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Example research essay topic: Absalom Absalom Biblical Allusion - 1,863 words

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Absalom, Absalom! by William Faulkner is the story of a man who outraged the land that then turned and destroyed the mans family (Serafin 356). Growing up as a poor mountain white, Thomas Sutpen yearns for more than what he has ever had. He marries a young woman and fathers a son, but soon after it is revealed to him that his wife has Negro blood.

Abandoning his new wife and child, Sutpen leaves to create a life for himself of wealth, family, and social acceptance. Thomas Sutpen marries a gentlewoman, Ellen Coldfield, with whom he begets two children, Henry and Judith. Although he is a man of accomplished dreams and affluence, everything that he has achieved and established crumbles around him (Magill, Magill's Survey of American Literature 675). The events transcend into a twisted plot of revelation, revenge, and murder. When Henry goes off to college, he becomes good friends with Charles Bon, the first son of Thomas. Charles meets and then falls in love with his half-sister Judith, which causes Henry to kill him because he is committing incest.

As a result of this incestuous relationship and murder, the fabulous life that Sutpen has worked to maintain is torn apart by the revengeful attitudes of the family members. William Faulkner's novel Absalom, Absalom! contains an allusion to the Biblical account of King David and his family and to William Shakespeare's play Hamlet in order to develop the characters in the conflicts that revolve around four thematic ideas. Faulkner's allusion to the Bible and Hamlet allows for the development and shaping of the characters in Absalom, Absalom! (Brooks 51). In the novel, there is a similarity between the lives and the characters of Thomas Sutpen and Charles Bon and King David and his son Amnon. A comparison is made between Thomas and King David as well as between Charles and Amnon (Vogel 69).

With the description of and the reference to King David, Thomas Sutpen's character qualities are clearly seen and understood. Both of these men have had one of their sons killed by another son because of an incestuous relationship that have been partaken in. The first son of Thomas Sutpen is Charles Bon and he is likened unto Amnon the son of King David (Lind 888). Through feelings, actions, and even death, the two men are closely related. The story of Hamlet is used as an allusion to the character of Henry Sutpen as well as Thomas Sutpen. Because of the instability of Henry and psychological forces that drive Thomas, they are likened unto the character of Hamlet.

The novel Absalom, Absalom! alludes to a particular story in the Bible and the play Hamlet in order to descriptively develop the characters. There are detailed parallels between the character of King David in the Bible and Thomas Sutpen in the novel, which allows for the development of Thomas Sutpen's character. Like David, Sutpen is overwhelmed by his preoccupation with the crime of incest (Gray 255). Because of his desire to be with his half-sister in an incestuous relationship, Charles Bon, a son of Thomas Sutpen, is killed by his half-brother Henry Sutpen. The comparison between King David and Thomas Sutpen is that they both mourned over the murder of their one son by another son and over the idea of an incestuous relationship among their children.

Although he has committed his own unethical deeds, he is still grieved at the thought of incest. Sutpen is also characterized as a worthy soldier just as David is noted as being a great and mighty soldier (Magill, Magill's Survey of American Literature 676). During the Civil War, Sutpen is an elected commander of a specific group of men. The two men are likened unto one another because of their ability to kill many foes and enemies. Another way in which Thomas and David are compared is that they are both alienated from their particular society because of their previous actions, although their actions are different from each other (Scholes 197). King David has an affair with Bathsheba, a married woman, and Sutpen mocks Southern society by achieving his quick development of a plantation and his aristocratic social ranking that tradition says should be passed down from generation to generation (Serafin 353).

These events that have taken place in the lives of David and Sutpen have caused them to be the outcastes of society. By alluding to the Biblical story of King David, Faulkner is better able to characterize Thomas Sutpen. Another way that Faulkner uses the Biblical allusion is to portray the life of Charles Bon by comparing him to Amnon. Charles Bons life is likened to that of Amnon in the Bible in their relationships with their brother and sister. The relationships that they hold with their brother and sister are not pure nor are they loving.

In comparison to Amnon, Charles is a man who is possessed by his incestuous feelings towards his half-sister Judith. Amnon also felt romantic feelings or lust towards his half-sister Tamar and he eventually acted on these feelings. After falling in love with his half-sister, Charles is killed by his half-brother Henry in order to prevent their incestuous union through marriage (Martine 294). Amnon is killed also by Absalom, his half-brother, because of the dishonor that he has brought upon Tamar and his fathers house. Through the death of Charles Bon, the Biblical admonition so relevant to the novel, A house divided against itself cannot stand, is dramatized (Magill, Magill's Survey of American Literature 675).

This Biblical warning is proved true in the house of Thomas Sutpen as his family becomes divided against one another. Just as Amnon is killed by his brother in the Bible, Bon is killed by Henry because of his feelings towards his sister. Faulkner alludes to the Bibles Amnon in depicting the life of Charles Bon. The story of Thomas Sutpen alludes to the classical play Hamlet by William Shakespeare in order to develop the character of Henry Sutpen. One of the narrators, Quentin Common, portrays Henry Sutpen as Hamlet-like because he is unstable. There are many aspects in the novel that show the fact that Henry is not a man of stability.

It seems as if Henry is not only concerned about his sisters incestuous relationship but also that it is a bit of an abnormal obsession for him (Steinberg 62). Doing all that he can, he makes sure that there is no contact between the two lovers and even goes to the point of stopping any messages that have been sent to Judith from Bon (Faulkner 96). Not only are his attempts to keep the two of these people together considered unstable but the fact that Henry Sutpen is a murderer. He has committed the ultimate taboo against a human being by killing Charles Bon. Instead of just talking it out and making sure that nothing comes between the two, he decides to take care of the situation once and for all and kill Charles Bon. This type of behavior is considered to be quite unstable.

Through the allusion to the play Hamlet, the character of Henry Sutpen is developed in a more descriptive and elaborate way. Like Hamlet, Sutpen is driven by blind psychological forces, in Sutpen's case it is ambition that controls who he is and who he becomes (Lind 890). This is another example of Faulkner's use of the allusion to the play Hamlet. In a swift manner driven by ambition, Sutpen establishes a plantation and aristocratic stature that should by rights have been preserved for those in line of succession and birth. One of the minor themes of this story is centered on the ambition that drives Thomas Sutpen to do the things that he is doing. Sutpen is a bitter and demonic figure of fleeing ambition (Marowski and Mature 111).

Having lived his entire life being driven by this fleeing ambition, he is left with nothing but a broken family and the pieces for him to pick up. Thomas Sutpen is seen as a demon, a man so driven by ambition to build a plantation that he destroys everyone close to him (Unger 66). So quickly Sutpen establishes a life that is pleasing to him but as quickly as it is founded it falls and brings down the whole family with it. Having this ambitious drive results in Sutpen's conforming to society to achieve status rather than being an expression of his own personal beliefs and ideas (Hagopian 211). He sacrifices all that he has for so long longed for just to take a higher rank on the social ladder. The blind psychological force of ambition in Sutpen is his tragic flaw and it eventually leads to the destruction of him.

By alluding to Shakespeare's play Hamlet, Faulkner gives an in depth description of the character of Thomas Sutpen. Not only does Faulkner use a Biblical allusion and an allusion to Hamlet to develop the characters, but he also uses the Biblical allusion to amplify the conflicts in the novel. As in the Biblical story of King David, Absalom, Absalom! contains conflicts between a majority of the family members in the households. The three main conflicts revolving around the family are with father against son, brother against brother, and brother versus sister (Hagan 216). These same three conflicts can also be found in the Biblical family of King David.

Having raped his half-sister, Amnon has provoked anger from his father and is killed by his half-brother Absalom. This chain of events from the Biblical story contains three conflicts just as Faulkner's story does. By falling in love with his half-sister, Charles causes utter disgust and distaste in his father and is also killed by his half-brother. The father versus son conflict is seen through Thomas disapproval of the relationship between Charles and Judith.

As a result of Charles incestuous love for his half-sister, Henry, the half-brother of Bon, kills him; this is the brother versus brother conflict in the story (Martine 294). The last conflict with Biblical allusion is the conflict between brother and sister. With this conflict, the reader sees the incestuous love between Bon and Judith. These are the three conflicts in this novel that are elaborated on through the allusion to the Biblical story of King David and his family. Throughout the novel of Absalom, Absalom! , there is a conflict between Thomas Sutpen and his son Charles Bon, which is described through Faulkner's use of a Biblical allusion. Charles Bon is Thomas Sutpen's first son who is abandoned with his mother by his father at an early age.

When Sutpen first learns that his heir to the family name and goods has Negro-blood in him from his mother, he quickly disengages himself from his family and leaves them to live their lives on their own. The fact that his son is part Negro causes the first conflict between father and son in the story. Eventually, Charles returns to the Sutpen family when he is a roommate of Henry Sutpen's in college. Henrys and his friendship results in his meeting his half-sister and wanting to be with her. Because Charles wants to...


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Research essay sample on Absalom Absalom Biblical Allusion

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