“The soul is in a manner all that is: the soul is the form of form. Tranquility sudden, vast, candescent form of forms.” (U 2, 1245). This early quote by Talbot in Nestor frames Joyce’s use of the “soul” throughout the novel as being the “inherent quality” of a person place or thing. Used sixty-six times within the novel and in every single chapter of the book, “soul” encapsulates Joyce’s concern with the ever-evolving self and essence of being. Through repetition and juxtaposition, Joyce connects this extremely personalized definition with the more traditional and ecclesiastical definition of the soul by placing these conflicting concepts within jarring proximity to one another. (U3 2165, 2366). The intersectionality of identities embodied by many of the characters also complicates the word’s use, as exemplified by Bloom’s joint Judaic and Catholic identity. The discrepancies between these two religions should have ramifications on the soul, per both belief systems, an irony the repetition exacerbates. “Now he’s really what they call a dirty jew… And may the Lord have mercy on your soul” (U 8 8681).
In addition to complicating preconceived notions of what the soul is, Joyce is interested with the idea of taking these canonical interpretations of the word “soul” and complicating the matter through related terms like “metempsychosis”. Defined as “the supposed transmigration at death of the soul of a human being or animal into a new body of the same or a different species”, this constantly recurring word reflects the structure of the novel; particularly the relative uncertainty surrounding the identities of certain characters. The “inherent quality “of characters is lost through Joyce’s deconstruction of the text itself, and the sacrilegious overtones that permeate throughout the text seem to align with the obfuscation of what a “soul” truly is. The frequency with which we encounter the word normalizes what is traditionally considered extraordinary, and allows Joyce to play with the concept of a “soul” through both his shifting characterization and varied modes of storytelling, despite its well-established traditional definitions and connotations.

“Bone them young so they metamspychosis. That we live after death. Our souls. That a man’s soul after he dies. Dignam’s soul … ”

I. Soul, noun. An essential principle or attribute of life, and related senses; animate existence; this viewed as a possession of which one is deprived by death. death.
II. Without article, contrasted with body, life (in early use also †licham), regarding the separation between a person’s immaterial or spiritual attributes and his or her physical form or existence
III. The seat of a person’s emotions, feelings, or thoughts; the moral or emotional part of a person’s nature; the central or inmost part of a person’s being.
IV. Philos. and Metaphysics. The immaterial or spiritual essence of a living organism divided into one of a number of multiple elements (usually three), based on those distinguished in Platonic philosophy, as rational, sensitive, and appetitive, or human, animal, and vegetable, etc
V. As a mass noun. Strength of character; strongly developed intellectual, moral, or aesthetic qualities; spiritual or emotional power or intensity; (also) deep feeling, sensitivity
VI. The principle of intelligence, thought, or action in a person (or occas. an animal), typically regarded as an entity distinct from the body; the essential, immaterial, or spiritual part of a person or animal, as opposed to the physical.