In a moving scene in the “Ithaca” chapter of Ulysses, we learn that Leopold Bloom kept his father’s farewell letter after the latter had committed suicide.
Between Condemnation and Pity
Even earlier in the novel, in the “Hades” chapter, suicide had surfaced as an important topic. There, with Bloom being present, a gentleman named Mr. Power says that “the worst of all […] is the man who takes his own life.” Understandably, Bloom is grateful when one of the other interlocutors, Mr. Cunningham, retorts: “It is not for us to judge.”
However, neither society nor the law regarded the matter with this kind of sympathy and understanding, as Bloom well knows: “They have no mercy on that […]. Refuse christian burial. They used to drive a stake of wood through his heart in the grave. As if it wasn’t broken already.”
Slow Development Toward Decriminalization
Bloom does not exaggerate here: The practice of driving a stake through the heart of a person who had committed suicide became common from the late 15th century. In addition, the body would be buried by night, in unconsecrated ground. Moreover, the Crown was allowed to confiscate all goods and assets of the deceased.
Over the course of the 19th century, the punishments became a little milder. In 1823, the law that allowed for the deceased’s assets to be confiscated was abolished, and since 1882 one was allowed to bury the body by day. Nevertheless, suicide remained a criminal offence: in England and Wales until 1962, and in Ireland until 1993.
The 1902 court case Harvey versus the Ocean Accident and Guarantee Corporation is mentioned in the “Wandering Rocks” chapter of Ulysses and demonstrates the potential consequences of such draconian laws: The insurance company had refused to pay Charles Harvey because it considered his brother’s death an act of suicide. Only when a court determined that this could not be proven was the company obliged to pay.
Table of Contents
- James Joyce, Ulysses, and the Law: An Introduction
- Obscenity and Literature: Legal Context around 1915
- James, Nora, and the “Konkubinatsverbot”
- Adultery as a Crime of Property
- Doubt as a Virtue
- Joyce Files a Lawsuit in Zurich
- Dying Without a Safety Net
- Ulysses Outlawed in the U.S.
- A Victory for Free Speech
- Suicide as a Crime
- A Difficult Return: Stricter Migration Laws
- A Defamation Case Against the BBC
Sources: Bennett, Andrew. “’The Love That Kills’: Love, Art, and Everyday Suicide in James Joyce.” Suicide Century: Literature and Suicide from James Joyce to David Foster Wallace, CUP, 2017, pp. 72–107. | Hardiman, Adrian. Joyce in Court: James Joyce and the Law. 2017. Paperback ed., Apollo Books/Head of Zeus, 2018, pp. 191–202. | Houston, R. A. Punishing the Dead? Suicide, Lordship, and Community in Britain, 1500–1830. OUP, 2010.
