Chapter 6 Themes

 

Analysis of Finnegans Wake, Pages 126-130
Executive Summary
This document provides a comprehensive synthesis of the provided analyses covering pages 126-130 of James Joyce's Finnegans Wake. This section of the text, which opens Chapter I.6, establishes a quiz-show framework wherein the character Shem poses twelve riddles to his brother, Shaun. The source materials detail the introduction to this quiz and the beginning of the first, exceptionally long question, which serves as an exhaustive and multifaceted portrait of the central character, HCE (Here Comes Everybody).
The primary takeaways are as follows:
• Structural Framework: The chapter is structured as a "nightly quisquiquock of the twelve apostrophes," a radio quiz show set by Shem ("Jockit Mic Ereweak") and answered by Shaun ("Shaun Mac Irewick"). It functions as a "picture gallery" or a "who's who" of the book's main characters and themes, rather than advancing the narrative.
• The First Question (HCE): The excerpt is dominated by the start of the first riddle, a sprawling catalogue of hundreds of feats, attributes, and descriptions defining HCE. He is portrayed as a universal, contradictory figure embodying roles from a mythical giant and bridge-builder to a Dubliner with mundane habits. He is simultaneously man, mountain, city, god, monster, and historical force.
• Linguistic Density: The text is characterized by its extreme linguistic complexity, weaving together puns, neologisms, historical allusions, and multiple languages (Latin, German, Danish, Irish, French, etc.). This polyphonic style is central to the portrayal of HCE as an all-encompassing entity.
• Character Roles: Shem is the artist-intellectual posing the questions, while Shaun is the public figure, the "answerer par excellence," who responds, often in the voices of the characters being described.
• Key Themes: The descriptions of HCE touch upon core motifs of the book, including the fall and resurrection, the union of opposites (male/female, true/false, past/future), the history of Ireland and Dublin, and the cyclical nature of human experience.
The Quiz Framework: Structure and Personae
Chapter I.6 is presented as a static interlude, described by Joyce as a "picture gallery," that disrupts the narrative flow to provide detailed portraits of the book's central elements. It was composed late in the writing process and inserted into the already structured Book I.
The Setup: A "Nightly Quisquiquock"
The chapter begins with the introduction to a quiz consisting of twelve questions, referred to as the "twelve apostrophes." The format mimics a radio quiz show, as indicated by the opening line, "Who do you no tonigh, lazy and gentleman?" (126.02), a pun on "How do you do tonight, ladies and gentlemen?".
The quiz is set by "Jockit Mic Ereweak" and answered by "Shaun Mac Irewick, briefdragger" (126.04). Shaun's performance is cryptically rated "one hundrick and thin per storehundred" (126.05), suggesting a score of 110 out of a "long hundred" of 120, implying he missed one question. The sources confirm an error was made on the third question, where he "misunderstood an M for an L" or "a name for a motto" (126.07).
The Interrogators: Shem and Shaun
The roles of the two brothers are clearly defined in this chapter.
• Shem ("Jockit Mic Ereweak"): As the question-setter, Shem embodies the role of the artist and riddler. His name is a play on "Mic Ereweak" (weak-eared), positioning him in contrast to the more vision-oriented Shaun.
• Shaun ("Shaun Mac Irewick"): As the answerer, Shaun is the public man, the postman ("briefdragger," from Dutch briefdrager and German Briefträger). A key insight is that Shaun answers the questions in the voices of the characters being described. For example, the question about Issy is answered in Issy's voice, and the one about Kate in Kate's. This demonstrates his "gift of tongues."
The twelve questions are structured to cover the primary characters and concepts of the book:
Question #
Subject Character/Theme : Mnemonic
1 HCE: H
2 ALP: A
3 The Inn: N
4 The Four Annalists: X
5 Sigurdsson: S
6 Kate:  }
7 The Twelve Customers: O
8 The Leap-year Girls: Q
9 The Dream: o
10 Issy: J
11 Shaun: D
12 Shem: C
 
Analysis of Question 1: A Portrait of HCE (126.10-130.05)
The first and longest question is a monumental, multi-page catalogue of HCE's attributes. It asks, "What secondtonone myther rector and maximost bridgesmaker..." (126.10) and proceeds to list hundreds of his deeds and characteristics, expanding his nature to encompass nearly everything.
A Catalogue of Contradictory Feats
HCE is defined by a series of actions that are at once heroic, mundane, paradoxical, and transgressive.
• He "rose taller through his beanstale" than giant trees like the "Wellingtonia Sequoia" (126.11-12).
• He "went nudiboots with trouters into a liffeyette" (126.13), a reference to his relationship with the young ALP.
• He "pumped the catholick wartrey and shocked the prodestung boyne" (126.21-22), an allusion to the Battle of the Boyne and the Protestant-Catholic conflict in Ireland.
• He endures a threefold death motif common in Celtic mythology: he was "shovelled" (earth), "arsoned" (fire), and "inundered" (water) (127.05).
• His daily routine is listed and then reversed: "business, reading newspaper, smoking cigar... smoking cigar, reading newspaper, business" (127.20-23).
• He is both creator and destroyer, bringing law ("to our dooms brought he law") while appropriating property ("our manoirs he made his vill of") (128.08).
• He is an escape artist, the "escapemaster-in-chief from all sorts of houdingplaces" (127.10-11), alluding to Harry Houdini.
• He is financially powerful, dubbed "Rotshield" (Rothschild) and "Rockyfellow" (Rockefeller) (129.20-21).
Embodiment of History and Place
HCE's identity is deeply intertwined with Dublin, Ireland, and broader world history.
• Dublin Geography: His body is the landscape. He wears a "conciliation cap onto the esker of his hooth" (126.14-15), merging Daniel O'Connell with Howth Head. Seven Dublin districts (Merrion, Roebuck, Clonskeagh, Seapoint, Howth, Ashtown, Raheny) are named as potential birthplaces, paralleling the seven cities that claimed Homer (129.23-24).
• Architectural Form: He is described as a church, with "Early English tracemarks," a "marigold window," "two remarkable piscines and three wellworthseeing ambries" (127.34-36). This architectural metaphor contains the 2 female/3 male motif central to the park scandal.
• Historical Figures: He is associated with Isaac Newton ("felled his first lapapple"), Wellington, Richard III ("Dook Hookbackcrook"), and William Wilberforce ("Willbeforce").
• Irish History: He is connected to the Battle of the Boyne, Daniel O'Connell, and the Viking invasions ("you've gone the way of the Danes"). He is also linked to the Norman conquest through allusions to the Domesday Book ("to our dooms brought he law").
The Universal and Mythic Patriarch
HCE transcends a single identity to become a universal archetype, a composite of mythological figures and human contradictions.
• Mythological Parallels: He is a "myther rector and maximost bridgesmaker" (126.10), echoing the papal title Pontifex Maximus ('greatest bridge-builder'). He has an "eatupus complex" (Oedipus) and performs Herculean feats ("piles big pelium on little ossas like the pilluls of hirculeads") (128.35-36).
• A Figure of Contradictions: He "emprisoms trues and fauss for us" (127.03-04), is "spa mad but inn sane" (129.15), and is both feared by men ("manmote, befier of him") and pitied by women ("womankind, pietad!") (128.19-20). His heart belongs to ancient Egypt ("pharaoph times"), while his hope is in "futuerism" (129.36-130.01).
• The Family Man: He is the father to Shem and Shaun ("bred manyheaded stepsons") and husband to ALP, who "hung him out billbailey" (127.06). His daughter Issy is the "leapyourown taughter" (127.02).
Table of Selected Attributes and Allusions
The following table highlights key phrases from the text and their associated meanings and allusions as identified in the source materials.
Textual Phrase : Line: Key Allusions and Interpretations
"maximost bridgesmaker": 126.10: Latin: Pontifex Maximus (the Pope); Russian: most (bridge); a mythical builder.
"Wellingtonia Sequoia": 126.12: The giant sequoia tree, named for Wellington; links HCE to the Wellington Monument in Phoenix Park.
"felled his first lapapple": 126.17: Isaac Newton and the apple (gravity); Adam and Eve; ALP (Anna Livia Plurabelle).
"shocked the prodestung boyne": 126.22: The Battle of the Boyne (1690); "prodestung" = Protestant + "prod and stung" (the defeated Catholics).
"Hirish tutores Cornish made easy": 126.24: The acronym HCE; Joyce as an "Irish tutor"; the Celtic linguistic connection.
"F.E.R.T. on his buckler": 127.10: Motto of the Italian House of Savoy; Latin pun: Femina erit ruina tua ("Woman will be thy undoing").
"an eddistoon amid the lampless": 127.15: Eddystone Lighthouse; inventors Thomas Edison and Joseph Swann; astrophysicist Arthur Eddington.
"lukes like Hunkett Plunkett": 127.19: Luke Plunkett, a Dublin actor whose comical death scene as Richard III had to be repeated for the audience.
"brain of the franks, hand of the christian, tongue of the north": 127.29: Parodies an Arab proverb about Franks, Chinese, and Arabs, and the format of Irish triad proverbs.
"mildewstaned he's mouldystoned": 128.02: Wagner's Tristan und Isolde ("Mild und leise"); tree/stone motif (Shem/Shaun); slang for being drunk.
"shot two queans and shook three caskles": 128.17: The Dublin coat of arms (two female figures, three burning castles); the 2/3 motif.
"real detonation but false report": 129.15: A pun on "report" as both a statement and the sound of an explosion.
"the arc of his drive was forty full and his stumps were pulled at eighty": 129.32-33: Cricket terminology for a career spanning from age 40 to 80; may allude to Joyce publishing Ulysses at 40.
"drinks tharr and wodhar for his asama": 130.04: Tar water (a folk remedy); Norse gods Thor and Wotan/Odin; asthma; Asama volcano.
 

Analysis of Finnegans Wake, Pages 130-133:

Executive Summary

This document provides a comprehensive synthesis of annotations for pages 130-133 of James Joyce's Finnegans Wake. The analysis of the source context reveals a text of extraordinary density, built upon a foundation of multilingual wordplay, historical and mythological allusion, and intricate geographical mapping. The central focus of these pages is the characterization of the protean male protagonist, commonly identified by the trigram HCE ("Here Comes Everybody"). This figure is depicted not as a single individual but as a universal archetype embodying a vast spectrum of historical figures, mythological gods, and everyday men. His identity is constructed through a collage of contradictory attributes and roles, from benevolent despot to fallen father, reflecting a cyclical vision of history.

The text is deeply anchored in the topography of Dublin, with numerous specific references to its bridges, streets, and suburbs, yet its scope is global, encompassing locations from Poland and China to ancient Egypt and the Americas. This geographical layering is mirrored by a temporal one, weaving together events and personalities from Irish myth, the Roman Empire, the Napoleonic Wars, and 19th-century Irish politics. The annotations demonstrate that Joyce's method involved drawing from a wide array of specific source texts, including Sir Richard Paget's linguistic theories in Babel, historical accounts of Scottish tartans, E.A. Wallis Budge's work on The Book of the Dead, and James Macpherson's Poems of Ossian.

Core to the work's structure are recurring motifs and cyclical patterns, most notably the Viconian cycle of history (divine, heroic, human, and ricorso), which is explicitly referenced. The text is a linguistic labyrinth where words are systematically deconstructed and reassembled, combining elements from German, Latin, French, Irish, and numerous other languages to create layers of simultaneous meaning. Ultimately, these pages exemplify the novel's core principles: the universality of the human experience, the cyclical nature of existence, and the boundless potential of language itself.

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1. The Protean Nature of the HCE Archetype

The central male figure of Finnegans Wake, referred to by readers as "Here Comes Everybody," is a complex and multifaceted archetype whose presence saturates the text. The source context highlights how this character is constructed through a dense web of allusions, descriptions, and contradictory roles.

A. Identification and Naming

The HCE figure is identified through various linguistic devices, including direct trigrams and scrambled acrostics that evolve as the text progresses.

  • Trigrams: The base initials HCE appear directly in phrases like "hoveth chieftains evrywehr" (131.07), "hereditatis columna erecta" (131.30), "hagion chiton eraphon" (131.30), "a hunnibal in exhaustive conflict" (132.06), and "hallucination, cauchman, ectoplasm" (133.24).
  • Scrambled Forms: The annotations note that as HCE's mind becomes more scrambled, his name also becomes scrambled. The phrase "Comm, eilderdich hecklebury" (132.36) is identified as an instance of CEH, an inversion of the standard HCE trigram.

B. Physical and Personal Characteristics

The text provides a collage of physical and personal traits that are often contradictory, building a character who is simultaneously grand and flawed, monumental and mundane.

  • Physicality: He grows "girther, girther and girther" (130.27) after surviving famine. He possesses a "conical hodpiece" (131.33), is described as "paunch and judex" (133.23), and has a "rather strange walk" (131.29). A "threefaced stonehead" attributed to him was found on a hill (132.12).
  • Contradictory Nature: He embodies fundamental dualities. He is "distinctly dirty but rather a dear" (131.06), "larger than life, doughtier than death" (132.28), and politically paradoxical, being "unhesitent in his unionism and yet a pigotted nationalist" (133.15). He can "rant as grave as oxtail soup and chat as gay as a porto flippant" (133.14).
  • Actions and Roles: His life is a composite of diverse actions. He is portrayed as a benevolent despot who "ads aliments, das doles, raps rustics, tams turmoil" (130.16). Despite having "seed enough for a semination," he "sues skivvies on the sly" (130.17-18). He is a creator who "led the upplaws at the Creation" (132.15) and a destroyer who "hissed a snake charmer off her stays" (132.16). He is both "hunter become fox" and "hounded become haunter" (132.16-17).

C. Life Cycle: Death and Rebirth

These pages frame HCE's story within a cycle of life, death, and legacy, beginning with what resembles a mock obituary.

  • The Obituary: The passage opens with funereal language: "after a lenty illness," "no followers by bequest," "fanfare all private" (130.08-10). It includes mock memorial titles like "Gone Where Glory Waits Him" and "Not Here Yet" (130.10-11), echoing a joke from Joyce's Ulysses.
  • The Fall: His downfall is depicted through various allusions, such as being "felled" by "one Liam Fail" in "Westmunster" (131.10-11), referencing both the Irish Stone of Destiny and the political fall of Parnell.
  • The Legacy: After his ambiguous demise—"one asks was he poisoned, one thinks how much did he leave" (133.05-06)—his body is metaphorically "rationed in isobaric patties among the crew" (133.04), suggesting a sacrificial or Eucharistic role where his substance is distributed among his successors.

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2. Geographical and Topographical Mapping

The narrative is deeply rooted in the specific geography of Dublin while simultaneously expanding to a global and even cosmic scale. This creates a landscape where the local becomes universal.

A. The Dublin Core

Dublin serves as the text's primary geographical anchor, with precise locations forming the backdrop of HCE's identity.

Location Type : Specific References (with Line Numbers)

Bridges: Rialto Bridge (130.20), Annesley Bridge (130.21), Binn's Bridge (130.21), Ball's Bridge (130.21), Newcomen Bridge (130.21).

Streets/Roads: Raglan Road (132.21), Marlborough Place (132.22), Camden Street (132.06).

Districts: Howth ("Hoed," 130.33), Sorrento/Dalkey (130.34), Booterstown ("Baddersdown," 132.04), Oxmantown ("Olaph the Oxman," 132.17).

Landmarks: The area around Daniel O'Connell's statue (130.06).

Rivers: Tolka (130.21), Dodder (130.21), Liffey (implied in setting it "a fire," 131.13).

B. Irish Landscapes

Beyond Dublin, the text incorporates significant locations from Irish history and mythology.

  • The Burren, County Clare: Referenced in "the burre in the dark" (130.12).
  • Tara: The ancient seat of Irish kings is invoked in "his Tiara of scones" (131.09).
  • Mount Slemish, Co. Antrim: The site of St. Patrick's servitude appears as "Mount of Mish" (131.01).
  • Mythical Otherworld: The Irish paradise Magh Meall is present in "Mell of Moy" (131.01).

C. Global and Cosmic Expansion

The narrative consistently projects beyond Ireland, linking HCE to a global and astronomical context.

  • Global Cities & Nations: New Zealand ("New Yealand," 130.08), the United States (containing twenty-four towns named Dublin, 130.27-28), Poland (with its city of Lublin, a "namesake with an initial difference" to Dublin, 130.29), China (Peking, 130.34), Hungary (Budapest, 131.13), and Denmark (Bornholm, Copenhagen, 130.24, 132.02).
  • Astronomical Allusions: A detailed passage describes HCE as the planet Saturn: "he's as globeful as a gasometer of lithium and luridity and he was thrice ten anular years before he wallowed round Raggiant Circos" (131.35-132.01). This alludes to Saturn's gaseous nature, its low density (lighter than lithium), its pale yellow ("lurid") color, its near thirty-year orbit, and its famous rings ("anular").

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3. Historical and Mythological Tapestry

The identity of HCE is a composite of countless historical figures, mythological beings, and legendary heroes from a multitude of cultures and eras, illustrating the concept of "Here Comes Everybody."

A. Figures from Irish History and Legend

Era / Theme: Alluded Figures and Events

Myth & Legend: Finn MacCool (as Fingal in Ossian allusions), King Arthur (hunting the boar Twrch Trwyth, his death at Camlann, 132.04-06), Norse invaders (Olaf, first king of Dublin; Turgesius, 132.17-18).

Religious: St. Patrick (on Mount Slemish, 131.01), St. Laurence O'Toole (Bishop of Glendalough, 130.33), Father Charles of Mount Argus (miracle worker, 132.15).

Political: Daniel O'Connell (130.06, 133.03), Charles Stewart Parnell (as "Mr. Fox," 132.17; the Pigott forgery, 133.15), numerous Lord Mayors of Dublin (B.V.H., B.L.G., etc., 131.03-04), the Invincibles and the Phoenix Park Murders (132.32-33).

B. World History and Mythology

The text weaves a dense fabric of allusions to global history and foundational myths.

  • Ancient & Classical: Roman Emperors (Otho, Vespasian, Marcus Aurelius, 132.06-19), Hannibal of Carthage (132.06), the Celtic deity Lugus ("threefaced stonehead," 132.12), the Greek Titan Atlas (132.03), and the Roman god Janus (133.19).
  • Religious: Figures and events from Christianity (Christ, St. Paul's conversion at Damascus, 131.11-12), Islam (legends of Mohammed hiding in a cave, 131.18-21), and Egyptian mythology (Osiris as "the god at the top of the staircase," 131.17).
  • European History: The Merovingian "lazy kings" (rois fainéants, 131.09), the Borgia popes (130.12), and key figures of the Battle of Waterloo including Napoleon Bonaparte, Wellesley (Duke of Wellington), and the Prussian Marshal Blücher (133.21-22).
  • Eastern Philosophy: Confucius is referenced through his "conical hodpiece" (a bump on his head), his move to Chufu, and the sacred mountain Tai Shan (131.33-35).

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4. Linguistic Complexity and Literary Intertextuality

The fundamental methodology of the text involves the deconstruction and reconstruction of language itself, creating a multi-layered linguistic artifact that draws heavily from other literary works.

A. Multilingual Wordplay

The text is built on a constant stream of puns and portmanteaus that span numerous languages, often within a single word or phrase.

Language: Example from Text: Annotated Meaning

German: "hoch die Becher": Embedded in "hockinbechers" (130.15), a drinking toast meaning "raise your cups."

German: "komm, eilerdich": In "comm, eilerdich, hecklebury" (132.36), meaning "come, hurry up."

Latin: "hickheckhocks": The elementary Latin declension hic, haec, hoc ("this") (130.20).

Latin: "comminxed": Contains comminxit, meaning "he has defiled" or "pissed on" (130.11).

French: "roi des fainéants": "King of the lazybones," referring to the last Merovingian kings (131.09).

French: "cauchman":Contains cauchemar, meaning "nightmare" (133.24).

Dutch: "paddystool": Contains paddenstoel, meaning "mushroom" or "toadstool" (130.06).

Chinese: "Hwang Chang": The Imperial City of Peking and contains hwang ("yellow") (130.35).

Irish: "earish": A pun on "Irish" (130.19).

Irish: "Beurla": The Irish word for the English language (132.27).

Italian: "Miraculone": Contains mira ("look!"), culone ("big buttocks"), and miracolone ("great miracle") (132.15).

B. Literary and Textual Sources

The annotations reveal Joyce's direct use of specific texts as source material for imagery, language, and structural patterns.

  • James Macpherson's Poems of Ossian: This is a major source, providing names (Swaran, Fingal, Fithil, Moran), places (Mora, Lora, Lego, Morven), and specific phrases like "the shell of joy," "feet of wind," and the "sun-beam" standard of Fingal.
  • Sir Richard Paget's Babel: Joyce's notebooks show he extracted Paget's theories on the gestural origin of language, including the idea that the sound "AL" is a natural gesture-word for "up" (130.13) and that roots like AD ("eat"), DA ("give"), and SA ("sow") derive from mouth gestures.
  • E.A. Wallis Budge's The Book of the Dead: The source for the image of Osiris as "the god at the top of the staircase" (131.17) and for details on Egyptian burial practices.
  • The Scottish Clans and their Tartans: This book is the direct source for the list of plants used as native dyes—rueroot (red), dulse (brown), bracken (yellow), teasel (green), sundew (purple), and cress (violet)—which correspond to the colors of the rainbow (130.25).
  • Other Literary Works: Allusions are made to Mark Twain's Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer (132.36), Charles Dickens' David Copperfield (Wilkins Micawber, 131.16), Lewis Carroll, William Shakespeare, and Joyce's own Ulysses.

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5. Recurring Motifs and Cyclical Structures

The text is organized around a series of recurring motifs and cyclical frameworks that reinforce its themes of repetition, transformation, and universal patterns.

  • The Viconian Cycle: The four-stage historical cycle of Giambattista Vico is explicitly referenced.
  1. Divine Age (Thunder): "speared the rod and spoiled the lightning" (131.14).
  2. Heroic Age (Marriage): "married with cakes" (131.15).
  3. Human Age (Burial): "till he was buried howhappy was he" (131.15-16).
  4. Ricorso (Providence/Return): "god at the top of the staircase" (131.17). A second, more compressed version appears as "harrier, marrier, terrier, tav" (132.17), representing ages of being harried (divine), marrying (heroic), burial in the earth (terra), and death/sleep (támh).
  • The Dublin Riddle: The name of the city is encoded in a riddle: "his first's a young rose [BUD > DUB] and his second's French-Egyptian [French for Nile is NIL > LIN] and his whole means a slump at Christie's [DUB-LIN / null-bid]" (130.30-31).
  • Oppositional Pairs: The text is structured around dualities and opposites, such as "commenced" and "finished" (130.11), "hunter" and "haunter" (132.16-17), and the doors of the Temple of Janus being "aldays open for polemypolity's sake when he's not suntimes closed for the love of Janus" (133.18-19), representing states of war and peace.
  • Numerical and Sensory Patterns: Motifs include "two cardinal ventures and three capitol sinks" (131.01-02), the four meals of the day ("Breakfates, Lunger, Diener and Souper," 131.04), and the four senses of "hand to mouth," "earish," and "eyes shut," with smell noted as missing (130.18-19).