Scylla and Charybdis and Shakespeare

So, I finished the annotations for the next episode of Ulysses (my strategy at this point is to read all the annotations, then read the actual episode all the way through, then review the annotations. This is to experience an “uninterrupted” read of the actual book while still picking up on all the references. Yeah, I should be finished this thing sometime next century). This is the Scylla and Charybdis episode based on the part in The Odyssey where, to get to where he needs to be, Ulysses must choose between sailing by either a horrific six-headed sea-monster known as Scylla or a raging whirlpool-like sea monster known as Charybdis. Talk about a rock and a hard place. Needless to say, Ulysses screws up royally and brings down all manner of hell and havoc upon himself and his hapless crew.

In any case, at least from the annotations, this section seems to be focusing on contrasts, differences, choice, and enigmas, as set up by the original story in The Odyssey. It also contains a very large number of references to literature and literary figures, both real and imagined. And speaking of literary figures, Shakespeare looms large in this episode, so large in fact that I felt like I was reading his plays while digesting the annotations (there’s that book-within-a-book thing again). Joyce continually conjures up the old bard throughout, analyzing his plays and his life in great detail. He especially focuses on the enigma that is Shakespeare himself and on the more puzzling aspects of some of his works (Hamlet, arguably Shakespeare’s most enigmatic character, is particularly dissected). Puzzles, layers, depth, and enigmas. Sounds familiar, eh?