The Character Of Meursault In Albert Camus The Stranger

The Stranger by Albert Camus tells a story of a man who is wrongly accused and convicted of premeditated murder. The leads the main character, Meursault, to question his existence on Earth and what it really means to himself and those around him. “It is not true that life is one damn thing after another—it’s one damn thing over and over.” This quote by Edna St. Vincent Millay clearly expresses the idea that Meursault feels so strongly about.
Initially, we are brought to believe that Meursault is an uncaring, selfish man. The first few sentences of that he speaks to the readers are, “Maman died today. Or yesterday maybe, I don’t know.” He has no remorse for his deceased mother, Meursault truly believes that all lives are equal and death

is inevitable thus one should not concern themselves with it so much. It is this kind of outlook that later becomes Meursault’s downfall.
The events of the funeral are used as key evidence for the trial and ultimately what convinces the jury to sacrifice Meursault to the guillotine. Meursault acts very nonchalantly during the wake, even going as far as smoking in front of his dead mother. During the span of the funeral, he seemed much more concerned over the heat of the sun rather than anything else. Meursault in this instance acts as a foil to Thomas Perez, a man Maman had become inseparable with during her time at the retirement home. Perez, although and old and sickly man, refuses to have the funeral go on without him. Even though Perez and Maman had known for such a short while, Perez is much more influenced over her death than Maman’s own son.
Meursault is brought in for questioning by the police soon after he kills the Arab.

Meursault’s lawyer asked if he had felt sadness during the day of the funeral, to which Meursault responded, “I probably did love Maman, but that didn’t mean anything.” The lawyer then made Meursault promise to not utter a word of this during the trial as it would only hurt him. Meursault displays complete apathy in this scene and many others. It is very similar to how Millay feels about life. It is one thing over and over, life is a cycle that will never end. Meursault understands that death is inevitable and at one point everyone’s existence in the world will disappear. He does not value his life or anyone else’s. Meursault runs into further hiccups when he refuses to turn to God for forgiveness as advised by the magistrate. The magistrate goes as far as calling Meursault, “Monsieur

Antichrist”.
There is a large amount of media on the day of Meursault's trial.

The reporter's reasoning for this is that news is quite slow during the summer season and so they have to get the most out of the few cases that they have, even if that means exaggerating a few things here and there. The media does not value Meursault’s life in the least, to them it is just another scoop that will quickly be forgotten. The prosecutor spends most, if not the whole trial talking about Meursault’s behaviour towards his deceased mother. How could a man be so soulless to not even cry during his own mother’s funeral. The prosecutor states that Meursault's dark abyss of a soul would any influence others to commit crimes. The trial ends and a decision is made. Meursault is to be beheaded by guillotine.
Meursault spends a bit of time in disbelief, going through all the possibilities in which he would be able to survive. He soon accepts his fate, that he will die and no one around him care. They will all move on with their lives as if he had not even existed in the first place. All beings are worth the same regardless of what society believes. Meursault’s only wish is that there would be a large group of spectators at his execution greeting him with words of hate. This last line in The Stranger shows that Meursault only wants to be acknowledged by the world one last time before he is completely

forgotten.