And also, by now, the reader has all the information that a member of a Greek audience would possess when attending the theater to see the dramatist's reinterpretation of the House of Atreus or Oedipus myths. Thus by the end of the first chapter, Faulkner has already started treating his tale as an established myth, in that lesser parts of the history are now revealed for further interpretation. Compson, and Quentin each narrate part of the story and attempt to interpret it - all contribute toward establishing a mythic tone. It was Faulkner's purpose to force the reader to accept the Sutpen story as an old established myth so that through the remainder of the story the reader would become involved in the reinterpretation of this ancient and familiar myth.īesides the use of constant repetition, Faulkner used other devices to establish a mythic quality: elements from the ancient myths, names of some characters from the Greeks, the title from the Hebrew, and the use of three interpreters - Miss Rosa, Mr. By the end of the first chapter, he has already given all the basic facts of the story, and by constant repetitions of the basic elements has endowed the story with a mythic quality. In the first chapter of the novel, Faulkner creates his story of the past, and then, as the novel progresses, presents his interpretations of the story. But first, he must establish the history which is to be examined.

So how can he convey the idea of myth and legend? Faulkner wanted to show man interpreting and reinterpreting his past. But this is almost impossible because the story is unknown. Faulkner wished the reader to view this story as an old established legend.

Faulkner absalom absalom