Looking at the Character of Meursault in The Stranger by...

Looking at the Character of Meursault in The Stranger by Camus In Camus’s â€Å"The Stranger† I will be discussing how the character Meursault utilizes all of the six existential themes: Freedom, Contingency, Individuality, Existence, Reflection, and Passion. I will also address how Meursault utilizes the existential givens of existence: Death, Freedom, Existential Isolation, and Meaning/Meaninglessness. I will then go on to discuss Meursault’s responsibility (guilt) throughout the novel. Finally I will discuss the interaction between Meursault and the Chaplain and it’s significance. In â€Å"The Stranger† Meursault embodies all of the six existential themes. The first existential theme is freedom. Freedom means that whatever happened†¦show more content†¦Meursault displays this theme at the very end of part one of the novel. Meursault is so content with walking back down to the spring unaware that he is going to end up destroying his happiness by shooting the Arab. This is a very unpredictable event because Meursault is just so happy and content with the sun shining on him, then all of a sudden something unexpected happens and his happiness is gone. â€Å"I knew that I had shattered the harmony of the day, the exceptional silence of a beach where I’d been happy.† (Page 59). The fifth theme is individuality. An individual is a single unique member of a collectivity. Meursault lives out his individuality. The strongest display of individuality is at the very end of the novel when Meursault wants a large crowd of people to witness his death, and he also wants them to greet him with cries of hate. â€Å"I had only wish that there be a large crowd of spectators the day of my execution and that they greet me with cries of hate.† (Page 123). By being hated Meursault retains his individuality, because if Meursault goes out there begging for forgiveness he would just become a member of a collectivity. The final theme is reflection. The term Reflection refers to the capacity to bring that which we are unaware of into awareness. Meursault leads a pre-reflective life. He goes through his day to day events and is so absorbed in each moment that he never reflects on them. Meursault does this until heShow MoreRelatedJudgment in Peter Shaffers Equus and Albert Camus The Stranger1160 Words   |  5 PagesAlbert Camus’ The Stranger, though internal in the first and external in the latter, mirrors society’s judgment of those who differ from the norm. The two postmodernist authors both use judgment as a tool to promote the postmodern idea that society oppresses and criticizes people who are not like everyone else. Camus and Shaffer place specific motifs and elements into their novels in order to push the idea of societal judgment on the reader. 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