Ploiesti, Petrol-Gaze University

James Joyce
Ulysses

Name: Lungu Mihaela

Group: 40107
Second year
Optional course: British Cultural Studies

Ulysses
by James Joyce

Episode 18 Penelope
The Joycean novel Ulysses is the story of one day in Dublin-the dailiest day
possible, Arnold Bennett characterised it. Focused on a simple day in a single city, and,
consequently, observing [...] relations between the three characters 1. These characters are:
Leopold Bloom, Molly Bloom and Stephen Dedalus.
In the 18th episode from this book, Joyce recourses to interior monologue. He said: I try to
give the unspoken, unacted thoughts of people in the way they occur 2. Consequently, Mollys
thoughts, her memories, her impressions flow uninterrupted along these pages, without any
punctuation, just eight sentences. That made the text very hard and difficult to read. But
beyond those jumbled words is a life story, a story of Molly Bloom, a singer, Milly and
Rudys mother and the wife of Leopold Bloom. Her train of thoughts begins when her
husband asks her for breakfast in bed. His request seems to bring back that romantic side,
long-lost in their couple-life. She speaks about her husband paying attention to the other
women as: Mrs. Riordan, Miss Stank, Mary from Ontario terrace and many others. It is
deduced here Mollys jealousy which is depicted by her childish behavior: she criticizes Mrs.
Riordan, naming her ugly and old. In fact, she says about women who tried to seduced him
that all they wanted was to take his money. Molly was often thought that her husband is
cheating on her and that he tried to hide it. An example would be that she surprised him when
he has written a letter to somebody which, when she appeared in the room, Bloom tried to
hide it with the blotting paper. She thinks about that woman that she wanted just to steal his
husbands money. Another example is the hair that Molly founded on Blooms coat. That
happened after she already suspected that something was going on between her husband and
Mary from Ontario terrace. Molly has this spirit of a woman who realizes when her man
cheatting on her. She affirmed that the men who have 40 years old, like Bloom, are more
tempted to cheat.
Paradoxally with her jealousy and her deduced claim (that she wish her husband to be
faithful to her), she does the same thing as Bloom. She tells how easily she had given herself
1 Constantin-George Sandulescu, The Joycean Monologue(Bucuresti: Contemporary Literature Press,
2010), 116.
2 Constantin-George Sandulescu, 107.
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to the other men and how she still do that. Molly denied what people saying, that first time is
important, then is something normal. She craves for passion: theres nothing like a kiss long
and hot down to your soul almost paralyses you3.
Her gestures: to go to church, to go to confession, to light a candle and pray when the
storm coming denotes a faithful person. Even if Molly did such things, so she likes to think
that she is a person like this, she is not. Her facts are in opposition to who she really is. Molly
judges Bloom that he has no faith in God and thinks about him that he has no soul. Also, she
easily can be judged in that way. Her superficiality treatment toward the holy things and lack
of shyness are representative to the moment in which she goes to confession and she must tell
to the priest her since, her sexual-life details. The priest asks her indirectly about such
shameful things, while Molly wants to speak directly and finish with this. The woman also
thinks that she would like to make love with a priest, which is totally wrong to think that,
especially if you claim to be considered a faithful person.
She wishes to be touched by other men, to feel that passion that Bloom doesnt give
her anymore. Molly describes her intimate relationships with his husband like: pretending to
like it till he comes and then finish it of myself anyway 4. These words show how unhappy
Molly is in her marriage bad. So she is seeking for comfort and fulfillment in other places, to
different men. Thinking of her marriages shortages, she begins to speak about the men who
were taking place or are taking place in her life. The most important is her lover Blazes
Boylan, as the man who organises her concert tours 5. This man mannages to satisfy her. She
talks about sex scenes with Boylan, which are very grotesque scenes. For her boyfriend,
Molly tries to look better, becoming concerned about her physical appearance and the way she
dresses. Molly causes fear and jealousy in her husband's soul because she is meetting with
Boylan. Thus, Bloom gets to have a moment of madness, as I call it, and he believes that
Stephen would be better to replace his wifes lover. This thought is a little bit comic and on
the other hand, it is crazy. So, the intent of Molly, to tell her husband the next morning about
the relationship between her and Boylan and everything they did together makes me think that
3 James Joyce, Ulysses (New York: Vintage Books; A Division of Random House, Inc., 1986), 610.
4 James Joyce, 610.
5 Constantin-George Sandulescu, 158.
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Bloom would go crazy and that he would annoy beyond measure. However, Molly plans to
tell him all this to make him feel guilty.
Other men who she interacted with are: the lieutenant Gardner who she kissed
goodbye, Mulvey, the first man who she kissed (and she describes all the sensations that she
had at that time, caused by her passed innocence) and many others. She thaught about the
young boy that she had met long time ago, Stephen Dedalus, and that he should be now about
20-25 years old and she thinks that he isnt too young for her. What Molly said means that she
still consider her an attractive and young woman, so it will not be a problem if she has a
relationship with a man younger than her. A sequence very vulgar and exaggerated for me is
that Molly describes her fantasies with a statuette: standing up in the sun naked like a God or
something and then plunging into the sea with them why arent all men like that thered be
some consolation for a woman like that lovely little statue he bought I could look 1350 at him
all day long curly head and his shoulders his finger up for you to listen theres real beauty and
poetry for you I often felt I wanted to kiss him all over also his lovely young cock there so
simple I wouldnt mind taking him in my mouth if nobody was looking as if it was asking you
to suck it so clean and white he looks with his boyish face 6. It is reinforced here the idea that
Molly is a very carnally and obsessed woman.
Molly is that kind of woman that would offered herself to any stranger: she wishes a
man that approach her in the street and make use of her. She thinks that a woman should be
loved and kissed everyday, no matter who does it as long as she is well loved. Molly blames
her husband for being an adulteress. She likes Stephan and she would like for him to come
and live with them. Stephen is a mere pretext for revealing either herself or her husband or
both7.
The Mollys monologue literally begins and ends with Bloom 8. She compares all
men that she had, but, as Sandulescu said, in spite of her shortsightedness, she does realise

6 James Joyce, 638.

7 Constantin-George Sandulescu, 164.
8 Constantin-George Sandulescu, 163.
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that he is different for other men9 Molly thinks about what she appreciates at her husband,
and that is his politeness and kindness. She considers that her husband was an atractive man in
his youth. She thinks about her an Leopold in their youth, when Bloom falls in love with her,
how jealous he used to be, how he offered her Lord Byrons Poems. Molly remembers how
obsessed Bloom was with her underwear and how he asked her to cut a piece of it. Molly
remembers how she used to excite him and how in loved they were, staying whole minutes
just to look each other. She thinks of the moment when he was fired and she tried to defend
his job going to Mr. Cuffers and showing off her chast. Molly was probably thinking that it
has no importance what you do and the way in which you do as long as you could protect and
help your husband like a good wife. She also remembers less beautiful episodes of their life
such as the moment when Bloom suggested her that she could go and pose nud to earn some
money. That asking denotes Blooms weakness. His repeated failures at work made him to
ask his wife such a horrible thing. He tried to throw the burden on her shoulders. Molly thinks
that her husband was with a woman today whom payed. She seems to have a resigned attitude
as long as he always return home. But when he did, she checked him to see if he was or not
with a woman: And as Mollys main concern is her personal a private life, she provides not
only a glimpse into herself, as in generally acknowledged, but also-as the wife of Leopold
Bloom-she provides a vital post of observation of him 10. As any wife, Molly knows his
husband better than anyone. Compared with him the virile Boylan is nothing but a shell,
while the much less virile Bloom is, with all his shortcomings, a man of both intellect and
body11. She is convinced that Bloom will never find somebody like her. Even if Bloom is
cheating on her, he always returns home to his wife and so they are still together. He feels like
himself in his own home, in his own family and does not thinking to leave Molly.
Molly belives that women are stronger than men. Men show their weaknesses, for
example when Bloom was seek. She affirmed that the woman hides it not to give all the
trouble12. They should be stronger than men and take care of them. She seemed a little bit
9 Constantin-George Sandulescu, 164.
10 Constantin-George Sandulescu, 163.
11 Richard Ellmann, James Joyce: The First Revision of the 1959 Classic (New York Oxford Toronto:
Oxford University Press, 1982), 378.
12 James Joyce, 608.
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frustrated to me because she showed repeatedly her revolt that men have more freedom and
lack of care than women does. Molly speaks about the throes of childbirth (that she has had
with Milly) and about the fact that men dont know what women fell. Also, men can always
do what they want, but women are always questioned and responsable for what they do. What
Molly is thinking about men is that they all want to get where they went out and they are liars.
Moreover, she cant suffer people who complain about their trouble. All of us have our
problems, our troubles but the most of us try to resolve it and not complaining.
A. Nicholas Fargnoli and Michael Patrick Gillespie affirmed that The Penelope
episode takes its name from the wife of Odysseus who waited 20 years for her husbands
return from the Trojan War13. Different from Penelope who had waited her husband and had
rejected any proposal from the others men, remained him faithful, Molly is cheating her
husband. Penelope seems to be the embodiment of maiden, a pure and devoted woman,
instead of Molly who is an instinctual woman, a carnally, fleshly human being whose main
pleasure is enjoying life. So, she is a negative representation of Penelope. And because of
this and many others facts, the Joycean Ulysses is considered to be a great joke on
Homer14.
Molly is a romantic and passionate woman. Her romantic side can be deduced from
the fact that she likes to receive letters from her lover. But she is also an unfaithful woman.
However, it cant be sayed about Molly that she is an opaque human being because she has
feelings, emotions which she expressed all over hes monologue. Infact, probably a cause to
her problematically marriage can also be her sons death. As Richard Ellmann said, the
theme of family love, the love of parent for child and of child for parent, runs covertly
throughout Ulysses. Molly Blooms thoughts return to the lambs-wool sweater she knitted for
her son Rudy, who died when he was eleven days old 15. He also said that paternity is a more
powerful motif in the book than sexual love 16. Rudys death marks Molly. Here, it can be
13 A. Nicholas Fargnoli and Michael Patrick Gillespie, Critical Companion To James Joyce: A
Literary Reference to His Life and Work (United States of America: Facts On File, 2006), 207.
14 Richard Ellmann, 360.
15 Richard Ellmann, 371.
16 Richard Ellmann, 371.

discussed the pain of a mother losing her son. From that moment, nothing has had a sense for
her. She thinks that because of their sons death Bloom leaves home and goes to the other
women. But she is aware or she tried to be that is not her fault that Rudy died. The childs
death seemed to be one of the reasons for the disunity couple. After this tragic event, they did
not wanted children anymore. However, Molly known that after her sons death, she couldnt
have another son. Her other children, her daughter Milly is also far from her. She is away to
study at photography school. Molly is thinking about how her daughter grows up and now she
must to fulfill her duty, as a mother, to learn her Milly what is the best or the worse for her.
Milly has 15 years old and she is exactly like her mother in her youth (Millys behavior
denotes that). Molly remembers that her daughters jacket had cigarette smoke on it. Molly
seems to be a little jealous on Milly because she is a young beautiful woman and reminds a lot
about her, while she has already 33 years old and she cant do or feel the things that she used
to do/ feel anymore.
The manners of society can be illustrated by the habit of cheating (the two, Molly and
Bloom are cheating each other), by vulgarity of thoughts and words, by young

ladies

behaviors (such as Milly), by the episcope who speaks about the role that women have in
society and about the girls who now are riding bicycles and are wearing trousers.
Speaking about the intention behind his adoption of interior monologue as a method
for writing fiction, Joyce stated: I try to give the unspoken, unacted thoughts of people in the
way they occur17. Mollys memories are reported by her own point of view and are
commented also by her. Between the lines she expresses her view about different issues, most
of the time revolting. The reader seems to be in Mollys head. Her emotional and mental life
is disjointed and illogical. Development monologue consists of free psychological
associations, so Molly passes from a subject to another, from an event to another. Her
thoughts rages under its own dynamics. She brings up to the surface all her stored memories.
The flow of memory its happening at night, while shes lying in bed. Each of us, more or
less, when we finished our day and the time for us to go to bed coming, we think, analyse how
the day passed and what we did that day or, simply, we think about our past, like Molly did.
Molly often supports his monologue by snatches of words. She remembers something, and

17 Constantin-George Sandulescu, 107.

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then, from that memory recalls something else and so her speech begins to flow, to move from
an episode of her life to another. Joyces interior monologue is justified by the tendency to
keep authorial intrusion as limited as possible, and statement and comment by the author are
replaced by the mere selection of fact revealing character by itself18. From here, it can be
deduced Mollys behavior. She is like an opened book, expressing freely and giving life to her
thoughts withouth hide something.
Representative for Mollys monologue is her final memory, when Bloom propose her to marry
him: I was a Flower of the mountain yes when I put the rose in my hair like the Andalusian
girls used or shall I wear a red yes and how he kissed me under the Moorish wall and I
thought well as well him as another and then I asked him with my eyes to ask again yes and
then he asked me would I yes to say yes my mountain flower and first I put my arms around
him yes and drew him down to me so he could feel my breasts all perfume yes and his heart
was going like mad and yes I said yes I will Yes 19. Her statement yes represents a certainty
of all she is, with her good or bad parts, a certitude of her life and the way she lives her life
indeed, as a passionate woman and as a person who assumes everything.
Ive tried to imagine Molly supporting her monologue and Ive tried to take a look behind her
words and I think that Molly is a complex woman who wants to enjoy her life, to live fully
every moment, but on the other hand she is a woman bored to share his life with her husband,
a contradictory woman (she thinks how Bloom makes her so angry, but she also remembers
all his qualities).
The end of the novel is opened. It is impossible to known if Molly will leave Boylan
and will continue with her marriage or if she will keep her relationship with Boylan and also
will stay in her marriage or if she will break up with her husband, but I think that despite
everything Bloom makes her feel, she could not live without him.

18 Constantin-George Sandulescu, 121.

19 James Joyce, 643-644.
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BIBLIOGRAPHY

1. Sandulescu, Constantin-George, The Joycean Monologue, Bucuresti: Contemporary

Literature Press, 2010.
2. Fargnoli, A. Nicholas and Michael Patrick Gillespie, Critical Companion To James
Joyce: A Literary Reference to His Life and Work, United States of America: Facts On
File, 2006.
3. Ellmann, Richard, James Joyce: The First Revision of the 1959 Classic, New York
Oxford Toronto: Oxford University Press, 1982.
4. James Joyce, Ulysses, New York: Vintage Books; A Division of Random House, Inc.,
1986.