism
	Odysseus is captured by and escapes from the one-eyed giant, the Cyclops.				In Barney Kiernan's pub, Bloom has a clash with and narrow escape from a metaphorically one-eyed Fenian.
13. Nausicaa	Rocks	8 pm	eye, nose	painting	grey, blue	virgin	tumescence, detumescence
	Washed up on the Phaecian shore after a shipwreck, Odysseus is found by the princess Nausicaa, as she plays ball with her handmaidens.				On the beach, Bloom plays the voyeur to Gerty MacDowell and her companions as they play ball with the children.
14. Oxen of the Sun	Hospital	10 pm	womb	medicine	white	mothers	embryonic development
	Odysseus's crew are punished for their blasphemy in slaughtering and eating the oxen of the sun-god Helios.				At the Lying-in Hospital in Holles Street, Mrs Mina Purefoy, an acquaintance of the Blooms, is about to give birth after a protracted labour. Bloom meets Stephen in the company of a group of rowdy medical students, who are paying little regard to hospital decorum.
15. Circe	Brothel	12 midnight	locomotor apparatus	magic		whore	hallucination
	The sorceress Circe enchants Odysseus's crew, turning them into swine. Odysseus rescues them with a magic herb.				Stephen and company, very drunk, head off to the red-light district. Bloom follows, to keep a fatherly eye on Stephen.
III. Nostos
16. Eumaeus	Shelter	1 am	nerves	navigation		sailors	narrative (old)
	Returning to Ithaca disguised as a beggar, Odysseus rests in the home of the swineherd Eumaeus.				Bloom and Stephen take food and coffee at a cab shelter.
17. Ithaca	House	2 am	skeleton	science		comets	catechism (impersonal)
	Odysseus returns home to Ithaca.				Bloom returns home to 7 Eccles Street.
18. Penelope	Bed		flesh			earth	monologue (female)
	Penelope, Odysseus's wife, has resisted the suitors for the ten years since her husband's departure.				Molly, Bloom's wife, has had a tryst with her manager, Blazes Boylan, that afternoon.
TITLE	SCENE	HOUR	ORGAN	ART	COLOUR	SYMBOL	TECHNIC

Adapted from Stuart Gilbert, James Joyce's Ulysses (Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1963).

back to Joyce page, and to list of online resources