Over the course of Episode 14, the language of the narration changes to reflect the historical growth of the English language, switching between literary styles from different time periods to mimic authors in chronological order. The prose begins with a Latin style, then moves into Anglo-Saxon.

At the maternity hospital, Bloom arrives to check on Mrs. Purefoy. He is let into the gate by his friend, Nurse Callan, and they talk about how Mrs. Purefoy has spent a “full three days” (369) in labor as the literary style switches to the Middle Ages. Bloom meets Dixon, who once gave him medical care after a particularly nasty bee sting. Inside, Crotthers, Lenehan, Punch Costello, Madden, Lynch, and Stephen are arguing while drinking beer and eating sardines. When Dixon pours a beer for Bloom, he quietly pours the beer into another man’s cup. A nurse tells the men to be quiet. They talk about medicine and abortion, debating a hypothetical moral dilemma in which a doctor must “risk life to save life” (372). As the men joke about sex and contraception, Stephen ponders the matter from a religious perspective. Bloom quietly reflects on Mrs. Purefoy’s situation, comparing this moment to his memory of Molly giving birth to Rudy. Bloom begins to think that Stephen is too intelligent to be part of this group of boisterous, foolish “wastrels” (373). As the language switches to a form of Elizabethan prose, Stephen pours another beer and speculates about “the eternal son and the ever virgin” (375). A nurse tells them again to be quiet. The other men begin to mock Stephen’s religiosity as the prose style moves into the early 1600s Puritanism. A storm breaks outside; Bloom sees Stephen jump when a thunderclap hits. Stephen considers thunder to be a demonstration of God’s anger. Bloom tries to calm Stephen by explaining the scientific principles behind thunder.

Buck Mulligan enters with a friend named Alec Bannon, who is in Dublin to “list for the wars” (383). Their meeting is described in the manner of a 17th-century diary. They talk about a girl (implied to be Milly Bloom) whom Bannon has recently been courting. In a prose that mimics Daniel Defoe, the narrator explains why Lenehan and Costello are nefarious characters. They talk about Deasy’s letter, foot and mouth disease, history, and English colonialism in Ireland. The prose switches to the style of an essay written by Joseph Addison in the early 1700s. Mulligan jokes about his sexual exploits as Crotthers and Bannon talk about Milly. Bannon plans to buy contraception, the process of which is described as though written by Lawrence Sterne. The conversation covers different methods of contraception. In the style of Oliver Goldsmith, Nurse Callan calls Dixon to tell him that Mrs. Purefoy has given birth to a son. The men talk about the nurse in a sexual manner. In the style of a 17th-century political speech, Bloom suggests that only a person with “a cold constitution and a frigid genius” (388) would not be relieved to hear that the baby has been born without issue. He does not approve of the men’s licentious conversation. In a satirical style, Bloom’s hypocrisy is interrogated. The men’s conversation continues in the style of Edward Gibbons. They talk about births, fathers, fratricide, menopause, birthmarks, conjoined twins, and “beliefs on the state of pregnancy” (391). When Mulligan begins to tell a ghost story, the prose style mimics Gothic literature.

Bloom thinks about his youth as the style switches to the sentimental literature of Charles Lamb. In the more hallucinatory style of Thomas DeQuincey, Bloom’s thoughts turn darker. The narration mimics Walter Savage London as Lynch and Lenehan mock Stephen’s “promise and his recent loss” (395), causing Stephen to be offended. When the men talk about the Gold Cup and Lynch’s girlfriend, Lynch mentions that he was the man caught in the hedgerow with the woman by the priest in Episode 10. The prose becomes more naturalistic in a 19th-century style, with the conversation turning to sudden cases of infant mortality. In the style of Charles Dickens, Mrs. Purefoy and her child are described. In discussing the sins of the past, the prose echoes Cardinal Newman. The more aesthetic style of Walter Pater is used as Bloom thinks about Stephen, particularly his comments about women and children. Bloom remembers Stephen’s childhood, when the youngster would swap meaningful glances with his mother. Stephen spontaneously leaps up and gives “the cry” (401) for everyone to go to a nearby pub, which is described in the style of John Ruskin. The men leave, with Bloom lingering behind them. He asks Nurse Callan to congratulate Mrs. Purefoy on his behalf. In the style of Thomas Carlyle, Mrs. Purefoy is praised for her virility.

The narrative fractures into various styles from the 20th century as the men bundle into the pub. Stephen buys a round of drinks as the men discuss the horse race. Stephen buys absinthe for everyone, just as Bannon realizes that Bloom is his girlfriend’s father. He quietly leaves. As the owner announces “closingtime” (405), someone alludes to the man in the corner in a strange coat. The men are told to leave the bar as the fire brigade passes by outside. As someone vomits, Stephen tries to convince Lynch to come to the red-light district with him. A nearby poster advertising an American preacher visiting Dublin, prompts the prose to switch to the style of an evangelical sales pitch as the episode draws to a close.

Episode 15 is presented as a play, including stage directions. After leaving the pub, the men are drunk, and their minds are filled with alcohol-infused anxieties. Stephen and Lynch seek out a brothel. A “flushed, panting” (412) Bloom is nearby, trying to follow them but losing them in the streets. He purchases a snack from an open butcher shop and then feels guilty for spending money. He drunkenly hallucinates a scene in which Molly, Gerty MacDowell, and his parents accuse him of various sins and ask whether he has “no soul” (416). Bloom’s clothes continually change. When he hallucinates Mrs. Breen, they flirt with one another. Bloom gives his half-finished food to a dog, prompting him to imagine “two redcoats” (428) interrogating him. He imagines himself on trial, accused of being “a wellknown dynamitard, forger, bigamist, bawd and cuckold and a public nuisance to the citizens of Dublin” (445). Numerous people from his life appear in dog form, giving witness statements for his various moral failings. Mary Driscoll says that, when she worked as a housekeeper for the Blooms, he propositioned her for sex. Bloom’s vivid hallucinations are interrupted by a sex worker named Zoe Higgins. She correctly surmises that Bloom is with Stephen, as they are “both in black” (450). Stephen is inside the nearby brothel, she says, then takes Bloom’s lucky potato. She mocks Bloom, who tells her that smoking is not healthy. Bloom’s imagination takes over again, as he imagines his health lecture becoming a political speech that receives “prolonged applause” (453). He is elected as the leader of a place called “Bloomusalem” (458) by Irish nationalists and Zionists. Just as he is being accused of being licentious, however, the “sex specialist” (465) Buck Mulligan appears to list his various sexual failings and mock him for being “feminine.” Bloom becomes a woman, giving birth to “eight male yellow and white children” (466). When Zoe reappears, Bloom’s hallucinations end. Barely any time has passed at all. She leads Bloom into the brothel, where Lynch and Stephen are talking to two sex workers named Florry and Kitty. Stephen plays the piano while he talks; Florry misinterprets his words as some form of apocalyptic vision about the “safe arrival of Antichrist” (476). Stephen then has a hallucination of his own, imagining this apocalypse. Nearby, Bloom’s own hallucination imagines his Hungarian grandfather Virag Lipoti arriving in the brothel to criticize Bloom’s sexual deviancy.

Bella Cohen, the owner of the brothel, enters the room. Her arrival prompts the beginning of another hallucinatory sequence, in which she becomes a man named Bello and dominates the feminine version of Bloom. She mocks his sins and praises the virility of Blazes Boylan. Bloom’s family, Bello says, would be better off with Boylan than with Bloom. Bloom imagines his own death and his passage into some form of afterlife, in which the nymph from the picture of his bedroom wall mocks him for his mortality. Bloom responds, criticizing the nymph’s sexuality and complaining that “sleep reveals the worst side of everyone” (511). This ends the hallucination. With only a few seconds having passed, Bloom finds himself in front of Bella. He retrieves his lucky potato from Zoe and, when Bella demands money, Stephen pays for everything. Bloom, not wanting to be in debt to Stephen, pays for himself. Believing that Stephen is too drunk to handle his own money, he takes Stephen’s money “to take care of” (521).

Zoe offers to read Bloom’s palm. Inspecting his hand, she declares him to be “henpecked” (524). Bloom hallucinates again, seeing Molly having sex with Boylan. Bloom subserviently fawns over Boylan, thanking him. Stephen talks about his adventures in Paris, describing in drunken detail how he escaped from his father and his enemies as Zoe begins a “low hesitation waltz” (534) on the piano. Bloom is the only person who does not dance. Stephen spins in rapid circles, making himself dizzy and hallucinating his own dead and “emaciated” (539) mother rising up through the floor. He begs her to tell him that he is not responsible for her death. She does not commit to an answer but speaks only about the mercy and wrath of God, telling him to “repent” (540). Noticing Stephen’s petrified expression, Bloom lets fresh air into the room through a window. Stephen tries to banish the ghost, asserting his strength. He smashes his walking stick into the brothel’s chandelier. Bella calls the police and Stephen runs away, leaving Bloom behind to pay for the damage before chasing after Stephen. Bloom finds Stephen surrounded by a “noisy quarrelling knot” (545) of people. At the center, a British soldier named Carr is being abused by Stephen. He rants about the British colonial control of Ireland and announces that he plans to challenge the King of England and the Catholic Church. Bloom tries to stop the argument as Carr feels insulted on behalf of his king. As various hallucinations cheer on the fight, Stephen insists that he deplores violence. Lynch leaves, prompting Stephen to call him “Judas” (557). Carr punches Stephen, knocking him unconscious. When Corny Kelleher passes by, Bloom feels hopeful. He knows that Kelleher is familiar with several police officers as well as Stephen’s father. Kelleher is recruited to settle the problem with Carr by explaining that “boys will be boys” (561). Bloom bends over the half-conscious Stephen as the crowd dissipates. Bloom sees a hallucination of his dead son, Rudy.