Albert Camus’ The Stranger and Peter Shaffer’s “Equus” reveal the degenerative effects of religion on society through a negative portrayal of characters’ relationships with religion. Both introduce religion as a means of releasing welled up human emotions and as an optimistic distraction from the realities of life. However, both criticize religion as being dangerous to one’s mental stability as well as to society as a whole. Camus and Shaffer each communicate this message through their respective characters: the magistrate and Alan Strang.
Shaffer and Camus communicate religion’s function as an outlet for human passion. In The Stranger, Camus, rather than romanticizing the human pull towards religion, devalues the institution by painting it as little more than a vent for emotions to steam out. Camus establishes the character of the magistrate as one easily swayed by religion as he explains that “he was speaking very quickly and passionately, he told me that he believed in God, that it was his conviction that no man was so guilty that God would not forgive him” (Camus 68). Camus’s portrayal of the magistrate in his overflowing passion is in direct contrast to the narrator, Meursault. Whereas Meursault acts calm and collected, the magistrate behaves almost manically in his fervor as he “was waving his crucifix almost directly over my head… he was scaring me a little” (Camus, 68). The magistrate’s pent up emotions billow out in full force, demolishing the cool mask the he must wear in his everyday reality. The play “Equus,” furthers this opinion through the actions of the character Alan Strang. Alan, committed to an asylum for a violent act committed in a religious fervor, depicts the outcome of religious extremism. Alan declares “A...
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...ion’s primary purpose stands as a necessary release of bridled passions and as a distraction from the meaningless existence that is everyday life. Both authors push farther into this theory, however, in order to discover what effect such an institution can have on the mental stability of humans as well as the institutions of society. The Stranger’s magistrate, abandoning his oath to remain disinterested, allows his opinion of Meursault to be swayed by his apathetic response to religion, reflecting society’s unwarranted judgment based on religious affiliation. In “Equus,” Alan represents the dangerous effects of confusing sexuality and religion, displaying the dangers of relying on religion as one’s sole source of passion.
Works Cited
Camus, Albert. The Stranger. New York: Random House, 1942. Print.
Shaffer, Peter. Equus. New York: Scribner, 1973. Print.
Through psychological realism in Equus and The Stranger, Peter Shaffer and Albert Camus alienate both characters to show the power of religion through their perceived personal realities.
The gothic characteristics that are found in Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Fall of the House of Usher” and Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “The Minister’s Black Veil” delve into the dark side of the human mind where secret sin shrouds the main characters in self anguish and insanity. Both Poe and Hawthorne focus on how much of a burden hiding sins from people can be, and how the human mind grows weak and tired from carrying such a burden. Poe illustrates that with his perturbed character Roderick Usher who was rotting from the inside like his “mansion of gloom” (Poe 323). Hawthorne dives deep into the mind of one Mr. Hooper, a minister, a man admired by all, until he starts wearing a black veil to conceal his face because “ The subject had reference to secret sin” (Hawthorne 311) . An analysis of both Mr. Hooper and Roderick Usher show through their speech, actions, behaviors, and interaction with other humans, the daily strain of hiding sin from one another.
In Part One of The Stranger, Albert Camus avoids religious confrontations with Meursault in order to subconsciously place blame on Christ for his criminal actions. Camus restricts Meursault’s relationships to further distance him from his mother. Meursault then alienates himself from the typical spiritual ceremonies and actions to demonstrate his distrust of religion. Simultaneously, Camus uses diction of clear and bright elements to characterize people in the novel, excluding Meursault. Camus associates dark colors with Meursault to depict a sadistic persona. To conclude, Camus places Meursault in recurring situations which result in him being distracted by “the light”. Camus uses these literary techniques in The Stranger to demonstrate man’s condemnation of God.
The emotionless anti-hero, Monsieur Meursault, embarks on a distinct philosophical journey through The Stranger. Confident in his ideas about the world, Meursault is an unemotional protagonist who survives without expectations or even aspirations. Because of his constant indifference and lack of opinions about the world, it can be denoted that he undergoes a psychological detachment from the world and society. It is through these characteristics that exist in Meursault that Camus expresses the absurd. Starting from the very first sentence of the book, “Maman died today. Or maybe yesterday, I don’t know.” (Camus 1) The indifferent tone from these short sentences convey a rather apathetic attitude from Meursault’s part. Not only does he not feel any sorrow, he also “felt like having a smoke.” (Camus 4) Communicating perfectly Meursault’s disinterest, “[he] hesitate, [he] didn’t know if [he] could do it with Maman right there. [He] thought it over; it really didn’t matter.” (Camus 4) The death of his mother prompts an absurdist philosophy in which he experiences a psychological awakening and begins to place no real emphasis on emotions, but rather on the physical aspect of life.
...able option. Camus’s main character, Meursault, embodies this third option; by accepting his circumstances and being indifferent to them, Meursault is able to break free of all possible causes of anxiety and find happiness. Furthermore, Meursault’s rejection of religion as belief, his acceptance of the “benign indifference of the universe”, and his acceptance of his circumstances all leading to happiness personifies Camus’s take on Absurdism, the philosophy that Camus is trying to depict in The Stranger (76). By using foil characters to contrast Meursault in actions or personality, Camus creates several polarizing situations, making Meursault the extreme epitome of Absurdism in every contrasting relationship and thus, shining light on his ideology in the process.
Hitchens, Christopher. God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything. New York: Twelve, 2007. Print.
In the novel The Scarlet Letter and the short story “The Minister’s Black Veil”, Nathaniel Hawthorne incorporates romantic elements, such as beauty, truth, innocence, and sin, in his criticism of Puritan societies. In both texts, Hawthorne argues that all people, even those in strictly religious societies with corrupted standards, are capable of sin. Hawthorne uses symbolism and light and dark imagery to convey his argument.
Many works of literature have been known to have their words wrap around a certain subject such as gender, politics, and experiences. But some works go into a more personal level such as religion. In Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery” and Salman Rushdie’s “Imagine There’s No Heaven”, they talk about the strength in the relationship between individuality and religion. These two authors have written their stories based on how an individual’s life, choices, and beliefs can or can be altered by the religion that surrounds them. As one reads these stories, they might be able to notice that they have a lot in common but there are many difference on what the stories are actually about. These two authors have expressed the relationship between individuals and religion through the similarities, differences, and resolutions.
Often times an author incorporates a thought or philosophy into a work that can shape or reshape the attitude emitted from the novel. In Albert Camus', The Stranger, the Existential philosophy that the author fills into the work give an aura of apathy. With the opening lines of "Mother died today. Or, maybe, yesterday; I can't be sure," Camus immediately sets a tone of indifference (1). Though the protagonist, Mersault, is not completely without cares, the overall attitude of passiveness he has toward himself, as well as toward others, give the entire novel a tone of apathy.
“But from the moment he knows, his tragedy begins.” Meursault is not unlike Sisyphus. In the novel, The Stranger, by Albert Camus, we watch this character change from a carefree man who loves being alive and free to a man who is imprisoned for a meaningless murder he commits but who eventually finds happiness in his fate.
In The Stranger, Camus portrays women as unnecessary beings created purely to serve materialistically and satisfy males through the lack of a deep, meaningful, relationship between Meursault and females. Throughout the text, the main character, Meursault, creates closer, more meaningful relationships with other minor characters in the story. However, in his interactions with females in this book, Meursault’s thoughts and actions center on himself and his physical desires, observations, and feelings, rather than devoting his attention to the actual female. Living in Algiers in the 1960s, Meursault originates from a post-modernist time of the decline in emotion. Meursault simply defies the social expectations and societal ‘rules’, as post-modernists viewed the world. Rather than living as one gear in the ‘machine’ of society, Meursault defies this unwritten law in the lackluster relationships between he and other females, as well as his seemingly blissful eye to society itself. In The Stranger, males, not females, truly bring out the side of Meursault that has the capacity for compassion and a general, mutual feeling relationship. For example, Marie and Meursault’s relationship only demonstrate Meursault’s lack of an emotional appetite for her. Also, with the death of Maman, Meursault remains virtually unchanged in his thoughts and desires.
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.
The climax of the novel The Stranger is reached when the jury declares that the main character, Meursault, is to be executed by gulliotine 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 three main tenets of absurdism. Camus uses the trial and conviction of Meursault to express the absurdist ideals that truth does not exist, and human life is precious.
In Camus’s book The Outsider, one of the major themes is religion, and the protagonist, Meursault, has unwavering views on religion; he refuses to acknowledge the existence of God even before his death. According to Camus, religion is a failed attempt at giving life meaning. As soon as you know that death waits, you start living to the fullest so as not to waste another day doing something you dislike. But there is no fear of death having an effect on Meursault because he is already doing what he wants to do. Through the book, Camus strives to test the efficiency of religion as an antidote for human mortality.
In 1962, writer Mark Esslin took pleasure in composing the novel Theatre of the Absurd and quickly became a major influence on the works of many inspired writers. Esslin subsequently made ensuing plays and stories which focused on nonspecific existentialist concepts and which did not remain consistent with his ideas, rejecting the “narrative continuity and the rigidity of logic.” As a result, the protagonist of these stories is often not capable of containing himself within his or her disorderly society (“Theatre”). Writer Albert Camus made such an interpretation of the “Absurd” by altering the idea into his view of believing it is the rudimentary absence of “reasonableness” and consistency in the human personality. Not only does Camus attempt to display the absurd through studied deformities and established arrangements; he also “undermines the ordinary expectations of continuity and rationality” (“The Theatre”). Camus envisions life in his works, The Stranger and “The Myth of Sisyphus,” as having no time frame or significance, and the toiling endeavor to find such significance where it does not exist is what Camus believes to be the absurd (“Albert”).