Circe is the 15th chapter of James Joyce during which a man, Bloom, as he journeys though Dublin’s red light district called Nighttown looking for his friend Stephen. Throughout his journey Bloom has many hallucinations caused by his subconscious.
Blooms first hallucination begins when he is confronted by guilt after buying food from a butchers, this hallucination begins with his father Rudolph who questions why his son is in the red light district, or Nighttown. Rudolph questions whether Bloom has a soul because he is in the red light district and Bloom feels guilty about this. This guilt is personified in the hallucination by the appearance of first his mother and then his wife. This hallucination, from a Freudian viewpoint is a manifestation of Blooms guilt, which was caused by him spending money in the butchers and venturing into the red light district. Freud would say that this guilt was caused by Blooms super ego because it knows that because he is married he shouldn’t be in the red light district and because Bloom gave in to his id when he bought the food because he got the instant gratification of buying the food on an impulse. Blooms hallucinations continue in the form of Mrs Breen who flirts with Bloom and then mocks him for being in the red light district, continuing the focus on Blooms guilt.
The next hallucination begins when Bloom feeds a dog in the street, which leads to him being arrested for prevention of cruelty to animals which sees Bloom be put on trial. This trial is an examination of Blooms sexual past and his repressed sexual fantasies. These are displayed within the hallucination as letters which Bloom has written to the women, which I think in reality are his sexual desires. Freud said that this sexual repression comes from the rules put in place by society which make us repress our primitive desires, therefore it is again a conflict between the id and super ego caused by the rules put in place by society. Bloom pleads guilty to the crimes because his subconscious knows that he has had these desired and repressed them. The hallucination ends with Bloom becoming a woman and giving birth to eight perfect children.
Blooms sexual repression is explored more when he enters the whorehouse and has a conversation with his grandfather about sex and the prostitutes in the whore house. This hallucination may be Bloom repressing or coming to terms with the repression of his current sexual desires, whereas the previous ones were focusing on desires from the past.
The most graphic hallucination happens while Bloom is in the whorehouse during which he transforms into a pig and is confronted by “the sins of the past” who displays his deepest darkest perversions to him. Not only does this hallucination reveal the deepest parts of Blooms repressed unconscious but also I think the fact that Bloom becomes a female pig and admits to being a “corset lover” or in other words a cross dresser shows Blooms true perversions which have been repressed because of the society in which he lives.
Overall Blooms hallucinations throughout Circe explore his repressed sexual desires and his guilt caused by his actions, these show a conflict between his id and super ego and how repression of sexual desires because of society can manifest themselves.
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