“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. Instead of drawing from a plurality of vastly differing definitions, Joyce uses repetition and juxtaposition to compare slightly different definitions of the word soul. Joyce connects different characters’ extremely personalized definition of the phrase with the more traditional and ecclesiastical definition of soul by placing these conflicting concepts within jarring proximity to one another. (U3 2165, 2366). The inherent uncertainty surrounding identity throughout the plot is exemplified through these slightly varying takes on what should be a concrete concept. If the soul is the unchangeable inherent quality of an individual, then the treatment of the word in the text reveals the ways in which Joyce attempt to undermine this uncertainty.

The intersectionality of many characters further 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 in 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 frequently recurring word reflects the structure of the novel; particularly in sections like Circe where the inanimate, animal, and “distinctly human” become indistinguishable. The “inherent quality”of characters is lost through Joyce’s deconstruction of the text itself, assigning dialogue to unexpected speakers or burying a speaker’s identity within the text. These occasionally sacrilegious overtones that permeate throughout the text align with the obfuscation of what a “soul” truly is. Even the definition provided by Talbot unravels in later chapters.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.

1. Soul, noun.(OED 2) 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.

• “The soul has been stricken mortally, a poison poured into the porch of a sleeping ear”(U 9411-9412)

1. (OED 2c) 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

• “The soul is the manner of all that is: the soul is the form of forms”(U1245-1246)
• (OED3a) 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.
• “A hesitating soul takes arms against a sea of troubles, torn by conflicting doubts, as in real life” (U8742-8743)

1. (OED3b) As a mass noun. Strength of character; strongly developed intellectual, moral, or aesthetic qualities; spiritual or emotional power or intensity; (also) deep feeling, sensitivity.

• “Most trenchant rendition of that ballad, upon my soul and honor it is”(I14007-14008)

1. (OED2a) 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.

• You as a good catholic, he observed, talking of body and soul, believe in the soul. Or do you mean the intelligence, the brain power as such, as distinct from any outside object.