In ‘Tam O’ Shanter’, the main character, Tam, is an old boozer with a nagging shrew of a wife. One night after a bout of drinking with his cronies, Tam makes his way home on his trusty horse, Meg. Upon approaching auld Alloway Kirk, the haunted church ruin near his home, Tam is shocked to discover a witches’ ceilidh taking place upon the premises; all manner of ghouls and demons are taking part, and the devil himself is present playing bagpipes. Despite Meg’s extreme unease, Tam imprudently moves closer to watch because he has caught sight of Nan, a comely young witch in a short chemise, or cutty sark in Scots dialect, who is very enthusiastically participating in the vigorous Celtic dances (hornpipes, jigs, reels, and strathspeys). The physical repulsiveness of the rest of the coven is a negative statement about female sexuality in general. Tam is so absorbed in watching Nan’s athletic display that he forgets himself and roars out, "Weel done, Cutty Sark!" in approval and appreciation of Nan’s dancing, thus alerting the forces of evil of his presence. They immediately begin to pursue Tam who, on Meg, is now fleeing for his life. Tam spurs Meg on towards the auld Brig O’ Doon, or old bridge over the river Doon, because legend has it that witches cannot cross running water. Nan has her hand on Meg’s rump and is reaching forward to pull Tam off the horse when Meg gives one last mighty leap onto the bridge, leaving Nan with only the horse’s tail in her clutches on the far side. The poem ends with a brilliantly hilarious verse about the danger to men of liquor and lust:
Now, wha’ this tale o’ truth shall read
Ilk man, and mother’s son, take heed:
Whene’er to drink you are inclin’d,
Or cutty sarks rin in your mind,
Think! Ye may buy the joys o’er dear;
Remember Tam O’ Shanter’s mare.
It is not surprising that Joyce, given his (and, representing
him, Bloom’s) "fetish for women’s underclothes" (Maddox, 1988, p. 139),
would work in a reference in Ulysses to a witch in revealing lingerie. By
making the cutty sarks the laughing, flying witches are wearing red he perhaps
even manages to juxtapose Burns’s witch with the Aran Island girls’ red petticoats
made so much of by J. M. Synge, thus adding an Irish allusion to a Scottish one.
But what is the overall impact of referring to this poem in Ulysses? It seems
to me that Joyce has added one more example of dangerous, active female sexuality
to his repertoire of literary allusions. In ‘Tam O’ Shanter’, Tam nearly loses his
life as a result of his sexual attraction to Nan. Her beauty draws him closer into
a dangerous situation, and his fixation with her writhing, bouncing, scantily-clad
body causes him to forgo common sense and mortally imperil himself. He barely escapes
with his life. By adding yet another example of an active female whose sexuality
is dangerous to men to Ulysses, Joyce is reinforcing a traditional patriarchal
prejudice against female sexuality and strength. He reveals his own inadequacy and
loss of self in the face of female sexuality in his fondness for allusions that strengthen
rather than subvert or dismiss misogynistic patriarchal stereotypes.