Ulysses

This episode begins at about 10:00 p.m. and ends approximately an hour later. Its setting is the National Maternity Hospital in Dublin, and one of the hospital's superintendents is Dr. Andrew J. Horne, whose name is subjected to much punning by Stephen Dedalus and his friends. The physical action of the chapter is simple enough. The semi-inebriated Stephen is drinking with some of his boisterous acquaintances, some of whom are medical students, and he is also drinking with some others, such as Lenehan, who are simply hangers-on. The young men are unconcerned over the plight of Mina Purefoy, who has just passed her third full day in labor. In fact, the birth of her son during this episode elicits only a jocular response from the rowdy young men. At the beginning of "The Oxen of the Sun," Bloom visits the hospital because he is concerned about Mrs. Purefoy; after her baby has been delivered, Bloom decides to stay and watch over Stephen. Bloom's worry is evoked by both his friendship with Simon Dedalus and his fear that Stephen is dissipating his talents through drinking and lecherous associates. Towards the end of the chapter, Stephen suggests that he and his drinking friends adjourn to a pub, Burke's. There, Stephen becomes thoroughly drunk from drinking too much absinthe, which he also buys for the others, thus further reducing the meager pay that he received earlier from Mr. Deasy in "Nestor." As the chapter closes, Lynch and Stephen head for the brothel district, with Bloom referred to here as the "johnny in the black duds," where he will continue his inexpert role of the impromptu, self-appointed caretaker of Stephen. In the midst of the episode, Mulligan enters with Bannon, and the two of them discuss Bannon's liaison with Milly Bloom in Mullingar. Mulligan departs, and Stephen and Lynch, as we discover in "Circe" (Chapter 15), join Mulligan and Haines at the Westland Row station (en route to the brothel district) at about a quarter past eleven. Stephen and Mulligan apparently scuffle, and Stephen hurts his hand. Stephen, however, proceeds along with Lynch to the prostitutes, and Haines and Mulligan presumably return to the Martello Tower. Bloom, after getting off at the wrong train stop, must, in "Circe," catch up to Stephen in Nighttown.