Scarica Molly's Monologue, "Ulysses" e più Appunti in PDF di Inglese solo su Docsity! Molly’s monologue (from “Ulysses”, James Joyce) ➢ THEMES SHE DEALS WITH: -RELIGION: she is an irish catholic woman criticising the atheist; according to her, sooner or later one has to count to turn with religion. She challenges those who don’t believe in God, inviting them to create what God had created. She’s very spiritual and religious, but not practicant. -NATURE: this accounts on her being extremely detailed (despite being in bed). She mentions the rhododendrons while thinking about her and Leopold lying among them on Howth head where she got him to propose to her. *** Then she remembers the figtrees, the jessamine, the geraniums and the cactuses she saw in the Alameda gardens; then she remarks on the times when she used to copy the Andalusian girls who put roses in their hair. Moreover, Leopold used to call her “flower of the mountain” -THE PLACES SHE VISITED: Spain, Morocco, Gibraltar, Howth head where they first kissed. (⇉ overlapping of space and time) -HER PERSONALITY: she describes what she likes and what she doesn’t: she’s the leader. Moreover she has a very physical predominance in her approach to life. -LEOPOLD’S APPRECIATION: although she actually betrays him having sexual intercourses with other men , she loves him because he’s able to understand what women really want (really peculiar for that period when women’s opinions didn’t count that much). *** It’s important to remember that Molly is the one who stands out in the couple, she has the leadership, that’s why he got Leopold to propose. DIFFERENCES BETWEEN JOYCE’S ULYSSES AND HOMER’S ULYSSES Why does Joyce use myths?→ In order to interpret our reality comparing it with the past and its main values. The past usually “wins” for its ideals which seem to be stronger than ours: In Joyce’s work, Molly actually embodies Penelope (by Homer) but they’re different ⇒ Penelope has stronger values than Molly, like the family one. Furthermore, Penelope resists lots of suitors until her husband Ulysses comes home. On the contrary, Molly has several lovers and Leopold doesn’t know anything about that. Her last lover is Mr Boyland, who Leopold actually knew. However, according to Joyce, people can improve the world by knowing the truth of the past, and that’s why he refers back to the mythical world in his works. MOLLY’S OUTPOURING OF THOUGHTS First we have to know that this is the most successful attempt to put someone else’s thoughts on a page and also the most extreme one. Joyce decides to quit any rule of punctuation and syntax in order to render her thoughts in the best way possible.
