In Albert Camus’ The Stranger, major themes are portrayed through varies symbols. The one that seems to be the most important is the court room, since the court room symbolizes society as a whole. Meursault was on trial facing the magistrate and the jury on what he thought was killing the Arab. What he did not know was that he was going to be judged upon his apathetic nature when his mother died, his carefree actions after her funeral, and his unusual way of
being.
A small, smoke-filled and well-lit room with a small circular table, some buffets and other furniture. Having everything typical to a middle and upper class residence, this room symbolizes the type of citizens who are tired and afraid of M’s reign of terror. Having the mobster’s meet in this room in the first place, Lang highlights the notion of the silent, scared majority of Berlin who will accept any course of action just to see to it that their children are safe and that their normalcy of life continues on, before M began abducting children. The cigar smoke filling the room is symbolic of the haziness and gray area that such a situation presents. One may stop to ask themselves, “Is this right? Are we doing the right thing by setting the mob loose on M?” or “If I was a criminal, would I want due process and a fair investigation and trial?” By the mob and the people taking matters into their own hands, they are essentially submitting to fear and thus usurping the due process of law. By having the mobsters in the room, the citizens are okay with ends being justified by the means and show that have lost complete and utter faith and trust in the police to keep their children
The Stranger written by Albert Camus is an absurdist novel revolving around the protagonist, Meursault. A major motif in the novel is violence. There are various places where violence takes place and they lead to the major violent act, which relates directly to the theme of the book. The major violent act of killing an Arab committed by Meursault leads to the complete metamorphosis of his character and he realizes the absurdity of life.
In The Stranger, Albert Camus describes the life of the protagonist, Meursault, through life changing events. The passage chosen illustrates Meursault’s view during his time in prison for killing the Arab. In prison, one can see the shifts in Meursault’s character and the acceptance of this new lifestyle. Camus manipulates diction to indicate the changes in Meursault caused by time thinking of memories in prison and realization of his pointless life. Because Camus published this book at the beginning of World War II, people at this time period also questions life and death similar to how Meursault does.
Chapter 6 of part I of The Stranger concluded with Meursault’s conscious decision to shoot an Arab because of the physical discomfort the Arab’s knife caused him. The significance of the ending of part I is that it was the first demonstration of Meursault’s awareness of the possible consequences of the act that he committed. This awareness continues into the second part of the novel as he is arrested and trialed. The reason for Meursault’s trial is the murder of the Arab. His insensitivity towards Maman’s death and lack of a social conscientious are factors that contributed to support further investigations, but are not reasons to trial him because they have not ‘harmed’ society on a way that he could be arrested for. For example, if Meursault
In Camus' novel The Stranger the predominate motif of the sun has been variously interpreted by many critics as a symbol of Meursault's repressed emotions.
Albert Camus’ The Stranger offers one man’s incite into the justice of society. Monsieur Meursault, the main protagonist in the novel, believes that morals and the concept of right and wrong possess no importance. This idea influences him to act distinctively in situations that require emotion and just decision, including feeling sadness over his mother’s death, the abuse of a woman, and his killing of an innocent man. In these situations Meursault apathetically devoids himself of all emotion and abstains from dealing with the reality in front of him. When confronted by the court over his murder, he reiterates his habitual motto on life that nothing matters anyways, so why care? His uncaring response inflames the people working within the
It is man’s natural instinct to protect himself. Therefore, that person would do anything in his power to be safe, especially if they committed a criminal act; but that does not make them innocent. In the palace of the Denmark Royal family, there was a criminal act that was carried out by the beloved Lord Hamlet. He not only had slain the King’s advisor, Polonius, but also his own friends Rosencrantz and Guildenstern as well. In his defence, Lord Hamlet’s attorney pleads the insanity defence. However, after reviewing the case and analysing different events that had taken place, the crown is convinced that Lord Hamlet’s insanity is just a mask that he puts on to escape from the responsibility of his bloody deeds. The many points that were considered that brought the crown to this conclusion include: how he had initially disclosed his plan to act mad in order to avenge his father’s death, as well as, on several occasions; Hamlet himself reveals to certain people that he is sane. Lastly, his acts of insanity are only present in front of certain people and not around others. All these points prove that Hamlet is only pretending to be mad and should be punished for his actions.
After only a few days of trial, the jury in The Stranger declares that the main character, Meursault, is to be executed by guillotine in the town square. The trial and its verdict are one of the important parts of the novel, as Albert Camus uses them as a metaphor to summarize the two main tenets of absurdism. Camus uses the trial and persecution of Meursault to express his belief that the justice system is flawed because of his absurdist ideals that truth does not exist, and human life is precious. In order to reform the justice system, Albert Camus believes that capital punishment needs to be abolished.
Dostoevsky's 1865 novel Crime and Punishment is the story of an expelled university student's murder of an old pawnbroker and her sister. The idealistic ex-student, Raskolnikov, is ultimately unable to live up to his own nihilistic theory of what makes a "Great Man" and, overcome by fits of morality, betrays himself to the police. Exiled to Siberia, suffering redeems the unfortunate young dreamer. Crime and Punishment is similar in many ways to Balzac's Pere Goriot, especially in respect to questions of morality. In Balzac, the master-criminal Vautrin lives by an amoral code similar to Raskolnikov's theory of Great Men--unrestrained by conscience, Vautrin holds that laws are for the weak, and those clever enough to realize this may overstep any boundaries they wish and dominate the rest of mankind. But where Balzac's characters act on this idea without repercussion, Raskolnikov makes a transgression and then begins immediately to question it. The result is a psychological inner battle between rationality and sentimental moralism which is as much a contest between Empiricism and Romanticism as it is a contest between good and evil, or God and the Devil.
Tragedy has been apart of human history since the dawning of civilization. Man has been plunged into terrible tragedies for ages. But not until the Greeks and prominent playwrights such as Sophocles did tragedy take on into its own on the stage. Out of this rebirth of tragedy came what has been considered, even by Aristotle himself, the greatest tragedy ever written, Oedipus the King. He delves into the human psyche: bringing forth the notion of predestination, a supposition desperately believed in by humans, betraying the fatal flaws of his hero and manifesting the suffering brought upon the hero by his tragic downfall. Though it was written more than a millennium ago, its basis and structure for tragedy has held strong, showing true in the modern tragedy of A Doll’s House. Written by Henrik Ibsen, it is a more down to earth tragedy on a level and situation that almost anyone can relate to. Though the heroine of the tragedy is almost no different than Oedipus, she has a form of personal nobility and pride that leads her to actions that eventually bring about her downfall. She suffers, she feels emotion. Both Oedipus the King and A Doll’s House set forth a range of human emotions that allows the audience to connect and feel for the tragedy, given to one to reflect upon human nature.
From page fifty-eight to fifty-seven of Albert Camus’s The Stranger he uses the relentless Algerian sun as a motif for the awareness of reality that pursues the main character, Meursault, throughout the passage. When each motif appears in the novel such as this passage, Meursault’s actions change. This exemplifies that the light, heat, and sun trigger him to become debilitated or furious. Albert Camus sets up this motif in the passage to indicate to the reader that this motif shows the major themes of this novel. This motif shows Meursault’s emotion, how the imagery of weaponry affects Meursault’s actions, how the sun is a representation of society, and how the sun weakens Meursault.
The courts have the function of giving the public a chance to present themselves whether to prosecute or defend themselves if any disputes against them rise. It is known to everyone that a court is a place where disputes can be settled while using the right and proper procedures. In the Criminal court is the luxury of going through a tedious process of breaking a law. Once you have been arrested and have to go to court because of the arrest, you now have a criminal case appointed against you. The court is also the place where a just, fair and unbiased trial can be heard so that it would not cause any disadvantage to either of the party involved in the dispute. The parties are given a chance to represent themselves or to choose to have a legal representative, which is mostly preferred by many.
In the play Sophocles’ Oedipus Tyrannus the tragic downfall of Oedipus the King brings forth the question was this outcome determined by his predestined fate or his own actions, and if he can be held accountable for his crime. The argument of Oedipus guilt or innocence dates back for centuries, yet there still is not a clear explanation to which side is accurate. King Laius of Thebes Oedipus’ biological father learned from the oracle that if he wed with Jocasta, he would perish at the hands of his son. To avoid the tragic fate Jocasta and Laius abandoned their infant son to the elements as an attempt to kill him. Subsequently, Oedipus is found and raised by King Polybius of Corinth as his own. Only to later return to Thebes in a desperate
Albert Camus’ The Guest revolves around the notions of moral justification and solitude with the underlying themes of absurdism and nihilism. Camus personifies absurdism through the protagonist, Daru–whether Daru makes the decision to release the prisoner to freedom or delivers the Arab prisoner into prison does not matter, since Daru allows the prisoner to choose, and the prisoner chooses to be imprisoned. There is also a sense of uncertainty of moral justification–how is one justified in one’s choice of action and on what scale is the justification based on, which is essentially the foundation of Daru’s dilemma. With the internal confliction of Daru’s personal beliefs against abiding superior authority, Daru is faced with two moral dilemmas:
"As flies to wanton boys are we to the gods; / they kill us for their