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Bantam Lyons
The young Gertrude MacDowell is the central character in “Nausicaa.” The first half of the episode is narrated in her sentimental, self-conscious voice and reveals her obsession with finding romance, maintaining proper etiquette, and conforming to the ideas about beauty that she reads about in Princess Novelette magazine. As she sits on the rocks by Sandymount Strand, Gerty laments her failed romance with Reggy Wylie—even though she scarcely knew him. She debates whether she will ever find a man better than Reggy, then is pleasantly surprised when an elegant-looking gentleman (Leopold Bloom) starts staring at her with his “superbly expressive” eyes. She develops an elaborate fantasy, in which Bloom sweeps her off her feet and becomes an ideal husband. In reality, Bloom is masturbating while he stares at her, and she doesn’t seem to mind. She even shows off her legs and underwear during the fireworks scene that represents his orgasm. Meanwhile, she’s careful to hide the flaw that she indirectly alludes to throughout the episode: her lame leg, which becomes apparent to Bloom when she stands up and limps down the beach. Her character is in large part a parody of the character of Gertrude Flint from Maria Susanna Cummins’s 1854 novel The Lamplighter. On the one hand, Ulysses’s description of Gerty shows how male-dominated, materialistic modern cultures force women to evaluate themselves from men’s perspective. Not only is Gerty singularly obsessed with how others will perceive her beauty, but the reader never learns if the narration is really a faithful representation of Gerty’s own perspective (rather than, for instance, Bloom’s projection of what Gerty might be thinking while he masturbates to her). On the other hand, Gerty is the first woman who gets a significant voice in Ulysses, and her appearance foreshadows the novel’s final episode, in which Molly Bloom takes a much broader view of her value as a woman and a much more liberated approach to her sexuality.
Gerty MacDowell Quotes in Ulysses
The Ulysses quotes below are all either spoken by Gerty MacDowell or refer to Gerty MacDowell. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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Episode 13: Nausicaa Quotes
Yes, it was her he was looking at, and there was meaning in his look. His eyes burned into her as though they would search her through and through, read her very soul. Wonderful eyes they were, superbly expressive, but could you trust them? People were so queer. […] Here was that of which she had so often dreamed. It was he who mattered and there was joy on her face because she wanted him because she felt instinctively that he was like no-one else. The very heart of the girlwoman went out to him, her dreamhusband, because she knew on the instant it was him.
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And she saw a long Roman candle going up over the trees, up, up, and, in the tense hush, they were all breathless with excitement as it went higher and higher […] it went so high it went out of sight a moment and she was trembling in every limb from being bent so far back that he had a full view high up above her knee […] O! then the Roman candle burst and it was like a sigh of O! and everyone cried O! O! in raptures and it gushed out of it a stream of rain gold hair threads and they shed and ah! they were all greeny dewy stars falling with golden, O so lovely, O, soft, sweet, soft!
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Get the entire Ulysses LitChart as a printable PDF.
Gerty MacDowell Character Timeline in Ulysses
The timeline below shows where the character Gerty MacDowell appears in Ulysses. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Episode 13: Nausicaa
...girls play on the rocks at Sandymount Strand. They are Cissy Caffrey, Edy Boardman, and Gerty MacDowell. Cissy’s younger twin brothers Tommy and Jacky are playing on the sand, and Edy...
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Meanwhile, Gerty MacDowell sits on the rocks, “lost in thought, gazing far away into the distance.” In...
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Suddenly, Gerty feels a sense of “gnawing sorrow” and starts to wish that she could be home...
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...with the baby to distract him. Cissy mentions the baby’s bottom. This “unladylike” word offends Gerty, and Edy complains that a gentleman standing nearby probably heard it. (Although it’s not yet...
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...sound in the background, where the church is organizing a “men’s temperance retreat.” This saddens Gerty, who thinks about her father’s alcoholism and misbehavior—like hitting Gerty’s mother. Still, Gerty loves her...
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...wearing all black, catches the ball and tosses it to Cissy. It rolls over to Gerty, who tries to kick it away. At first, she misses, but then she gives “a...
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...gives him his bottle to stop his tears. Frustrated with the baby and the twins, Gerty gazes at the sea and appreciates the church music.
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Gerty then notices that the nearby gentleman (Bloom) is looking at her, with his deep, “superbly...
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The twins continue to fight over the ball, which frustrates Gerty. To stop them from running into the sea, Cissy chases after them. Gerty thinks that...
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Cissy and Edy both notice the gentleman (Bloom) and Gerty looking at each other, and Edy asks Gerty what she’s thinking. Gerty says she’s wondering...
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The girls get ready to go home. Edy jokingly mentions Gerty’s heartbreak, but Gerty is hurt, because she truly does feel heartbroken. She nearly cries, but...
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Gerty starts to say something, but she coughs instead and pretends that the noise was really...
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...start to go off. Cissy and Edy run over with their brothers to watch, but Gerty stays back because she is entranced by the passionate gaze of the gentleman (Bloom). Feeling...
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Gerty sits up and glances at the gentleman, whom the narrative confirms is Leopold Bloom. The...
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The novel cuts to Bloom’s thoughts. He’s shocked to see Gerty limp off, but he decides that it doesn’t make him any less attracted to her....
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Bloom remarks that women are “devils” during their periods, and he wonders what Gerty saw in him, a somewhat unattractive older man. He notes that Gerty showed off her...
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...wet from his ejaculation. His mind shifts constantly from one thing to another. He imagines Gerty going home to her normal, innocent life, and he wonders what it would have been...
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Bloom looks ahead at Gerty and her friends, who are off in the distance watching fireworks. He dwells on Cissy,...
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Another rocket goes off, and Gerty turns around. Bloom feels like she is looking for him. He’s relieved to have let...
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Bloom notices the rose-like smell of Gerty’s cheap perfume. He imagines the tiny particles blowing from her to him, and he thinks...
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...of light, and the sun setting over Ireland, his country. He thinks about the rock Gerty was sitting on and notes how attractive he finds girls of her age. His thoughts...
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...picks up a stick and decides to write a little message in the sand for Gerty. He writes, “I. […] AM. A.” But he runs out of space, gives up, and...
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Episode 15: Circe
...Kelly for ten shillings. A man chases after Bridie, who runs off into the darkness. Gerty MacDowell shows up and tells Bloom that she hates him—but Bloom denies knowing her. The...
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Episode 17: Ithaca
...drawer and reflects on how lucky he was to meet Josie Breen, Nurse Callan, and Gerty MacDowell today. He imagines himself as a powerful, respectable man entertaining a beautiful courtesan.
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...letters to Martha Clifford, his fight at Barney Kiernan’s bar, and his voyeuristic encounter with Gerty MacDowell. He mentions the current production of Leah and the novel Sweets of Sin. He...
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