Religion, Heresy, and Irrational Meursault
Religion, Society, and the Irrational Meursault
In Albert Camus' The Stranger, we follow Meursault, the main character, as he kills an Arab man and is condemned of both homicide and indirect matricide by a jury and society heavily rooted in religion. I will identify the religious aspects of this judicial branch and society of Algiers. First, I will start with Maman's funeral as an example of the increasing influence of religion on Meursault's surroundings. Then, I will focus on the Meursault's conversations with the magistrate. Finally, I will focus on the case itself and Meursault's death penalty through this religious context, highlighting the clash between Christianity and Meursault's irrationality and absurdity.
In The Stranger, the setting of Algiers appears to be a society increasingly rooted in religion with church and state intertwined. We first see indications of this increasingly religious society when the caretaker tells Meursault that Maman "often expressed to her friends her desire for a religious burial," (Camus 6). Meursault responds to the caretaker, saying that Maman never thought about religion (6). It seems Maman turned to religion at the end of her life, unbeknownst to Meursault, exemplifying the increasing religious influence on Algiers and Meursault's surroundings.
We see other instances of Meursault directly encountering religion during his homicide court case. When Meursault provokes the magistrate by saying he did not believe in God, the magistrate says, "I have never seen a soul as hardened as yours. The criminals who have come before me have always wept at the sight of this image of suffering," (69). Until Meursault's appearance, the magistrate has only encountered other religious believers, albeit criminals. This lack of atheist encounters both affirms the magistrate's belief that "all men believed in God, even those who turn their backs on him," and highlights the rarity of nonbelievers like Meursault. Due to Meursault's rare lack of remorse and Christian faith, the magistrate proclaims that his soul is hardened, he is a threat to their religious society, and he is Monsieur Antichrist.
The religious jury, representing the religious society as a whole, feels threatened by Meursault's lack of morality, motive, religious belief, and remorse and condemn him to death. During the case, we see most of the society/characters we glimpsed in part one of the book testify as witnesses or watch the proceedings in the audience. During Celeste's testimony, he says that Meursault's homicide was just "bad luck" (Camus 93). The prosecutor, jury, and society, which believe the world has a rational order based on God's creation and direction, refuse to accept this "bad luck" and Meursault's lack of motive, making assumptions of Meursault's thoughts to craft a logical, immoral explanation for Meursault's irrational homicide. Rejecting Meursault's irrationality and lack of normal human and Christian values, the prosecutor and jury deem Meursault an irregularity and a threat to the social order, sentencing him to death to protect the world's rational order from his irrational, absurdist ways.
Meursault's absurdist views and society's rejection of them becomes completely clear when Meursault meets the chaplain after he is sentenced to death. The chaplain insists for Meursault to feel remorse and turn to God for repentance, encouraging him to conform to the world's rational order and accept meaningfulness. Meursault explodes at the chaplain, shouting his absurdist beliefs that nothing matters (Camus 121). The chaplain's "eyes were full of tears. Then he turned and disappeared," (122). After receiving a large dose of Meursault's nihilism (had to search that term up), the chaplain, along with society, abandon him to the guillotine.
Farewell Meursault.
- Max Bolton
You make a good point about some of the surprising ways that Maman seems to have changed in the final months of her life, in ways that Meursault seems unaware of AND which contrast with his own views in various ways. I hadn't thought of it in these terms before, but there is a parallel between Maman "turning to religion" at the end of her life (we get the sense that they're used to this at the old-folks' home) and Meursault refusing to turn to religion when he's condemned to death (i.e. at the end of his life), when the magistrate understands that *everyone* in his position turns to religion. (Maman is an example?) And her taking of a "fiance" (in a "playing" way, as Meursault puts it) at the very end of life, "starting over" and showing a willingness to "live it all again," is a reverse mirror of Meursault's hesitations about marriage with Marie. He can't even "play at" having a fiance in real life, with no death sentence (yet), but Maman immerses herself in this pleasant fiction with Perez, when there is no hope of anything long-term.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure exactly what to make of these parallels, but they are interesting: Maman facing a kind of "death sentence" at the retirement home as a parallel and contrast to Meursault and his literal death sentence (where, ironically, he can't have conjugal visits with Marie because they aren't married).
Great analysis, Max! You’ve done an incredible job highlighting the impact of religion in the novel, and it definitely plays a crucial role in Meursault’s ultimate demise. “Monsieur Antichrist’s” refusal to conform and labeling the event as “bad luck” clearly conflicts with their God-ordered world. In the end, due to Meursault’s character, he becomes, in Camus's view, the embodiment of an “absurd hero”--living in the present moment and defying societal expectations (to an extent), for better or worse.
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