# Gerty MacDowell — Ulysses character guide

> Gerty MacDowell in Ulysses by James Joyce.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** Gerty, Gerty MacDowell, a MacDowell

**First appearance:** 0013-xii

## Snapshot

A young woman on Sandymount strand whose romantic daydreams and discreet exhibitionism give Bloom a moment of tender, guilty voyeuristic communion.

## Who they are

Gerty sits on the rocks with her friends, conscious of her limp, her cheap finery, and the sailor's gaze she imagines upon her. She dreams of a dark gentleman who will love her for herself, and when Bloom watches from a distance, each becomes for the other a fantasy of escape. Her silent encounter with Bloom is the Nausicaa episode's heart: a mutual, wordless exchange of loneliness and desire that reveals Bloom's tenderness as much as his guilt.

## Relationships

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

_psychological_

Gerty is a young woman who fantasizes about romance and marriage, and her thoughts parallel Molly's own sensual and domestic desires.

## In the story

### [Nausicaa](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/ulysses_se/chapters/xiii)

A young woman on the strand, conscious of her appearance and romantic hopes, daydreams about a potential suitor and shares a silent encounter with Bloom.

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

Molly thinks of her as a young woman on the beach.

## Links

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