Mark Esslin's Theatre of the Absurd: Camus and his Debasement of Language

1680 Words4 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Analysis of the stranger by camus

In 1962, writer Mark Esslin took pleasure in composing the novel Theatre of the Absurd and quickly became a major influence on the works of many inspired writers. Esslin subsequently made ensuing plays and stories which focused on nonspecific existentialist concepts and which did not remain consistent with his ideas, rejecting the “narrative continuity and the rigidity of logic.” As a result, the protagonist of these stories is often not capable of containing himself within his or her disorderly society (“Theatre”). Writer Albert Camus made such an interpretation of the “Absurd” by altering the idea into his view of believing it is the rudimentary absence of “reasonableness” and consistency in the human personality. Not only does Camus attempt to display the absurd through studied deformities and established arrangements; he also “undermines the ordinary expectations of continuity and rationality” (“The Theatre”). Camus envisions life in his works, The Stranger and “The Myth of Sisyphus,” as having no time frame or significance, and the toiling endeavor to find such significance where it does not exist is what Camus believes to be the absurd (“Albert”).

The Stranger, written in 1942, is a story about a man named Maursault, who is one day presented with a telegram telling about the passing of his mother in a home for the elderly. Meursault shows no sign of sorrow for his mother at the funeral and soon meets a girl named Marie, who often swims with him. The following summer, Meursault helps his friend Raymond with a rape trial, kills an Arab, and spends the rest of the time fighting in court to avoid being executed by the guillotine. Meursault goes through much trouble finding his place in society, as is like him at all (S...

... middle of paper ...

...ource Center. Detroit: Thomson Gale, 2007. Student Resource Center - Gold. Gale. Miami-Dade County Public High Schools. 24 Feb. 2009 .

"SparkNotes: The Stranger: Themes, Motifs & Symbols." SparkNotes: Today's Most Popular Study Guides. 2009. 23 Feb. 2009 .

"The Myth of Sysiphus." Redirect. 24 Feb. 2009 .

"Theatre of the Absurd." Belen Jesuit Preparatory School - Home Page. 22 Feb. 2009 .

"The Theatre of the Absurd." TheatreHistory.com. 23 Feb. 2009 .

Show More
Related

  • Similarities Between Fahrenheit 451 And Huckleberry Finn

    426 Words  | 1 Pages

    His great many journeys tell interesting stories, and each encounter he has is a learning experience for both the protagonist and the reader. Comparatively, the narrator in ‘The Stranger” starts the novel off by visiting the vigil of his deceased mother, who was put in what is essentially a modern equivalent of a retirement home. He spends most of the novel drifting around to different locations, and has a few life changing experiences, but never changes his character. The narrator is mostly just and apathetic man who occasionally comments on nature of other people around him. To provide and example of his apathy, an interaction with his lover: “A minute later she asked me if I loved her. I told her it didn't mean anything but that I didn't think so. She looked sad. But as we were fixing lunch, and for no apparent reason, she laughed in such a way that I kissed

    Read More

  • Essay on Camus’ The Stranger (The Outsider): Parallels Within

    945 Words  | 2 Pages

    The Stranger by Albert Camus is a story of a sequence of events in one man's life that cause him to question the nature of the universe and his position in it. The book is written in two parts and each part seems to reflect in large degree the actions occurring in the other. There are curious parallels throughout the two parts that seem to indicate the emotional state of Meursault, the protagonist, and his view of the world.

    Read More

  • The Stranger Loss Of Innocence Essay

    1435 Words  | 3 Pages

    An analysis of a potentially innocent, middle-aged sociopath and how being alienated lead him to committing a murder in Albert Camus’ The Stranger. Albert Camus presents The Stranger, a story where the line between innocence and guilt becomes almost unrecognizable. Meursault, a middle-aged man whose mother has recently passed away, gets put on trial for the murder of an Arab man because he became angered by the sun. While the reasoning behind the killing is frivolous and weak, it does not make him completely guilty.

    Read More

  • Stranger in a Strange Land

    1908 Words  | 4 Pages

    Samuelson, David. " 'Stranger' in the Sixties: Model or Mirror?" Contemporary Literary Criticism. Eds. Dedria Bryfonski, Laurie Lanzen Harris. Detroit, MI: Gale Research Company, 1975. Vol 26, 167-169.

    Read More

  • Hamlet's Insanity

    1405 Words  | 3 Pages

    Riddled with ambiguity by its very nature, the text of William Shakespeare's Hamlet has been a commonly debated subject in literary circles since its first performance. The character Hamlet undergoes intense physical and emotional hardship in his quest for revenge against his despicable uncle. This hardship, some argue, leads to an emotional breakdown and, ultimately, Hamlet's insanity. While this assessment may be suitable in some cases, it falls short in others. Since Hamlet is a play, the ultimate motivation of each of the characters borrows not only from the text, but also from the motivations of the actors playing the parts. In most respects, these motivations are more apt at discerning the emotional condition of a character than their dialogue ever could. Thus, the question is derived: In Kenneth Branagh's film adaptation of Hamlet, does the character Hamlet suffer from insanity? Giving halt to the response, this paper will first endeavor to establish what insanity is and will then provide sufficient examples both from the text, film, and Branagh's own musings on his motivations as proof that Hamlet's character, at least in Branagh's version of the play, is not insane.

    Read More

  • Existentialism And Symbolism In The Stranger By Albert Camus

    1438 Words  | 3 Pages

    In Camus’ The Stranger, the use of the minor character Raymond helps illustrate the absurd nature of Meursault. Through imagery, dialogue, and irony, the novel investigates the moral decisions Meursault makes under Raymond’s influence. The constant tactical bribery and other forms of manipulation steer Meursault’s writing of the letter that leads to him killing the Arab and ultimately receiving the death penalty. Camus uses Raymond to highlight the cultural and societal values. In addition, through Raymond’s help, Meursault ends up in jail where he finally realizes the theme that life is

    Read More

  • Essay Comparing Change in The Stranger and Nausea

    2141 Words  | 5 Pages

    In The Stranger, the main character is Mersault. His mother dies and he travels to her home for the burial. The day after the funeral, Mersault gets together with a woman, Marie. He becomes friends with Raymond, a neighbor. Raymond is having an argument with some Arabs. Mersault is then pulled into the dispute between Raymond and the Arabs. Finally, on a sunny afternoon at the beach, Mersault kills one of the Arabs, even though he really has nothing against him. Mersault is put on trial and sentenced to death.

    Read More

  • Meursault Social Issues

    421 Words  | 1 Pages

    “The Stranger” is an appropriate title for the novel’s main character because when you think of a stranger you think of avoiding them because of safety concerns. Meursault is a type of person that you’d avoid if you saw him randomly in the streets. He’s always looking up at the sun and is very socially awkward. When Meursault is asked if he’d been traveling for a long time after discovering he had been leaning against a soldier on the bus while asleep he simply says “‘yes’… so [he] wouldn’t have to say anything else” (Camus 4).

    Read More

  • Camus: The Life and Writings of Absurdity

    3457 Words  | 7 Pages

    Camus was born in a small town in eastern Algiers on November 7, 1913. His father (Lucien August Camus) died in 1914 after being shot in the Battle of Marne in W.W.I. Camus was raised by his mother (Catherine Helene Sintes Camus) until he was seventeen, in a working-class section of town. "Sintes," his mother's maiden name was also Raymond Sintes' last name in the novel The Stranger. She was illiterate and became partially deaf after she was widowed. Her husband's body was never returned to her, but a fragment of the shell that killed him along with a picture of him was displayed in the apartment where they lived (Todd 4-6).

    Read More

  • Comparing Existentialist Values in The Metamorphosis and The Stranger (The Outsider)

    1674 Words  | 4 Pages

    Meursault (the narrator) in The Stranger only sees and only wants to see the absolute truth in society. The readers first encounter with him...

    Read More

  • How Friar Lawrence is Responsible for Romeo and Juliet's Death

    802 Words  | 2 Pages

    ” Drama for Students. Ed. Anne Marie Hacht. Vol. 21.

    Read More

  • The Stranger by Albert Camus

    979 Words  | 2 Pages

    The novel The Stranger was written by Albert Camus in 1942. The story is an example of how Camus perceives the world with his views. Camus’s views are that moral actions do not have any justification. Camus is considered an existentialist, which means that he didn’t believe life had a specific meaning. Many of his beliefs are seen in this novel, as well as his other works.

    Read More

  • An Analysis Of Stranger In The Village By Luis J. Rodriguez

    598 Words  | 2 Pages

    Have you ever felt alone or different? What do think about when you hear stranger in the village? When I hear the phrase “Stranger in the Village” I think of someone or something that does not belong or is new in the area. Being a stranger in the village can be scary, uncomfortable, or even embarrassing. In this essay, I will use three pieces of writing to show stranger in the village.

    Read More

  • Absurdity: An Essay On The Stranger

    663 Words  | 2 Pages

    Within the Stranger, Albert Camus brought up many questions and a few answers. He created an outsider to society and showed us how he lived, Meursault.

    Read More

  • The Stranger

    2612 Words  | 6 Pages

    Author and Era: Albert Camus wrote The Stranger as a fictional expression of not only his philosophical concept of the absurd, but also to underscore the relationship between man and nature. World War I had left the world ravaged and displayed the hostility of the world to the people. Camus had experienced the loss of his father due to World War I (Bloom, “The Story Behind the Story”). With the advent of World War II in such a short time between World War I, Camus felt the indifference of the universe first hand, as did many other citizens of the world. Witnessing the Nazi-occupation of France along with the atrocities committed by the Nazis, Camus felt the need to address the palpable human despair in

    Read More

More about Mark Esslin's Theatre of the Absurd: Camus and his Debasement of Language

Open Document