# Blazes Boylan — Ulysses character guide

> Blazes Boylan in Ulysses by James Joyce.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** Boylan, Blazes, Hugh E. (Blazes) Boylan, Hugh Boylan, Hugh, Mr Boylan, Boylan Seated

**First appearance:** 0004-ii

## Snapshot

A brash, straw-hatted music promoter with an eye for other men's wives, Boylan strides through Dublin as the day's most confident and least reflective man.

## Who they are

Boylan manages Molly's coming Belfast tour and, more intimately, her afternoons, moving through the city with the swagger of a man who always gets what he wants. He is loud, well-dressed, and utterly without introspection—everything Bloom fears and everything Bloom is not. His offstage presence drives the day's quiet agony: the appointment Bloom knows about and cannot stop, the rival whose shadow falls across every hour.

## Relationships

### [Leopold Bloom](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/ulysses_se/characters/leopold_bloom)

_rivalry_

Blazes Boylan is Molly's lover, and Bloom is painfully aware of their affair, feeling cuckolded and humiliated.

### [Leopold Bloom](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/ulysses_se/characters/leopold_bloom)

_rivalry_

Blazes Boylan is Molly's lover, and Bloom is painfully aware of their affair, feeling cuckolded and humiliated.

### [Leopold Bloom](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/ulysses_se/characters/leopold_bloom)

_rivalry_

Blazes Boylan is Molly's lover, and Bloom is painfully aware of their affair, feeling cuckolded and humiliated.

## In the story

### [Chapter XI: Sirens](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/ulysses_se/chapters/xi)

Boylan is seen walking past the Ormond Hotel, on his way to meet Molly.

### [Penelope](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/ulysses_se/chapters/xviii)

Molly's lover; she recalls his visit and the letter he sent.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/ulysses_se/characters/blazes_boylan
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/ulysses_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/ulysses_se/characters