Summary
The narrative technique of Episode Fourteen is meant to
represent the gestation of the English language. The prose styles
of many different time periods, along with the styles of their most
famous authors, are replicated and at times parodied in chronological
order.
Latinate prose, and then alliterative Anglo-Saxon, situate
us at the Holles Street maternity hospital, run by Sir Andrew Horne. Bloom
arrives at the hospital gates, having come to check on Mrs. Purefoy.
Nurse Callan, an acquaintance of Bloom’s, opens the gate and leads
him inside. Their conversation about Mrs. Purefoy, who has been
in labor for three days, is described in moralizing medieval prose.
The emergence of Dixon, a medical student, from a noisy room down
the hall is described in medieval-romance style. Dixon, who once
treated Bloom for a bee sting, invites Bloom inside, where Lenehan,
Crotthers, Stephen, Punch Costello, and medical students Lynch and
Madden are boisterously gathered around a spread of sardines and
beer. Dixon pours Bloom a beer, which Bloom quietly deposits in
his neighbor’s cup. A nun comes to the door and asks for quiet.
The men discuss medical cases in which the doctor must
choose between saving the mother or the baby—Stephen discusses the
religious aspect of this question while others joke about contraception and
sex. Bloom is somber, thinking of Mrs. Purefoy and of Molly’s labor
with Rudy. Bloom considers Stephen, imagining that he is wasting
time with these men.
Stephen’s pouring of more beer and consideration of the
quibbles of Mary’s pregnancy with Jesus are described in Elizabethan
prose. Punch Costello interrupts with a bawdy song about a pregnant woman.
Nurse Quigley comes to the door and shushes them. The men’s teasing
Stephen about the piety of his youth is described in early seventeenth-century
prose. A thunderclap erupts. Bloom notices that Stephen is truly
frightened at this evidence of God’s anger, and he attempts to calm
Stephen by explaining the science of thunder.
Buck Mulligan’s meeting with Alec Bannon on the street
nearby is described in seventeenth-century diary style. Alec tells
Buck about a girl he is dating in Mullingar (Milly Bloom). The two
men walk together to the hospital on Holles street.
The good-for-nothing characters of Lenehan and Costello
are described in the prose style of Daniel Defoe. The subject of
Deasy’s letter and cattle health is broached. A long, allegorical
joke ensues about papal bulls, Henry VIII, and England’s relationship
to Ireland. Buck’s arrival is described in Addison’s and Steele’s
essay style. Buck jokes about his new occupation as a “fertiliser”
for all female comers. A side conversation between Crotthers and
Bannon about Milly, and Bannon’s intent to purchase contraception
in Dublin, is described in Lawrence Sterne’s style. The men euphemistically
discuss different contraceptive methods.
