Classics Without All the Class discussion

"Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow/ Creeps in this petty pace from day to day,/ To the last syllable of recorded time/ And all our yesterdays have lighted fools/ The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle!/ Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player/ That struts and frets his hour upon the stage/ And then is heard no more. It is a tale/ Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,/ Signifying nothing." ...MacBeth/William Shakespeare

Why do you think Faulkner chose a phrase from this passage for his title?

How is this passage applicable to the novel?

Do you find the novel as pessimistic and despairing as Macbeth's speech?

YES!

Shakespeare's quote could, in my opinion, be the abridged version of The Sound and the Fury so it seems only natural that Faulkner would take his title from the quote. On the practical side, if you go through the quote, there aren't very many phrases in it that he could have used as a title except Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow, or possibly Out, out, brief candle or Life's but a walking shadow but sound and fury is powerful and indicates the maelstroms that are the lives of the Compson brothers and yet, to what end? Life is monotonous and futile and creeps slowly and relentlessly toward death and obscurity. For all of Quentin and Jason's concern/obsession for the Compson name, for all of the sound and fury the three brothers manifest internally and externally, in the end, according to Shakespeare, it will all come to naught.

Yes - I do find the novel as pessimistic and despairing as the quote and am anxious to discover whether anyone else finds it redemptive.

Karen wrote: "Shakespeare's quote could, in my opinion, be the abridged version of The Sound and the Fury so it seems only natural that Faulkner would take his title from the quote. On the practical side, if you..."

Nicely put Karen. I for one am happy that for many of us, life is not monotonous and futile!

I don't see it as pessimistic as MacBeth. MacBeth's speech was followed by murder and mayhem. In Sound and the Fury, I see the focus more on the death of a family structure and knowing the Comptons....maybe thats not a bad thing. I have hope for Quentin (Caddy's daughter) at least.