Scheming Women: Macbeth and Joyce's "The Boarding House"

Without much introduction, readers only vaguely familiar with Shakespeare's Macbeth will know that one of the most "scheming" character in the story is Lady Macbeth, although Macbeth himself is arguably her equal. In James Joyce's Dubliners, there is a story entitled "The Boarding House" in which the main character has many of Lady Macbeth's qualities, although they are presented in a different manner.

In Joyce's headings for the short stories in the collection, "The Boarding House" falls under the category of "Young Adulthood." It tells the tale of a Mrs. Mooney, a woman separated from her alcoholic husband, who runs a boarding house for young men. Mrs. Mooney, called sotto voce "The Madam," allows her nineteen-year-old daughter Polly the run of the men so that she might find a husband. When Polly, who is learning to be as scheming as her mother, has an affair with an older man living at the boardinghouse, Mrs. Mooney takes advantage of the opportunity and forces the man through guilt to marry her daughter. After reading the story and considering its placement, I was somewhat surprised that Joyce placed it here. Although the story is about the engagement and future marriage of a couple, and includes their points of view, it is in many ways much more about Mrs. Mooney, my Lady Macbethian character, as it is she who truly puts plans into motion.

Clearly, it is Mrs. Mooney's maneuvering abilities which put her with Lady Macbeth. Both women know how to get things done; just as importantly, they also know when to put their plans into motion. Mrs. Mooney notices very early on that something is going on between her daughter and Bob Doran, but hold back on saying anything to the two, despite the talk going around the boarding house. Joyce writes that "when she judged it to be the right moment, Mrs. Mooney intervened" (54). Lady Macbeth also knows when to put her long-awaited plan into motion. When she receives Macbeth's letter, she sees immediately that the king's visit would be opportune for murdering him, even though she knows that her husband is "too full o'th'milk of human kindness" (Macbeth 1.5.15). Both women understand that a "good" plan can fall asunder if begun at the wrong time.

Both women are also consummate actors. In Mrs. Mooney's case, in order to make Bob feel guilty, she knows that she will need to appear the "outraged mother" (Joyce 55). Unfortunately, we don't get to see her acting at work, as Joyce shifts to Polly's point of view while she talks to Doran. However, at the end, she calls to Polly and we are shown a glimpse of not only Mrs. Mooney's skill, but Polly's apprenticeship, as Warren Beck fully explains. As he states, " 'Polly! Polly!' her mother is calling, and the dreamy daughter picks up her practical role with an innocently questioning, 'Yes, mama?' which Mrs. Mooney caps with a nice blend of unctuousness and finality: 'Come down, dear. Mr. Doran wants to speak to you.' " (Beck 158). Her mother has finished the work that Polly has started, but it is necessary that Polly do her part here, as Joyce's last sentence of the story makes clear: "Then she [Polly] remembered what she had been waiting for" (Joyce 59). As I believe Ulysses will show, Polly will prove worthy of her mother in the coming years. In the same way, Lady Macbeth is skilled at not allowing her carefully laid plans to come out in her dealings with the King. Shortly after the scene with the letter, she meets with the King, making every effort to seem hospitable and make him think that she is truly concerned about how comfortable his stay is, and she must be convincing, because Duncan goes with her and believes her (Macbeth 1.6).

Mrs. Mooney and Lady Macbeth's strongest skills lay in their abilities to adapt the men in a way that makes them do what they want. Mrs. Mooney, as we have seen, understands very well that she has Bob Doran exactly where she wants him (at least partially thanks to the maneuverings of Polly as well). Doran is so frightened that Joyce describes him as being so nervous that he tried to shave twice but found that he was too shaky to do so. He is also perspiring so much that he has to wipe his glasses every few minutes because they fog so (Joyce 56). Doran is in such a state of anxiety that, for all his learning, he can be easily managed into the place where Mrs. Mooney wants him. Lady Macbeth can easily manage her husband through her knowledge of him. She can convince him to commit murder because she knows that by shaming him by calling him weak (this is the famous passage where she states that she would dash her child's brains out) as well as appealing to his vanity. Also, Macbeth states in other passages that he trusts her judgment and values her advice, and it makes one wonder what Lady Macbeth did before the events of the play to make him trust her. Both women are diligent students of human nature, who know exactly how to extract what they want.

Mrs. Mooney of "The Boarding House" and Lady Macbeth of Shakespeare's play have many more similarities than the first letter of their names. They are scheming women, with the invaluable knowledge of human nature (men in particular) along with an innate sense of timing of when things will prove fruitful. Despite their unsavory personalities (evil in Lady Macbeth's case) they almost have to be respected for their abilities, abilities that the men in their lives cannot fathom.

Sources:

Beck, Warren. "The Boarding House." Joyce's Dubliners: Substance, Vision, Art. Durham: Duke UP, 1969. 147-59. Print.

 Joyce, James. "The Boarding House." James Joyce's Dubliners: An Illustrated Edition with Annotations. Ed. John W. Jackson and Bernard McGinley. New York: St. Martin's, 1993. 53-59. Print.

Shakespeare, William, and Robert S. Miola. Macbeth: An Authoritative Text, Sources and Contexts, Criticism. New York: W.W. Norton, 2003. Print.