Absurdism is the idea in which the human condition is without purpose, meaning, or value. An anti-hero is a protagonist who does not demonstrate the usual or customary qualities generally found in a hero. In Albert Camus’s book The Stranger, Monsieur Mersault is an absurdist and an anti-hero. Heroes tend to be caring, loving, helpful, brave, and hopeful. Because of Mersault believing there is no significance to life, he lives how he desires and does not conform to the roles society wants him to. Mersault is an anti-hero because he is not caring, loving, helpful, brave or hopeful. Mersault does not seem to be very loving or caring. In The Stranger, the opening lines introduce the death of Mersault’s mother. He was no longer able to support her and sent her to a nursing home. He does not visit her often since “it took up [his] Sunday” (Camus 5). He would rather have a relaxing Sunday than go see his mother. This shows he is not very caring for her. Mersault also does not seem to have feelings towards his mother either. While visiting his mother at the mortuary, he seems very content with the situation. It was almost as though it was a matter of business to him and not …show more content…
He shows how he is not very loving by not being upset at all at his mother’s funeral, and when he tells Marie he does not think he loves her. Mersault is helpful to Raymond in one situation but that is it. He writes the letter to Raymond’s mistress. This is helpful to Raymond but really just causes problems. In all of these situations, regular heroes would have reacted differently and done the opposite of Mersault. He is not necessarily brave because he confronts the Arab when he has the upper hand advantage. Mersault lacks hope worse than anything else. He has no hope for life and believes it has no meaning. This is what makes him an Anti-hero. He lacks most characteristics heroes portray, such as being caring, loving, helpful, brave, and
In the unfortunate tragedy of Romeo and Juliet, there are some characters that are important to the plot, but different in characteristics. Two of these characters are Benvolio and Mercutio. You would think that they would have a lot in common since they are in almost every scene together, but they have little to nothing in common besides being Romeo’s friends. This is called a foil. They are different in their personalities: Benvolio is more serious and responsible whereas Mercutio likes jokes and makes everything fun.
The Science Behind Guilt, Grief and Anger In the words of Mercutio “A plague o' both your houses! They have made worms' meat of me!” (A3 S1 L95-96). This quote that foreshadowed the death of star-crossed lovers, Romeo and Juliet was stated by Romeo’s dying best friend, Mercutio.
Mercutio’s Archetype in Romeo and Juliet Mercutio is a character in “Romeo and Juliet” written by William Shakespeare in the late 1500’s. It has been a fan-favorite since the 1500’s. Some of the characters can relate too different archetypes. For example, Romeo would be the star cross’d lover archetype because he falls in-love too easily. In William Shakespeare’s play, “Romeo and Juliet.”
but there maybe a light hearted side to it all. However he does by his
In addition, Meursault’s sensory experience of life, his physical pleasures and in-the-now perspective, is a demonstration of living life to the fullest. The absurdist must live life passionately, putting all of one’s weight into existence by not wasting time or energy on the ethereal or ephemeral. The fact that Meursault does not want to think about religion, even as he awaits execution, shows how the ideal absurdist would live life: loyal to one’s own being until the end – not to a father in the sky, or to an abstract hope. Meaning of one’s life must come from one’s own creative efforts. Meursault’s indifference to spiritual matters – and even sensory matters that are in the distant past and are therefore unimportant to him – is used to emphasize the passion for the present that Camus decided the absurd hero should have. So it is not so much that Meursault is totally indifferent, he is just indifferent to things outside of the now.
Camus absurdity explains the forces upon itself with regards to an individual or person, especially when that person desire is to find a total absolute in other to guide his or her life; however, the individual goes out to search for absolutes but ends up finding out that the world is not reasonable or realistic for living in other words meaningless. Therefore, the absurdity, can be described as; suicide and recovery as a solution. However, a person 's
A friend is someone who you respect and who respects you. A friend is someone who would stand up for you. In that case, when asked the question, “Is Mercutio a good friend to Romeo?”, Mercutio fits this definition perfectly. For one, Mercutio stands up for Romeo when he is being verbally attacked by Tybalt. As well as this, Mercutio is willing to look out for Romeo’s best interests. Also, Mercutio is someone who lightens the mood of situations and helps to cheer Romeo up when he is feeling sad. Although it can seem like Mercutio is a bad friend to Romeo at times, Mercutio has many great qualities that show his significance to Romeo as a good friend.
Camus, Albert, and Stuart Gilbert. The Plague. New York: Vintage International, 1991. Print. Written in 1948, Albert Camus’ The Plague is a study of human behaviour in a time of widespread crisis caused by plague.
What is the absurd? Camus categorized as the “belief in the absurdity of existence must then dictate his conduct” (Camus, 6). What Camus means is feeling of absurdity goes hand in hand with having a meaningless life. We get so used to doing the same routine that, we as people don’t think we just act like a robot. Camus asks “Does its absurdity require one to escape it through hope or suicide? And does the absurd dictate death” (Camus, 9). Camus says, “An objective mind can always introduce into all problems have no place in this pursuit and this passion” (Camus, 9). The problem with this is if we were always based on facts then we would not be able to base our opinions on experiences. Camus also relates the feeling of absurdity to exile, we as people what to have meaning and or purpose in our own lives. The absurdity displaces us from having a meaning life. Camus says, “Mean who die by their own hand consequently follow to its conclusion their emotional inclination” (Camus, 9). Camus considers this an absurd reasoning because this feeling of exile can turn anyone crazy leading into suicide which both the absurd and suicide are linked together.
This novel was chosen due to its unique characters and plot overview. The idea of absurdism is quite apparent in this story. Absurdism is defined as the intentionally ridiculous or bizarre behavior or character or the belief that human beings exist in a purposeless, chaotic universe. With the reintroduction of the bubonic plague to the society, the characters begin to live in a chaotic state where they display bizarre behaviors of indulging in selfish, personal distress, and are convinced that their suffering is like no one else’s. This
Superman, Wonder Woman, Spiderman—what do all these characters have in common? They are all products of the human aspiration to be saved. The word hero is passed around too much these days. A hero is not a football player that scores the game-winning touchdown or the goaltender who saves his team from a loss. A hero is usually an ordinary person that did extraordinary things. A true hero is really never a hero at all; at least not in their own mind. However, there are various cases today in which we see the exact opposites of these characters, the anti-heroes. The anti-hero is one who cannot be classified as a hero, for that said character lacks natural heroic qualities. However, the anti-hero cannot be described as a villain either.
He has the traits of an anti-hero. An anti-hero is a protagonist who lacks heroic characteristics. They derive from the tragic hero, which is a hero with a flaw and usually dies at the end of the play. However, anti-heroes do not always end up dead, they can either lead the plot to victory or redemption. (http://study.com/academy/lesson/anti-hero-definition-examples-characteristics.html).
In its most basic sense, absurdity addresses the meaninglessness of life, with special attention directed to divine disavowal.” Jared White utilizes Absurdism to highlight the thoughts and meanings that go from individuality to the community. Absurdism is defined as the philosophy that humans live in essential isolation in an irrational and meaningless world. White says that when people realize their time has almost no value in the large scale, they give it up to the remainder of the world. He also claims that despite of the humans’ absurd settings, personal gains are favored. White makes clear that, taken literally, the plague of rats is an epidemic, but, symbolically, the plague of humans is a pandemic. The smaller outbreak only parallels the massive disease that people are infected with. White also argues that The Plague is in part a historical allegory, in which the plague signifies the German occupation of France from 1940 to 1944 during World War II. “In a deft narrative act, Camus allegorically uses the plague to consider not only his personal situation--sick, exiled, and restricted--but also the European conflict. Bernard further elaborates that Camus wrote La Peste with the plague as an obvious reference to “the kind of imprisonment [. . .] the Germans imposed on occupied France” (165).” Oran is cut off from the outside world, which is equivalent to France; the different attitudes of the
The relationship that Mercutio has with Romeo is sturdy in all areas except love. This opposition can clearly be seen when Montague talks about Romeo’s depression over Roseline. “And private in his chamber pens himself, shuts up his windows,
A hero preforms actions to show people right from wrong, for instance; they show people how to respect other people. Respect is one of the biggest