The Man in the Macintosh Is a Man in a Hat

Abstract

T man in the macintosh is a man in a hat, because every man of the time wore headgear. Hence, in “Counterparts,” Farrington has a ruse, which depends on the reader’s understanding that a man not taking his hat from its place on the hat-rack is not going outdoors.1 True in general, this is doubly true for “Hades.” In that episode, men’s hats—“[t]hese pots we have to wear”—are a major concern.2 “Hades” begins with Martin Cunningham’s “silkhatted head” going into a carriage and ends with the unpleasantness over the dinge in John Henry Menton’s hat (U 6.01). In between—in the street, in the chapel, at the gravesite—men’s hats are repeatedly being taken off and put back on. The reason for this is obvious. “Hades” is about a funeral, and the doffing and donning of hats is a standard feature of the funeral ceremony, which in turn depends on the understanding that every male present will show up wearing one. So, perforce, the man in the macintosh wears one. If he did not, if he were the only perpetually bareheaded man in the company, he would have been noticed from the outset and not just because of his raincoat. Aside from Menton’s dented bowler, there may be another notable hat present in the episode, unusual in one particular: it can render the wearer invisible. In his study of Ulysses Notebook VIII.A.5, Phillip F. Herring calls attention to Joyce’s identification (confirmed in the Carlo Linati list of correspondences3) of John O’Connell with Hades, the Greek lord of the underworld, and then adds that in the same notes