Ulysses Lesson Plan

Discuss the parallels between Homer and Joyce's "Circe" chapters.

Homer's Circe was an enchantress famed for her beauty as well as her powerful spells. Ulysses visited Circe and after inviting his crew to dine at her table, she turned may of them into swine and led them to her pen where they were joined by her other male victims. Ulysses and his more temperate sailors had to struggle to overcome Circe's powerful charms. Joyce's Circe is Bella Cohen, who runs a brothel in Nighttown in order to pay for her son's tuition at Oxford. The masochist tint of Cohen's brothel emphasizes female domination, lust, gluttony and the bestial nature of man. Bella's enchantress-like...