sax doubt

[SB <step1b@cyberspace.org>]

I want to write a SAX based xml filter to convert
<name>first last</name> to <name><first>first</first>
<last>last</last></name>.

So in the characters method during <name> element
context, it seems I should call
conhan.startelement("first")
conhan.characters ("first")
conhan.endelement ("first");
same for "last".

I can do this when I know 
<first>first</first>
<last>last</last>
before hand.
Suppose I have a function that returns:
<name first="first" last="last"/> <-- func("first last")
and I want to pass this xml to the content handler 
rather than two elements.

The question is can I just pass on a string of xml characters
and let somebody else figure out the start,characters and
the end of the xml element frmo that xml character string
and call the content handler appropriately. 

thanks,
--st