Oedipus in Sophocles Oedipus Rex and Young Colonel...

When attempting to compare the characters and the lots of Oedipus in Oedipus Rex and Young Colonel Sartoris Snopes in William Faulkners Barn Burning, there are a number of immediate and salient points of similarity for one to consider. One of the principle points of similarities between these two is related to their personalities both male characters are prone to fits of action which they can only fully understand (if at all) in hindsight. Another is the fact that the quandaries they find themselves in are related to conceptions of fate and their families. In that respect, it is quite interesting to note that the actions of each of the characters leave them in exile, estranged from their families. Therefore, a throughout analysis of each of these texts reveals that both Oedipus and Sartoris are aware of their ill-fated destines, rely on brash action to attempt to avoid it, and ultimately meet the same fate that of exile and estrangement from their families. The principle difference b etween the pair is that in doing so, Sartoris has gained his own set of morality and his own autonomy as a man in short, everything he needs to look forward to a life ahead of him whereas Oedipus has effectively lost all reasons worth living for. Primarily because he is so young (he is not even an adolescent), Sartoris is still very much a primal creature whose principle predicament with his fate revolves about the fact that his father is chaotically iniquitous, is attempting to force such