Judge Benbow

Submitted by sfr on Wed, 2017-11-22 10:20
Text: 
Absalom, Absalom!
Character Key: 
Judge Benbow
Display Name: 
Judge Benbow
Sort Name: 
Benbow, Judge
Race: 
White
Gender: 
Male
Class: 
Upper Class
Rank: 
Minor
Vitality: 
Dies
Family: 
Benbow
Family (new): 
BenbowsInAA
Occupation: 
Administrative
Specific Job: 
Judge
First Mentioned: 
Holston House in Absalom, Absalom! (Location)
Other Texts: 
The Hamlet
The Unvanquished
Biography: 

In Faulkner's first Yoknapatawpha fiction, Flags in the Dust, the Benbows are identified as one of the oldest and most prominent families in the county, though they do not figure among the county's large plantation owners. In the fictions as a group there seem to be two different "Judge Benbow"s - Will Benbow, who is the father of Horace and Narcissa (major characters in earlier novels), and the one in Absalom! who has a son named "Percy" (172). Chronologically, this novel's Judge Benbow could be Horace and Narcissa's grandfather, but that is speculation. In any case, in this novel Judge Benbow appears first as a paragon of genteel manners (35), and later as the unofficial executor of the (non-existent) "Estate of Goodhue Coldfield" who chivalrously takes care of Rosa over the years (172).

Individual or Group: 
Individual
Character changes class in this text: 

digyok:node/character/15292