Masculinity and Menfolk in "The Hamlet"

The images of masculinity & men in W. Faulkner's novel THE HAMLET (New York, NY: Vintage, 1965) are explored. THE HAMLET is essentially about men: the compulsive lusts, petty intrigues, & elaborate hoaxes which it details are entirely masculine affairs. The M's in this book conceive of sex as conquest, ravishment & beating or being beaten to extremes of sadistic & masochistic desire. Failing to inspire fear & being denied, one of the novel's heroes substitutes self-torture as an alternative to the conquest of a woman. Another man in THE HAMLET is depicted as sexless, epicene, & existing in a state of easy harmony with the countryside. While this man lacks passion, the other men are incapable of compassion. They use a woman for a psychol'al end, considering her only a conquered trophy, a publicly demonstrable emblem of fulfilled masculinity. They do not realize that a vital relationship with a woman cannot survive the barren victory of subjugating another, nor can a vital selfhood survive the masochism of desire turned inward. M. Maxfield.