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The evolution of Meursault's character in the stranger
The evolution of Meursault's character in the stranger
Essay of meursaults development in the stranger
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Will Hartman Ms. Hogan English 4 March 10 Is Meursault a bad person? Is Meursault a bad person or just misunderstood? " The Stranger" by Albert Camus follows the life of a man named Meursault. This book was set in the 1940s. After careful consideration of Meurasult's actions and motives, it is obvious that he is an imperfect individual who is guilty of making very unethical decisions.
The Stranger, written by Albert Camus, It follows the story of our tragic hero, Meursault, shortly after his mother dies through the events that lead to him being sentenced to death. Camus uses the motif of weather to express Meursault’s emotions. The Stranger shows how even when a person does not explicitly express emotion they are shown in some way. How emotions are expressed is a window to a person's personality. I will first discuss how Meursault appears emotionless, than how Camus uses the motif of weather to express Meursault’s emotions for him and lastly what impact this makes.
Meursault’s lack of morality due to his corruption by society is what eventually lead to his isolation from the world and those he
Through the use of diction and symbolism; Camus reveals Meursault’s is apathetic towards his bonding with others and unable
This Meursault creates a careless tone by saying “That doesn't be anything”. Mersual seems like he doesn't care about his mother's death. If mersual were me I would care so much about my mother's death but in this case I wonder why he doesn't feel the need to care. I wonder why Meursault changed his mind on the women he loved when she asked. In the book he talks about how much he loves her and describes her in a romantic way.
Meursault goes through many events such as; a death of a loved one, marriage, and killing someone; that would have an impact on the typical member of society. However, these events have no effect on him. He continues on with his daily day-to-day routine as if nothing happened which reveals that nothing really matters to him. When a death of a parent occurs, many people would be distraught and troubled. However, due to Meursault’s different understanding of the world, the death of his mother has no effect on him.
Throughout the whole novel, Meursault has shown no sign of remorse or reason for any of his actions. He displays psychotic behavior and commits evil crimes with a lack of reasoning. This causes the audience to feel emotion in a way that we may not have felt in the beginning. In the beginning of the story we could interpret Meursault’s behavior as a coping mechanism for the loss of his mother, but when he continues to show apathy in every setting he is in we begin to realize how evil
So even though Meursault is alienated from the understanding of the desires of “Other”, his life is still bound to the desires of society for which he will be judged by in his trial (Chaitin). In fact, Meursault’s biggest conviction in his trial is for not crying at his own mother’s funeral.
The era of early modern Europe witnessed great uncertainty, anxiety, and violence, which contributed to the massive religious, cultural, political, and economic changes that transpired among the European populace. In addition to prominent religious and intellectual movements such as the Reformation and the Enlightenment, there was also a noticeable shift in the way in which witches and witchcraft, a significant issue of the time, were perceived. Pre-established beliefs began to lose their legitimacy, while new ideas rapidly spread and quickly dominated the conversation surrounding the lore of witches and witchcraft. The year 1400 CE is often depicted as the date in which Europe witnessed the most extensive change in beliefs about witchcraft
Meursault no longer has the mindset of a freeman and has realized that the people in his life did have meaning, they symbolize his freedom. Upon realizing this Meursault succumbs to condemnation and states that, "I opened myself to the gentle indifference of the world." (Camus, 122) Meursault understands that his nonchalant take on life has brought him to the state he is now and that if the world does not care to treat him with importance, because he neglected to do the same for others, then it is okay because he is willing to endure condemnation. Although Meursault acknowledges his wrongs as being unfavorable, his true moment of consciousness is when he says, "I had only to wish that there be a large crowd of spectators
This is also a reflection of the time frame in which the story was written. When Camus composed the novel, he created a philosophy of absurdity that is reflected upon Meursault and his actions. Since the 1940’s, the era of absurdity, being seen as indifferent really had an impact on the way one was looked upon and had an effect on the individual for being looked as strange. Up to this point, Meursault carried on with his existence without the acknowledgment of himself or his voice. This huge change demonstrates Meursault's start to appreciate himself, his perspectives or beliefs, and his life as he is in jail.
During his own mother’s funeral at the beginning of the book, Meursault shows both antisocial behavior as well as a lack of sadness for her death. After being asleep for a while and finally waking up, Meursault notices a man near him, “…he was staring hard at me, as if he had been waiting for me to wake. Then I fell asleep again” (Camus 11). After he is sentenced to death, Meursault never feels guilt for killing the man. When he is nearing his execution date, all he hopes for is “that on the day of my execution there should be a huge crowd of spectators and that they should greet me with cries of hate” (Camus 117).
Many people live life with a purpose while others live life with the purpose that everyone dies eventually. In The Stranger by Albert Camus, the main character, Meursault expresses his belief in life being meaningless due to his actions and thoughts towards his everyday life until he faces death. Meursault’s character conveys to having no importance in the world. As a man, he reveals no emotions or feelings towards anything. Everything and everyone surrounding his life means nothing.
Villains often play a vital role in contrasting the protagonists, which brings upon sympathy towards the protagonists. In The Stranger by Albert Camus, society directly criticizes Meursault 's actions and beliefs, evoking Meursault 's sadness in the story. While in The Meursault Investigation, Merault is the antagonist of the story because he kills Musa, Harun’s brother. Meursault indirectly provokes Harun’s anger and fuels his ambition for his actions. Both stories present villains differently, where society is directly criticizing Meursault’s beliefs and actions in The Stranger while Meursault is indirectly hurting Harun in The Meursault Investigation.
When Meursault returns from Marengo and his mother’s funeral it is the weekend. He dislikes Sundays because he has nothing to do which makes them boring. Consequently, he just observes people who “were in a hurry” from his balcony (21). At the end of the Sunday, it occurs to Meursault “that Maman was buried now, that [he] was going back to work, and that, really, nothing had changed” (24). He does not believe in God or go to church and is not really affected by his mother 's death which displays his separation from the people within the Christian society.
