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Shakespeare julius caesar analysis
Shakespeare julius caesar analysis
Julius caesar seminar questions
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"On my way out, I was even going to shake his [the policeman's] hand, but just in time, I remembered that I had killed a man." Part 2, Chapter 1, pg. 64 In conflict with the law enforcement, Meursault feels no remorse for his past murder of the Arab. Although, he does realize that he has done something terribly wrong according to society. Unable to feel any emotion, he personally lists it as a burden for others. He believes what he did was not that serious and did not think about it twice when he committed the crime . He does not care for society's approval and has never cared for it. 2. "And the more I thought about it, the more I dug out my memory things I had overlooked or forgotten. I realized then that a man who had lived only one day could …show more content…
This quote greatly describes how being imprisoned affected his life. It is the place where he reflected about his life before being thrown into the slammer. He looked back at how meaningless his life really was. It seemed sort of ironic that he had to end up in prison to realize it. The only thing that keeps him busy while being locked up is having old flashbacks of his life before everything occurred. He is finally reflecting for once in his life and having deep thoughts. 3. "for the first time in years, I had this stupid urge to cry, because I could feel how much all these people hated me." Hearing the caretaker describe him smoking and drinking coffee, Meursault thinks "for the first time I realized that I was guilty." Part 2, Chapter 3, pg. 90 Meursault’s mood changes and he starts having some sense of guilt, not trying to show others that they were right and he was wrong. He always knew that he shot the Arab but now he realizes how much people seem to hate him for it. He suddenly feels the world weighing on his shoulders. It seems as though it is all too much to bear. For him, feeling almost anything, even an ounce of guilt is
This passage is set before Meursault’s execution with the chaplain entering the scene, and telling Meursault that his “heart is blind”, leading to Meursault to yell and delve into his rant, and moment of consciousness. The passage has a calm in the beginning as if Meursault catches his breath from yelling previously, and he starts to reassure himself that he is not wrong for expressing his views as it went against the public’s religious beliefs, and states that this moment was so important to him that it was if his life was merely leading up to it. Why this particular scene is important to Meursault is that this is an instance where he successfully detaches himself from the world, and begins to deconstruct the world’s ideals as his rant shifts on to focusing on how nothing in life mattered. Meursault describes his gripes with the chaplain’s words as he explains his reasoning as to why the concept of a god is flawed as Meursault saw that everyone was inherently the same, with equal privileges just how often people could express them separated them. The passage continues with Meursault arguing that everyone would be faced with judgment or punishment one day, and explains why his own situation was not significant as it was no different. After that explanation the passage ends with Meursault posing the concept of everything in the world being equal both in wrongdoing and life in general, evident in his example of saying “Sala¬mano's dog was worth just as much as his wife.” Although the passage shows Meursault challenging the ethics and morals that the world around him follows, it does have instances like the end in which we see that the rant is still expression of Meursault's complex emotions, as it is unclear whether it is fear or a...
While coming to terms with the absurd was a gradual process for Meursault, his final days and his heated conversation with the chaplain, and his desire for a hateful crowd of spectators show that he was able to accept the absurdity, and revel in it, finding satisfaction in spite of those around him and justifying his murder. His ego had reached an all-time high as he neared his execution, and his satisfaction left him prepared for the nothingness awaiting him. This process was a natural psychological response to his mortality, for his peace of mind. Therefore, Meursault is not the Stranger, an alien to society, but a troubled man seeking meaning and satisfaction in a life and a world that was overwhelming unsatisfactory and absurd.
When Meursault hears about his mother 's death, he shows no emotion and no sadness. The event has no affect on Meursault and he attends the funeral without showing any feeling (#7) of depression, sadness, or remorse. Meursault, even when recalling the event of his mother 's passing, does not remember the day she died even when it was only one day prior. Most people would remember a day they lost a loved one for the rest of their lives. Meursault, exhibiting sociopathic traits, has an ability to control other people using his calm. Meursault was able to convince Raymond to not shoot the Arab and put the gun down. (#16) Meanwhile, Meursault shows another trait of sociopathy that resulted in a radical action: a murder of one of the Arabs. Even after Meursault shot the Arab dead, he fired four more rounds into the Arab 's dead body. One may infer that Meursault thought to himself: the Arab was not anymore dead after the first round than the last four rounds. Once again, Meursault has no feeling of regret, remorse, or grief. At the end of his life, Meursault is condemned to death. Meursault accepts this and towards the very end, actually looks forward to death. It seems as if the only thing that made Meursault happy in his life, was awaiting his death. Meursault is like white noise in the background of life. The noise plays in the background, yet has no actual effect on anything. Meursault has no first name, without an age, without any features. He has no identity. Meursault, is indeed, The
The main character Meursault is literally a stranger, a stranger to the reader. He is a stranger in many ways. Meursault does not act as we would say a normal person would. Being as he did not shed a tear at his own mothers funeral. Meursault also shot and killed an Arab at the beach and showed no regrets. Throughout the novel Meursault kept himself isolated himself mentally,
Meursault lived a relatively normal life. He had an office job, friends, and even a girlfriend which suggests that he could be viewed as a proficient member of society. During his trial, various people from Meursault’s life such as Celeste, Marie, Solomon, and Raymond attested to Meursault’s character as an “honest…and decent man” (pg. 91) which suggests that he was viewed as normal and well-liked. Meursault, however, was detached from his society as he constantly was unable to emotionally connect with people. As a result of being uninterested in life, Meursault did not care about his actions often acting on mere impulse. He simply did what he wanted to even shooting a man simply due to the heat. On the contrary, the sniper was an outsider in his society. By those who knew him, the sniper was described as “strange”, “creepy”, and “dull”. The sniper was alone as he was rejected by everyone he knew from girlfriends to coworkers. Because he was hated those around him, the sniper murdered numerous people in an attempt to be
At first glance, Meursault could be seen as an evil man. He shows no grief at his mother’s funeral, worrying more about the heat. His first reaction to his mother’s death is not sadness, it is a matter-of-fact, unemotional acceptance of the situation. “Maman died today. Or yesterday maybe, I don’t know.” Later on in the story, Meursault kills an Arab on the beach, and his only concern is that he has ruined the calm, pleasant day he was having. When he is in jail, the magistrate comes in an attempt to save Meursault’s soul, but instead of cooperating, Meursault simply confounds the magistrate by refusing to believe in God. Even at his trial, Meursault doesn’t show any remorse for having killed the Arab. Based on this evidence alone, how can we not see Meursault as evil?
Obviously, his murder of the Arab is a sin, one that results in his arrest and eventual execution. Looking deeper into Meursault’s psyche, though, the reader sees that he cares little for human life. In fact, upon hearing about his mother’s death, he comments that it “doesn’t mean anything” (Camus 1). This stands in contrast to the Christian interpretation that "Human life is sacred… involves the creative action of God and it remains for ever in a special relationship with the Creator" (Catechism 2258). It is his lack of compassion for human life that allows him to so easily be drawn to murdering the Arab. His opposition to basic moral values is what is ultimately responsible for his ironically Christ-like
When Meursault is in the court room, at one point he finally realizes how distant he actually is from normal society and how much they judged him it. “for the first time in years I had this stupid urge to cry, because I could feel how much all these people hated me.”(pg. 89-90). He starts to feel the force of condemnation against him, this starts to make him break down and feel an
Meursault is a character with little to no feelings. When asked to see his mother, Meursault said no and when he was asked why he said, “I don’t know.” Also, at the trial Meursault was told he “had no soul, and that nothing that makes a man human, not a single moral principle, could be found within me. we cannot complain that he lacks what is not in his power to acquire.
.... He wanted to file a legal appeal but he knew they would all get rejected. Meursault was not sentenced to death because he killed the Arab but because of his absence of emotion to his mother’s death. The people wanted him dead because he posed a threat to the morals of the society. But when he accepts the fact that he is going to die he feels a sense of freedom and he looks forward to his execution. By rejecting to believe in God, it shows that he does value any hope of life after death. Then when he accepts his death sentence, he also takes the punishment away from it either. He is neither depressed nor hopeful when it comes to his death, which overall proves how he lacks morality in the story.
After, he is investigated and questioned by a magistrate who asks him the same kind of questions assuming Meursault was a sociopath who didn't have emotion towards anything causing him to create a murder. Meursault is in prison and describes his time as something you can get accustomed to. He gradually finds comfort in something's during his time in prison. Marie visits him in a noisy room which is filled with other prisoners and visitors frantically trying to communicate with their loved ones creating a noisy room which becomes unbearable at one point for
Every character that revolves around Meursault seems to be in direct contrast to him. Meursault is an amoral person who does not seem to care passionately about anything. He acts in accordance with physical desires. In other words, Meursault is a sensualist person. At this particular time in his life, his path crosses with his neighbor, Raymond, who feels as though his girlfriend is cheating on him. He decides to take revenge with minor aid form Meursault. Meursault helps him only because he thinks he has nothing to lose if he does. As things lead into one another, the first major violent act of the book is committed.
The trial portrays the absurdist ideal that absolute truth does not exist. This ideal destroys the very purpose of the trial, which seeks to place a rational explanation on Meursault’s senseless killing of the Arab. However, because there is no rational explanation for Meursault’s murder, the defense and prosecution merely end up constructing their own explanations. They each declare their statements to be the truth, but are all based on false assumptions. The prosecution itself is viewed as absurd. The prosecutor tries to persuade the jury that Meursault has no feelings or morals by asking Perez if “he had at least seen [Meursault] cry” (91). The prosecutor then continues to turn the crowd against Meursault when he asks him about his “liaison” with Marie right after his mother’s death. Though Meursault’s relationship with Marie and his lack of emotions at his mother’s funeral may seem unrelated to his murder, the prosecutor still manages to convince the crowd that they are connected to one another. The jury ends up convicting Meursault not because he killed a man, but because he didn't show the proper emotions after his mother ...
Attention to the trial sequence will reveal that the key elements of the conviction had little to do with the actual crime Meursault had committed, but rather the "unspeakable atrocities" he had committed while in mourning of his mother's death, which consisted of smoking a cigarette, drinking a cup of coffee, and failing to cry or appear sufficiently distraught. Indeed, the deformed misconception of moral truth which the jury [society] seeks is based on a detached, objective observation of right or wrong, thereby misrepresenting the ideals of justice by failing to recognize that personal freedom and choice are "...the essence of individual existence and the deciding factor of one's morality.2" The execution of Meursault at the close of the novel symbolically brings
Meursault is distant from set plans, ambitions, desires, love, and emotions in general. He has a difficult time with emotions such as regret and compassion. The reader sees the nature of his personality in the first few lines of the novel: "Maman died today. Or yesterday maybe, I don't know." When he hears of the death of his mother through a telegram, he is unattached, and can be considered uncaring.