It is not only the color of the dress she wears but also Gerty who wants to comfort Bloom just as Mary comforts all those who look for her protection. Bloom, after masturbating, feels guilty but is comforted by Gerty: "There was an infinite store of mercy in those eyes, for him too a word of pardon even though he had erred and sinned and wandered" (Ulysses, 478). Joyce looks to expose the myth of passive female virginity, as there is an uncanny unification of both religion and sexuality. Through Gerty there is a denying of female sexuality and a worshipping of a female virgin through the Virgin Mary. .
The dominating theme of pleasure within this chapter is seen through the romantic interior monologue of Gerty, who dreams of finding a husband to come and take care of her. This sentimental wish is referenced when she remembers reading the best selling novel The Lamplighter, whose female protagonist was also named Gerty (Ulysses, 473). In the novel, Gerty is a young and defenseless virgin who needs protection. Gerty knows that even if she wants to use her sexuality to lure Bloom in, she must do so with a virgin facade or she will put herself in danger of being labeled a whore. However, as the section continues on, Gerty becomes highly sexualized unlike the characteristics of an innocent virgin. Gerty clearly takes pleasure in the fact that she has sexual power over Bloom and this pleasure leads her to her own sexual climax: .
"They were all breathless with excitement as .
it went higher and higher and she had to lean back more .
and moreand her face was suffused with a divine, an .
entrancing blush from straining back and he could see her .
other things tooand she let him and she saw that he saw .
and then it went so high it went out of sight a moment and .
she was trembling in every limbhe had a full viewand .
she wasn't ashamed and he wasn't either to look in that .
immodest way like that because he couldn't resist the sight .