“BLOOM: (To the redcoat) We fought for you in South Africa, Irish missile troops. Isn’t that history? Royal Dublin Fusiliers. Honoured by our monarch” (Joyce 486).
At the end of our time capsule dig, and our search of important themes and symbols throughout the Circe chapter, we come across a redcoat. More specifically, this redcoat charm stands in for the very real and present Privates Carr and Compton – not figures of imagination, but representative figures of the constant tension between English and Irish present not only in this chapter, but Ulysses in its entirety.
Upon a second reading, the sheer volume of juxtapositions between “green” and “red” stood out in a way it hadn’t the first time. The chapter ends with Stephen, an Irishman, being punched in the face by Private Carr – but this final scene is really the culmination of growing animosity between the “greens” (the Irish) and “reds” (The English). In just the last 1/14 of the chapter “red” is used 14 times and “green” is used 13, including an emerald reference (Joyce 461-497).
Earlier, the Virago and the Bawd get into an argument, with the Irish nationalist The Citizen present and their interaction uses color as a means of representation for two countries, cultures, and peoples:
“THE VIRAGO: Green above the red, says he. Wolfe Tone.
THE BAWD: The red’s as good as the green. And better. Up the soldiers! Up King Edward!” (Joyce 484)
This conversation comes after Stephen says to Bloom about his potential quarrel with Private Carr – who is named after an English consulate employee that Joyce hated after going through a lawsuit with him (Nelson 39) - “I don’t avoid it. He provokes my intelligence” – further emphasizing the constant discussion throughout Ulysses about Irish nationalism and independence, and the literary influence of English writers, with Stephen, and Joyce himself wanting to write the Irish masterpiece (Joyce 484).
Fiona Bardhoshi
Works Cited
Nelson, Barbara, "Getting on Nicely in the Dark: The Perils and Rewards of Annotating Ulysses"
(2013). JSTOR. Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers. 491.
<https://scholarworks.umt.edu/etd/491>