Malachi Roland St. John “Buck” Mulligan is a fictional character in James Joyce’s 1922 novel Ulysses. He appears most prominently in episode 1 (Telemachus), and is the subject of the novel’s famous first sentence:
“Stately, plump Buck Mulligan came from the stairhead, bearing a bowl of lather on which a mirror and a razor lay crossed.”
Mulligan, Malachi (Buck). A medical student and Stephen’s housemate in Sandymount Tower when Ulysses begins. Mulligan is based on Joyce’s real-life friend Oliver St. John Gogarty. Mulligan is witty and intelligent, but also insensitive and boorish. He is often associated with the color yellow, beginning with his dressinggown in the opening scene. He is in or mentioned in nearly every episode in which Stephen appears, starting with his appearance in Telemachus as the first character in the book.
TODO add eps
Mulligan has the higher ground over Stephen
- Stephen is in debt to him
- Mulligan literally is standing above him in the stairs at the start of 1 Telemachus
- Stephen must borrow money and clothes from Mulligan
- Mulligan often mocks Stephen, often feigning the moral highground
- e.g. Stephen refuses to pray for his mother, which Buck criticizes
Buck refuses to take a stance
- In mocking Stephen, he often takes both sides
- e.g. agrees that Haines is a poor roommate but does not do anything to kick him out
Buck is ‘Claudius’
- Buck is the 1.743 Usurper, like Claudius from Hamlet