Murphy Character Analysis in Ulysses

In the cabman’s shelter in “Eumaeus,” a drunk red-haired man claims to be a sailor and introduces himself as “Murphy.” But it’s unclear if anything he says is true: he tells a series of improbable stories about sailing around South America, witnessing a stabbing in Italy, and returning to Dublin that morning after seven years at sea. Oddly enough, Murphy has never heard of Gibraltar, even though it’s located on one of the busiest shipping lanes in the world. Combined with Murphy’s outlandish stories, this leads Bloom to doubt whether he’s telling the truth.

Murphy Character Timeline in Ulysses

The timeline below shows where the character Murphy appears in Ulysses. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.

...eggs off bottles while performing for the circus in Stockholm. The man introduces himself as Murphy and says that he lives by the harbor. He reports that his wife is there,... (full context)

Murphy explains that he came in on the three-mast ship Rosevan with bricks that morning. He... (full context)

Murphy continues telling his stories, recounting a stabbing he witnessed in Italy and pulling out a... (full context)

Murphy comments that one of his colleagues gave up sailing to be a valet, while his... (full context)

Bloom asks whether Stephen thinks Murphy’s stories are true, and he points out that the man could just as well be... (full context)

Irish Identity and Nationalism Theme Icon

The other men in the shelter chat about shipwrecks, and then the sailor Murphy walks out to the street, drinks from one of the bottles he’s concealing in his... (full context)

...and tells his compatriots to stay in their country and work for its common benefit. Murphy proclaims that Ireland’s sailors and soldiers are the British Empire’s “backbone,” but Skin-the-Goat argues that... (full context)

...over and help him out financially without offending him. Meanwhile, Bloom thinks that the sailor Murphy is more likely headed to the brothel than to his wife at home. Bloom laughs... (full context)

...The cabdriver reads out news about the cabdrivers’ association, then passes the newspaper over to Murphy the sailor, who puts on thick green goggles and reads articles about sports. Bloom gets... (full context)