The Importance Of Religion In The Plague By Albert Camus

The Plague by Albert Camus takes place in an Algerian city known as Oran. Rats that are infected with a vicious disease known as “the plague” invade the city and nearly wipe out half of the population. This disease takes a toll on the citizens of Oran, which make them turn on each other and for some, they question the existence of God. Religion plays a huge roll in The Plague and Camus speaks through his characters and incorporates his views on religion. Camus uses Father Paneloux, the priest in the city, to argue whether or not God is the reason for this chaos.

Camus’s huge philosophy was the absurd and one’s existence in life. It is natural for humans to seek the meaning behind life and many sometimes turn to religion to answer that question.

There are differences of style and Paneloux’s shift in pronoun use. These differences should be considered when separating the two sermons from one another. The first clear difference is the style of delivery between the two sermons. The narrator describes Paneloux as “a man of passionate and fiery temperament...who flung himself wholeheartedly into the task assigned him” (The Plague 94). The reader can picture a striking figure with a deep voice. The first sermon is delivered with a “powerful and emotional delivery...with clear emphatic tones” (The Plague 95). As Paneloux delivers the sermon, he gains power as it matches the thunderstorm outside. Toward the end of his first sermon, he is physically worn out, “his hair was straggling over his forehead…his body shaken with tremors” and he speaks in a lower voice that is described as “matter-of-fact” (The Plague 97). Paneloux pauses at the end of his sermon and just enough to give the impression he is done, and then launches into a final attack. This method or style of public speaking is quite common because the speaker draws attention to the conclusion. The first sermon is very dramatic and passionate and Camus does this intentionally to show the differences in the style of how the sermons are delivered. Paneloux had enormous amounts of energy in the first sermon that his hair became undone and his whole body was shaking of how much

Camus describes Paneloux’s sermon as a “performance” because it is delivered in a much more personal way and less intentional. Father Paneloux delivers his sermon in a “gentler, more thoughtful tone...and several times stumbled over his words” (The Plague 222). His voice only grows firmer as he proceeds, and then he finally manages a dramatic gesture. As the sermon comes to an end, he evokes the spirit from the first sermon, slams his fist on the pulpit and ends in a voice that is “ringing” (The Plague 223). Father Paneloux’s shift in tone shows how he has come to the acceptance of the plague. He saw how an innocent little boy, M.Othon’s son died and acts if he is sorry and feels responsible. He blamed the people of Oran for the cause of the plague, but an innocent boy who died; one cannot say he died because his “faith” in God was not strong enough. The plague will take anyone and it doesn’t matter how much one is devoted to