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Analysis Camus's The Stranger
Critical analysis of the stranger by albert camus
Essay on the novel Stranger by Albert Camus
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Recommended: Analysis Camus's The Stranger
Many books have been written by many authors that deal with a struggle between society and individual. Albert Camus’ The Stranger (L’étranger) deals with this same topic, but it can be analyzed from a unique and very interesting point of view. The way of life of people can be analyzed by classifying them into two main forces that oppose each other. These forces were named after the Greek gods Apollo and Dionysus.
Theses terms were first used by the German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche. The main concept of the Apollonian personality is that these persons’ main mode of functioning is by reason, whereas the Dionysian personality functions by intuition. In Camus’ The Stranger, Mersault’s personality can be seen as Dionysian (reasons will be discussed later), but his main attitude towards society is quite Apollonian. This leads to the statement that the Dionysian personality of Mersault is restrained by society, making him seem or behave in an Apollonian style.
The term Apollonian was first used by Nietzsche to represent principle of order, logic, clarity, moderation, and control in human personality and society. He applied the word Dionysian to represent spontaneity, passion, intuition, an excess in human personality, and rebellion against society. The Apollonian self is what makes people be organized, be on places on time, follow the rules, etc. An Apollonian person often wants solitude and quiet moments to think. Some of these persons often loose temper when they encounter their clashing personality, the Dionysian personality. The Dionysian personality always wants to have fun, live the moment, resist authority and act on hunches. A Dionysian person usually has a tendency to resist authority, jump to quick conclusions (whilst the Apollonian tends to think a lot before jumping to conclusions or making decisions) and indulge, or overindulge, him/herself. While the Apollonian person likes to have quiet time to think, a Dionysian person likes to daydream. The Dionysian personality basically revolves around the senses and what is natural and beyond reason.
In The Stranger, Mersault’s personality can be difficult to analyze. Some people say that his personality is strongly Apollonian; some say that he is a balance of both personalities, and others say that he is Dionysian. Mersault, as society sees him, he is an individual with antisocial traits, a person who rarely speaks and does not show many emotions. All these traits can be related to the Apollonian style. But we can also see that he enjoys laughing, going to the beach, basic human needs like eating, drinking and having sex and he resists or rebels against society.
Both works demonstrates how individual conflict with the Society expectation of a happy life. In the end, The individual must find freedom and personal happiness above the expectation of society. The individual person must do what is best for them and not what society expects them to
These different traits of personality have an impact on each individuals’ lives and also how they behave. For instance, according to the text, “The neurotic person might be anxious a lot, but this might protect her from being a knucklehead who chases tornadoes.” (Twenge & Campbell, 2016) Each trait can have a negative effect or a positive effect. Personality can be shaped by genetics and the environment. The environment plays a big role in influencing who you are and how you may behave. Which brings us to the movie I Heart Huckabees written by David O. Russell. It talks about existentialism, which is a type of philosophical theory that articulates the existence of an individual as having free will. Free will is the idea that you go about life, choosing your course of action freely instead of living by a code or believing that God has placed you in this universe with a purpose. Free will sort of demonstrate how individuals will react differently from one another in the same situation. The movie I heart Huckabees is about a guy named Albert Markovski. Albert seeks help from two existential detectives, Bernard and Vivian Jaffe, in order to figure out why he has run into the same stranger 3
Sources tend to portray Dionysius rule in a negative light and seemingly avoid the latter part of his reign. L. Pearson suggested that the reason for this was because Philistus was in exile at the time (since many sources rely on him for a firsthand account) meaning there was a lack of information. Diodorus provides the most compressive surviving work of Dionysius rule but follows the anti-tyrannical tradition.
The Differences between Apollo and Dionysus are not difficult to see. Though both Gods are associated wi...
Society often pressures individuals within it to conform to different ideals and norms. This stems from the fact that individuals in a society are expected to act in a certain way. If a person or group of people do not satisfy society’s expectations, they are looked down upon by others. This can lead to individuals isolating themselves from others, or being isolated from others, because they are considered as outcasts. The emotional turmoil that can result from this, as well as the internal conflict of whether or not to conform, can transform an individual into a completely different person. This transformation can either be beneficial or harmful to the individual as well as those around them. The individual can become an improved version of himself or herself but conversely, they can become violent, rebellious and destructive. The novels Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk and A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess both explore the negative effects experienced by individuals living within the confines of society’s narrow-mindedness. In A Clockwork Orange, protagonist Alex was the leader of a small group of teenage criminals. He did not have a healthy relationship with either one of his parents or with others around him. Instead he spent most of his time alone during the day and at night roamed the streets in search of victims he could mug or rape. In Fight Club the unnamed protagonist was an outcast in his community. He chose to distance and isolate himself from others and as a result had no friends, with the exception of Tyler Durden and Marla Singer. Due to his isolation, he often participated in nightly fights that took place in Fight Club so that he could relieve his anxiety and stress. In this way, Alex and the unnamed protagoni...
...trated this by betraying the trust that people had in men and the gods with his foolish and reckless action against Cadmus and his family. Dionysus refuted rational thinking by letting his emotions for revenge stand in the way of his contemplating how a god should behave. In doing all the things Dionysus has destroyed the ideal way one would expect a god to conduct their self. Euripides portrays a Dionysus that single handily destroys all the cultural values of Hellenic Greece; however, Euripides is able to capture the changing values of his audience and pave the way for the culture of Hellenistic Greece to begin to dominate societal thought.
Pyschodynamic pyschology is believing that the unconscious mind is on the most powerful effects of the human. Also no behavior is without cause, so it must be determined, or childhood expierences can really affect the behavior of adults. The humanistic view really focuses on the person who does the behaving. Also how the person percieves and interpets events. The humanistic view focuses too on the persons ability, growth, and potential. It really emphasizes on free will and how people make choices effectin their life in growth. The trait and temperament view is on peoples different pesronality traits and different internal dispositions. There are these traits that have been identified throughout cultures in this world that includes anxiety or well-being, openess to new expierences,agreeableness. and conscientiousness. For example if someone has a bad childhood growing up and they were molested. They might be afraid to be with a man or women due to the fact of the bad expierence they had as a child. Also the person could have severe depression and anxiety for the rest of their life due to the bad childhood expierence they
Odysseus is a peculiar mix of both heroic and intelligent qualities that make him seem both human and supernatural. The Odysseus portrayed in the Iliad somewhat contrasts the Odysseus we see in the Odyssey. For the p...
...lay in societal change. However it was only until the works of Durkheim and Simmel that the role of individual interaction and society is brought to the forefront. Durkheim largely viewed the individual as needing society as a mechanism of constraint to the aspirations of an eternal goal. Finally, Simmel was able to expand on Durkheim’s dualism by noting that society could be viewed as more than a mechanism of constraint rather as an accumulation of individual interaction. Either through a combination or as individuals each theorist distinct view of the relationship between the individual and society demonstrates a new understanding towards the nature of social reality.
Some characteristics of Hermes include his ingenuity, knowledge, creativity, and is known to be very cunning. He is also quite good at gymnastics. Hermes is an incredibly clever god. He found a tortoise outside of his cave and displayed his godly talent by placing strings over the shell, inventing the first lyre. As a child he was very precious, even for a god. But he caused a great deal of trouble. But one day, he went too far and learned a very important lesson.
... chosen by divine forces to play their role they did. Socrates was accused of corrupting the youth which means that he has people who follow him. Also he has an ironic characteristic which made him does not care if they kill him or know. On the other hand Oedipus was the land avenger because he saved the city from the sphinx people believed in his power and they follow him as a saviour for the city.
Often times an author incorporates a thought or philosophy into a work that can shape or reshape the attitude emitted from the novel. In Albert Camus', The Stranger, the Existential philosophy that the author fills into the work give an aura of apathy. With the opening lines of "Mother died today. Or, maybe, yesterday; I can't be sure," Camus immediately sets a tone of indifference (1). Though the protagonist, Mersault, is not completely without cares, the overall attitude of passiveness he has toward himself, as well as toward others, give the entire novel a tone of apathy.
In Aesops fables Hermes is the Ruler of the Gate of Prophetic Dreams, The God of Athletes, and the God of Hospitality. Also in Aesop's fables he is said to assign each person a share of his knowladge, this may indicate that people once thought of him as
In this book of Albert Camus, “The Myth of Sisyphus”, He discussed a discrepancy that dreads the mind of conscious beings since time immemorial: “What could possibly be the answer to the meaning of life when the world itself bespeak not of a question.”
The ancient Roman actors wore masks known as personas in the Greek dramas and it is believed that the term personality is derived from the Latin word persona. The theatrical masks or personas were used to project the character to the audience; however, personality is far more than a public role or character. The persona used in the Greek dramas was a surface appliance that an actor could easily change, but personality is much deeper and complex than a mask for public review. In psychological terms, personality is a complex model of traits and characteristics that are responsible for an individual’s behavior. Traits are intrinsic, uniform, and unvarying qualities; however, characteristics change over time. Characteristics can change as individuals grow and experience life and intelligence and temperament are influenced by an individual's characteristics. Personality is an individual ...