Absurdism Essays

Albert Camus, one of the eminent French novelist, essayist and playwright is often considered as a nihilist, or extreme absurdist who believes that life is senseless and useless. ‘The Outsider’, Camus’s first novel is a representation of his absurd thinking about the world. The use of the term ‘absurd’ in literature is a vehicle for writers to explore and represent those elements in the world that do not make sense and ‘The Outsider’ is one of the beautiful representation of Camus’s revolt against the norms of the society. In the very first line of the novel elevates the absurd concept, " My mother died today.

In his novel The Stranger, Albert Camus creates an emotionally incapable, narcissistic, and, at times, sociopathic character named Meursault to explore and expose his philosophies of Existentialism and Absurdism. Throughout the story Meursault follows a philosophical arc that, while somewhat extreme - from unemotional and passive to detached and reckless to self-reflective - both criticizes the dependent nature of human existence and shows the journey through the absurd that is our world. In the onset of The Stranger, following his mother’s death, Meursault acts with close to utter indifference and detachment. While the rest of “maman’s”(9) loved ones express their overwhelming grief, Meursault remains unphased and, at times, annoyed at their

Introduction Existentialists forcefully believe that one defines their own meaning in life, and that by lack of there being an upper power one must espouse their own existence in order to contradict this essence of ‘nothing-ness’. Absurdist fiction is a genre of literature which concerns characters performing seemingly meaningless actions and experiences due to no found meaning or purpose in their lives, and this prospect of uncertainty is key in both plays Waiting for Godot as well as Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf. Writers Samuel Beckett and Edward Albee use different perspectives on truth and illusion in order to communicate a message to their audience and to make them question the society in which they live in. Truths and Illusions sub-introduction

In Albert Camus’s “The Stranger,” Camus presents his existentialistic absurdist views in multiple ways throughout the novel; however, in one instance Camus uses imagery dealing with the sun and sky to articulate his philosophy further. Moreover, if such detail were left out, the reader would be faced with a seemingly incomplete philosophy and a futile understanding of Camus’s thinking, thus, leaving “The Stranger,” thematically flat. As an absurdist, Camus believed that intrinsic meaning in life is impossible. Seemingly depressing; however, Camus would argue that suicide or implementation of say religion is a fallacy.

Introduction: Existentialism is a philosophy that deals with life’s unanswered questions: why do we exist? What is the purpose of life? Ironically the, exact meaning of existentialism itself remains unanswered itself. Some believe it to be an attitude of life others a serious branch of philosophy; many discard it as being something paltry thought by post-war pessimists. The blur definitions of can be summed up in this single quote by Anton Chekhov,

Prometheus Bound stands apart from Robert Lowell’s other plays and is of special interest because here we find a fine embodiment of an existentialist rebel in the character of Prometheus, despite the mythical content of the play. In his adaptation of Aeschylus’s play, he reworks the classical myth of Prometheus. We can trace subtle elements of archetypal rebels like Milton’s Satan, Camus’s Sisyphus and Joyce’s Daedalus in his Prometheus. However, nuances of the contemporary situation are also incorporated in order to make it relevant to the present. However, as he himself admits there is no attempt at modernization:

What if we all lived lives believing there is no true purpose of our existence? In the novel The Stranger, author Albert Camus conveys his ideas of existentialism through the life of main character, Meursault. In this novel, Camus works in his own philosophical views, pushing the idea that human existence has no rational meaning or cause. But, since this isn’t something individuals usually accept they are essentially attempting to put a meaning behind their lives. There are three main events that affect Meursault in one way or another.

In Albert Camus’ The Stranger, the author’s absurdist views of life are reflected through the main character Meursault. The reader follows Meursault from his mother’s funeral to his own death, as he exerts his indifference to the world around him. Camus’s employment of motifs represent Meursault’s consciousness of absurdity in a world where everything fails to retain meaning. Nevertheless, humans still seek value in their lives from surrealalities; absurdities that are incapable of immortalising humans. The motifs of religion, judgement, and death inspire Meursault’s heroism through his sincerity and rejection of these absurd social norms.

In Albert Camus’ The Stranger, the author’s absurdist views of life are reflected through the main character Meursault. The reader follows Meursault from his mother’s funeral to his own death, as he exerts his indifference to the world around him. Camus’s employment of motifs represent Meursault’s consciousness of absurdity in a world where everything fails to retain meaning. Nevertheless, humans still seek value in their lives from surrealalities; absurdities that are incapable of immortalising humans. The motifs of religion, judgement, and death inspire Meursault’s heroism through his sincerity and rejection of these absurd social norms.

The absurd is that which is not true, however, truth can be intermingled with the absurd. In his stories “Grand Stand-In” and “Worst-Case Scenario”, Kevin Wilson uses absurdity to show the raw truth of dissatisfaction and distressed loneliness in his characters’ lives. Through this, the characters define themselves and, as people naturally do, justify their own thoughts. In these specific cases, absurdism is the central cause for their isolation from their own mentality of their daily life. As referenced by Mark Doherty, absurdity is "the subjective truths that can be revealed only when we suspend our disbelief and imagine ourselves as someone completely different" (Doherty 57).

While some enjoy life one step at a time, others search for a purpose or reason for existence. With existentialist believing in a higher power that has complete control over peoples’ lives, absurdist believes there is no true value to life. Having an absurdist viewpoint of the world can lead to isolation, depression, and anxiety. Albert Camus, the author of The Myth of Sisyphus and formally known as the father of absurdism, suggests that “the absurd is born out of this confrontation between the human need and the unreasonable silence of the world.” Humans with an absurdist outlook on life believe that the universe is a meaningless and irrational universe.

1.4. Existentialism The mind of the individual does not suffice to any limits of agreed upon knowledge and never stops of plunging into the unknowing to gratify its boundless appetite to know more about its position in the society, therefore; the human mind is preoccupied with questions on many basic matters of existence. Then as the social schools of thoughts started to emerge in higher levels of arguments and understanding, multiple basic questions began to arise in different contexts. In such constant process of search, many schools of thought have been initiated to express their tents about the way and to give meaning to man’s behavior of like Realism, Naturalism, Materialism, Expressionism

Response to the discussion of Camus’s context (The Stranger) During the interactive oral, the class explored the elements portrayed by Camus, which opened my eyes to the reliability of the author and the importance of static characters, that must be understood in order to understand the themes of the novel. The reliability of the author, Meursault, was debated according to what the person felt affected the author’s reliability. Though I understand the concept of the ethnic divide between the French people and the Arabs, that this created separation into social class, it came to my interest that this concept could affect the author 's reliability.

Alaz Kanber İngiliz Dili ve Edebiyatı 132401005 Shakespeare II Existentialist Problems and Themes in Hamlet Existentialism is a term used for the work of specific 19th and 20th century philosophers who believed that the human subject is in the center of thinking. The human, according to these philosophers, is not a subject only capable of thinking, but also acting, feeling and living as a individual. The existentialist attitude, as the starting point is named in existentialism, is a micro cosmos which is absurd and seems to have no meaning. The lack of meaning in life and the absurdity creates a complicated pattern that is cannot be considered as usual. This means in other words that existentialism transforms your behaviors.

Cynthia Son Comparing and Contrasting two Anti-realistic Theatrical Forms: Absurdism vs. Alienation(Epic Theatre) I will be comparing and contrasting two forms of theatre: Theatre of the Absurd vs. the Theatre of Alienation(Epic Theatre). These movements were born during the period of the cold war and were heavily ideological and theoretical, anti-realistic movements; thus, they have similarities and differences in all aspects. First, to introduce the context of the two movements. Absurdism, as the name suggests, is based on the philosophy that the world is absurd, meaning that it has no order, significance, or organised predictability. This philosophy and movement has its roots in the existentialist movement that began just earlier in