Ashplant Symbol Analysis

Stephen’s “ashplant,” his walking stick made out of an ash sapling, symbolizes his divinity because it represents his connections to both the natural and supernatural worlds. It connects him to the earth because it’s made of an uprooted tree and he uses it to balance on the ground, while it connects him to God because he believes it has magical powers and Joyce associates it with ritual objects in a variety of religious traditions. But it also takes on various connotations throughout the novel, which is why critics have interpreted it in very different ways—for instance, as the cross, a phallus, a supernatural pen, or even a magic wand from harlequinade theater.

Although it appears periodically throughout the novel, the ashplant is most significant during the brothel scene in “Circe.” Stephen dances his “dance of death” with his ashplant, then he uses it to smash Bella Cohen’s chandelier in an act of rebellion against God and religion after he has a vision of his mother. When Stephen runs out of the brothel, Bloom takes the ashplant and follows after him. And at the end of “Circe,” Bloom protectively holds the ashplant over the fallen Stephen before helping him off the ground.

The ashplant also connects Stephen to several religious and literary traditions, which represents his desire to transform the whole of Western culture through his art. Most simply, it’s a traditional Irish cane that roots Stephen in his heritage. In “Proteus,” it becomes a Roman “augur’s rod” (a curved stick used to watch birds for omens of the future). During the brothel scene in “Circe,” it transforms into Nothung, a magical sword from Norse mythology that plays an important part in Richard Wagner’s Ring opera cycle. And throughout “Circe,” Stephen carrying the ashplant is associated with Christ carrying the cross.