By Vivian Yuxin Wen /
In “Circe,” monetary images associated with Stephen appear in the physical form of “banknote (Joyce, 453),” “silken purse (Joyce, 453),” “coin (Joyce, 454, 455-456)” and “cash (Joyce, 456)” The banknote charm found in the cave bearing the value “10” alludes to the price that Bella proposes to sell Zoe, Florry and Kitty to Stephen: “It’s ten shillings here,” which the drunken Stephen decorously, comically replies with “a hundred thousand apologies.” (Joyce, 454)
After a lengthy exchange centered upon Bloom and Bello/Bella in the brothel, Stephen reappears with a characteristically Shakespearean comment on Bloom’s potato, “To have or not to have is the question,” re-iterating his obsession with Shakespeare (Joyce, 453) What follows are conversations about sexual transactions and gambling and a fatherly figure trying to take care of the money of the figuratively son, marked by Stephen’s repeated clumsy attempts to “fumble in his pocket” to take out some money. The statement “we are all in the same sweeptstake, Kinch and Lynch” refers to the race gambling among the characters, contributing to the coherence of the narrative (Joyce, 453). Most interestingly, the dialogue between Bloom and Stephen as Bloom quietly requests Stephen to hand his money to him represents a loaded emotional moment in the middle of the chaos and hallucinations we witnessed in the brothel. In the way, the monetary image serves to evoke various modes of relationships shared by different characters in Ulysses, and the Bloom-Stephen thread is definitely more than transactional:
BLOOM: (Quietly) You had better hand over that cash to me to take care of. Why pay more?
STEPHEN: (Hands him all his coins) Be just before you are generous. (Joyce, 456)
The stage direction “quietly” momentarily marks Bloom a sober (surely not entirely) and responsible figure, in sharp contrast to his earlier fervid and sadomasochistic state – as soon as Stephen reenters the stage. The imperative “you had better…” and the caringly interrogative “why pay more” evoke a fatherly vibe, to which Stephen responds with a rather grand and ambiguous and nearly empty statement. According to Gifford, it is a specific allusion to Richard Brinsley Sheridan’s (1751-1816) The School for Scandal (1777), a reply by a prodigal son to his father’s “old and sober steward,” which remains obscure (Gifford, 510). One reading could be Stephen’s advice that Bloom should be shrewd in taking care of and spending his money. A more sympathetic reading would be Stephen’s elusive empathy with Bloom that he secretively understands that Bloom’s generosity towards other Dubliners are usually under-appreciated, thus Bloom should set his own criteria of “just.” Nevertheless, the abstract and ambiguous notion of “just” still feels a little elusive here, except for the apparent juxtaposition staged between “being just” and “being generous,” which we shall leave the readers to their own interpretation.
It is clearer that Stephen is more indifferent to Bloom’s fatherly offers than sympathetic. As Bloom steps forward to ensure that Stephen’s money is not cheated, Stephen casts his kindness aside and remains preoccupied with his own artistic concerns and childhood memories. For example, his recount of “Lessing (Joyce, 456)” is a reference to Laocoon (1766) which distinguishes poetry from plastic arts (Gifford, 511). Moreover, as soon as Lynch mentions the word “Pandybat (Joyce, 458)” Stephen becomes distracted and embarks on self-absorbed reveries of his childhood – such as when he was unfairly punished by Father Dolan (Joyce, 458, Gifford, 511) – and leaves both Bloom and his monetary concern aside.
Works Cited
Gifford, Don & Seidmann, Robert. Ulysses Annotated. (Berkeley & Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1988)
Joyce, James. Ulysses: The Corrected Text. Ed. Gabler et al. (New York: Random House, Inc., 1986)