Scylla and Charybdis in Sepia #11

Shakespeare in love?


Scylla and Charybdis are two sea monsters of Greek mythology noted by Homer; later Greek tradition sited them on opposite sides of the Strait of Messina between Sicily and mainland Magna Graecia (southern Italy). They were said to be located close enough to each other that they posed an inescapable threat to passing sailors; avoiding Charybdis meant passing too closely to Scylla and vice versa.



In this chapter young Stephen Dedalous and his friends are discussing literature in general and William Shakespeare in particular, in what was also James Joyce's favorite hang out; The National Library of Ireland.
Themes from Hamlet and The Merchant of Venice are analyzed with great skill.
Shakespeare seems to have been an author highly respected by James Joyce. In Hades he let Leopold Bloom say, "He was a good man,just like Shakespeare, had a friendly word to everyone." Both Stephen Dedalous and Leopold Bloom (Images of Joyce as a young and a grown man) did not have so much positive to say about contemporary authors, they were either too romantic or out of time national.

A point in the discussion is William Shakespeare's long absence from his wife Ann, born Hath-a-way, who in Shakespeare's will only was given his "next best bed". Penelope is her pendant, staying home, waiting for the wayward Odysseus.
How deep was their love, really?
The biography of James Joyce also reveals, that the author had long and mysterious trips away from his Nora and the rest of the family.
I'll let this be the theme with a question hanging in the air, from my outtake from the Scylla and Charybdis chapter.

Teach Mary is the host of Sepia Scenes,visit her.