Ashplant
Reading, Smashing, and Playing Ulysses
Schutte, William M. M. Joyce and Willaim Shakespare: A Study in the Meaning of Ulysses. Hamden, CT: Archon Books, 1971.
Related topics:
Creation and Making
Doubles
Irish History Transformed
Maternity
Paternity
Race and Ethnicity
Union and Division
Link to citation page: https://www.worldcat.org/title/joyce-and-shakespeare-a-study-in-the-meaning-of-ulysses/oclc/1653720&referer=brief_results
Schutte begins his work by identifying two contrasting trends in Ulysses criticism: some have studied it as a whirlpool of material from which only the most brilliant scholars may extract "neat symbolic patterns," whereas others approach the book non-symbolically as realistic prose (5). In the second chapter, Schutte explores how Ulysses mirrors Hamlet prior to Stephen's Hamlet theory in "Scylla and Charybdis" (U 9). Casting Stephen, with his ghostly mother, as Hamlet and Mulligan as Horatio, according to Schutte, Joyce begins to establish the Shakespearian parallels from the onset of "Telemachus" (U 1). Aside from drawing direct parallels between the two works, Schutte catalogues the Hamlet references of the first three episodes and relates them to the character of Stephen Dedalus. In the third chapter, Schutte writes about the three librarians from "Scylla and Charybdis," and the ways in which they each work as foils to Stephen during the library scene. He further notes that John Englinton is actually more fluent in Shakespeare criticism than Stephen, and that he is the one who concludes Stephen's argument (U 9.1023-24). In the fourth chapter, Schutte explains and evaluates Stephen's Shakespeare theory. Schutte notes Stephen's brilliance, especially in his ability to access multiple Shakespeare quotations and passages. The remaining chapters discuss Stephen as an aspiring Shakespeare and artist, and Schutte continues the project of Shakespearian parallels by discussing the ways in which Bloom, too, bears resemblance to Shakespeare. Schutte concludes that, when combined, Bloom and Stephen create the Shakespearean presence in Ulysses. Although impotent when separate, compiled, Bloom and Stephen may achieve the literary salvation of Ireland.
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