Theatrical Resonance in the Making of Sutpen Legend in William Faulkner's Absalom, Absalom!

Abstract

Despite the fact that the Sutpen legend in Absalom, Absalom! depends on the narrator, it is noticed that Sutpen's character is made in accordance with dramatic or theatrical terms. Sutpen's character can be compared to Shakespeare's Hamlet and King Lear, and the allusion to Macbeth is clear in the making of the character of Wash Jones. The settings of the narratives are analogous to the theatre or the stage. Many times in the novel, Sutpen insists on having the townspeople as audience and chorus for remarkable events in which Sutpen emerges as the leading actor and a stage manager.