Is Meursault a Hero?
The immediate answer is no. Meursault is, by some interpretations, far, far from heroic- he assists Raymond’s plans without hesitation, he displays no consistent system of morality, and most importantly, he is a murderer. But I would argue that, when he dies an unjust death to a court system that does not toleration deviations from the norm, Meursault acts as a heroic figure by exposing these evils.
There’s no question that Meursault deserves punishment. He did, after all, kill the Arab without warning or reason. But it is not this murder that lands him the death penalty; had he played along with the courts, had he lied and acted the part, he could’ve gotten away with a much lighter punishment, as would’ve been typical for the crimes acted upon an Algerian by a white man at this time. However, Meursault refuses to play ball and ends up dying for it. In doing so, he reveals a side of the courts that would’ve otherwise stayed hidden- the intolerance for any irregularities in the human population. Over time, the trial evolves from one of murder to one of morality, and Meursault is prosecuted for something completely separate from the trial. As we discussed extensively in class, the trial is absurd in the lengths it goes to to prove Meursault’s oddity and, thus, evil, without ever considering the Arab. And, in the end, Meursault’s crime is not murder, homocide, or any related charge. It’s being weird.
If Camus intended ‘The Stranger’ to be, in part, a criticism of the French judicial system -- as I believe it is fully possible he did -- then it would’ve made sense to center the story around the corruption and absurdity of the system. As such, although Meursault might not seem like a very good person, I think it’s very possible that he’s a heroic one.
What do you think? Is Meursault a hero for exposing the evil of the courts at the price of his own death? Or is he just a weirdo that deserved to die?
I agree that Camus’ depiction of Meursault is meant to be sympathetic to the reader. As Celeste says, Meursault just landed in some bad luck, and that he shouldn’t be held accountable for all of those accidental events, and I think as readers, many of us certainly felt that way. But I’m not sure that sympathy means heroism. Although Meursault does uncover the corrupt judicial system, he doesn’t do it consciously, it’s just a by-product of his refusal to cooperate. A hero is someone who stops a crime or uncovers the truth with the purpose of doing so, and although his action was heroic, Meursault as a character is not a hero, at least not in my opinion. It seems like, just like murder, heroism might have been an accident for Meursault.
ReplyDeleteI think that the story is exemplifying the evil of the court by making Mersault's character detestable. It might be a worse of two evils dynamic between Mersault and the court. Mersault is definitely not normal. Also, his crime is not excusable. However, the way that the court deals with Mersault portrays it as worse. He definitely was a weirdo that deserved to die, but I think that the court was worse, overriding his crime and portraying the court in a malicious light.
ReplyDeleteThis post is really interesting because I always considered the possibility of Meursault being heroic connected to him killing the Arab instead of Raymond. The problem I see with considering Meursault heroic is that he didn't seem to intentionally kill the Arab as a way to expose the corruptness of the judicial system. Maybe Meursault's actions were heroic, but he is not because I don't think this outcome is what he intended when he shot the Arab.
ReplyDeleteI do think that Meursault did end up exposing the judicial system but I would not classify him as a hero. The reason that I do not think that he is a hero is because he did not do anything heroic. It was not Meusault goal to expose the flaws in the judicial system, instead he did so accidentally because he was indifferent to everything. I Meursault was a hero the book would emphasize the courts lack of attention to the Arab
ReplyDeleteEthan and Kat, good points. I wonder how the storyline and the court's perception of Meursault would have changed if he killed Raymond instead of the Arab. Although that would make Meursault more of a "hero", I think it actually would kill his role as a political martyr. Nevertheless, the blog post and comments really foster a positive discussion. Nice work!
ReplyDeleteAfter the Hero's Journey class, my tendency is to look for archetypes like 'supernatural aide' and 'venturing into the unknown' when trying to figure out if a character fits the hero bill. I don't see many of these tropes in Meursault's world so I would hesitate to call him a hero. Additionally, his intentions never seem relevant to justice. He stumbles into exposing the court almost accidentally.
ReplyDeleteWhile I do believe Camus was making an overarching point about the injustice of the court system, I don't think that necessarily means Meursault is a hero. Rather, his strange personality works perfectly to show why the system is so corrupt, even though Meursault never realizes this. I think Meursault's personality could have been set up from the very beginning by Camus specifically for this purpose.
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