Albert Camus' The Myth of Sisyphus Essays

With everything going on with the upcoming presidential election, the political community has been very prominent in society the past several months. While doing research on myths, I came across The Myth of Sisyphus and immediately made many connections between the two subjects. Both of these topics have a lot to do with manipulation and deception. With politics especially, people today have a lot of opinions on the dynamics of that community. They both deal with continuous repetition and constantly giving your all to make accomplish a task. What is interesting though is exactly to what extent can The Myth of Sisyphus be related to our modern day political community?

Camus explanations of the Myth of Sisyphus, presented the concept of the absurd by outlining the beliefs that an individuals life has worth but only his live in a world that denies such worth to survive. Therefore, the absurdity in the statement, explains the fact of a clash between the orders through which an individuals mind hard for, likewise the lack of order that we as humans find in the world.

Lizeth Marin Honors Introduction to Literature Period 3 18 April 2008 Odysseus: Hero or Villain? Heading home, to Ithaca, Odysseus is faced upon many obstacles that he and his men try to overcome, but in the end substantiate that Odysseus is a villain. “The old soldier in despair: He has spent ten years (seven of them as Calypso’s not entirely unwillingly captive) trying to get home” (652, summary). Evidence proves that Odysseus is a villain, because he tries to convince that he was kept unwillingly by Calypso. However, it is true that Odysseus was kept as Calypso’s captive for a time. Yet he can still be judged as a villain, because he does not just stay as a prisoner, no, he assists Calypso by being with her for the pleasures that

In the Greek literature of mythology, we have examined Odysseus. Students and scholars alike debate whether Odysseus was a true hero, as read in The Odyssey. There is much supporting evidence to prove all sides of the debate and opinions held of Odysseus. It is of my opinion that Odysseus is a hero in his homeland, his family, the Greek people, and for us to learn from to this day. Odysseus had encompassed three many qualities that I believe made him a hero. He embodied, mental strength, physical strength, and spiritual strength. I would like to advocate for why Odysseus was a hero.

Whenever people hear the word “hero”, they portray in their minds a perfect person, who always choose the correct decisions, and saves many people; but not all heroes demonstrate a flawless life and deserve the title hero. In the great epic poem by Homer, Odyssey, Odysseus embodies the classic hero quality Greek culture respects—bravery and intelligence. Many readers admire Odyssey’s heroic qualities, ignoring the fact Odyssey also had weaknesses. While the readers could focus on the triumphs and accomplishments of Odysseus, Odysseus has done wrongs. Despite those great hero traits Odysseus embodies, he demonstrates great weaknesses humans have in common—pride, irresponsibility toward his crews, and revengeful heart, these flaws ultimately brought demise and trouble to his men and himself, which constantly reminds the audience that Homer represents Odysseus as another human, rather than a hero.

Homer’s The Odyssey, a magnificent story of lust, deceit, greed, and heroism, still fascinates scholars and casual readers alike today in the same way it fascinated its audience at the time it was written. The Odyssey, a journey of determination, patience, and virtue, tells the tail of Odysseus, the main character, on his voyage home to Ithaka after the end of the Trojan War. Odysseus goes through many unforeseen trials and tribulations, which exemplify his character. During these different happenings, Odysseus makes decisions that do not correspond to his character.

The myth of Sisyphus focuses on a king who was said to be deceitful and spiteful in nature. He was supposedly

The example of Odysseus’ raid on the city of the Cicones—and the loss of six men from his ships that results from it—shows a starting point in Odysseus’ evolution of humility by showing a a pre-suffering few of Odysseus—that of a man who encourages the sacking of a city—and a post initial dose suffering view of the same man—a man who blames his crew for the aforementioned suffering instead of taking responsibility himself. On his path home from the Trojan War, the fighter Odysseus—still filled with the greed and seeming invincibility of a victor came across a set of bystanders to the war known as the Cicones “There [he] sacked the[ir] city, killed the[ir] men, but as for the[ir]

Throughout the course of the essay, it is clear Odysseus exhibits good characteristics the majority of the time, making him a good man. He listens to the Gods and shows humility to mortals he doesn’t even know as well as the deathless Gods. Yet, there are times where he makes decisions that are a little controversial and violent, such as killing the suitors. Because his conscience, as well as the Gods, encouraged him to make this decision, he felt as if it was something that had to be done. Not only did Odysseus show bravery and courage, he portrayed selflessness by doing it for his family and people of Ithaca. These attributes and reasonings are what made people think of him as a hero instead of a murderer. Odysseus’s complications can apply

During the course of his journey home, Odysseus cunningly tricks the cyclops Polyphemus into believing he has no name. Moreover, he manifests his god-like strength, stringing his bow and killing the suitors who plague his kingdom. And lastly, Odysseus deals with the outcomes of his unrestrainable pride, tackling on Poseidon’s rage and learning to plead to the gods. So, even when Odysseus faces struggles and numerous obstacles, Odysseus induces an “extraordinary quality from within himself”, which is, in fact, the definition of an epic

Odysseus is the most remarkable character and the hero of the text “The Odyssey”. Although Odysseus is considered to be a hero in the text, he does not have an epic entrance of a hero. It actually begins with the crucial presentation of figure that captive in the island of a nymph Kalypso. Based on the facts were given, Odysseus is not a character who symbolizes the stereotype of physical strength. The more important he values is the dependence on deliberate strategies rather than masculinity. His devotion to own family is the most significant point of Odysseus. The metaphorical significance of Odysseus’ perspective of Family Ideology since the long journey is the heart of being a family hero.

Once upon a time, in a land far, far, away a legend once lived. The legendary one went by the name of Odysseus. He was a brave, strong, and determined man, and in many of his people’s eyes he was seen as a hero. He ran into some obstacles on his journey, and he had to make some tough decisions too. Odysseus goes through these hardships as he try to make it home safe. His first encounter was with a giant, and this changed everything for Odysseus and his men.

He knew the sheer ruin this would entail."(1). Here, the gods are discussing the crime committed by Aegisthus in courting another's wife and then killing Agamemnon upon his return.  The central theme in this book is definitely that of suffering and misery in existence, and there is no other character that knows this better than our hero, Odysseus. Odysseus is kept away from his home for 20 years. Every day, he experiences anguish in some form or the other.

What makes life meaningless? Taylor states that there are two characteristics of Sisyphus’s life that make life pointless. The main trademark is the purposelessness of his life. Taylor stresses the way that there is no good reason for the labor that Sisyphus is compelled to do because of the gods. I concur with Taylor that the purposelessness in performing this action demonstrates that his life is good for nothing. Perhaps, as specified in class, if his punishment brought about something advantageous. For instance, when Sisyphus rolled the rocks up the hill, rather than falling back down, they shaped into a beautiful architecture, which would give his life meaning. In the book, Taylor stated, “Activity... even long, drawn out and repetitive activity, has a meaning if it has some significant culmination… activity,” showing that possibly if the rocks did form a figure it could give meaning to Sisyphus’s life. The second characteristic that makes Sisyphus’s life meaningless is the idea of endless repetition of his punishment given by the gods. Taylor claimed that if the act of repetition would have led to an achievement or goal his life may not have been meaningless, yet Sisyphus’s labor did not lead to anything besides pointless repetition.

1). Phil’s scenario is similar to Sisyphus’ because they are both stuck in a situation where they have to repeat doing the same thing over and over. For example, Phil keeps reliving Groundhog Day while Sisyphus has to roll a rock up a hill for eternity. Another example of how Phil’s and Sisyphus’ scenarios are similar is how they got themselves into repeating the same day over. Phil was rude to people and did not enjoy the little aspects of life during his stay and news casting in Punxsutawney for Groundhog Day. Unlike Phil, Sisyphus created many crimes that the gods did not appreciate. Phil’s scenario is different from Sisyphus’ because Phil got to change the way he wanted to act and the things he wanted to do. For example, after he realized that he was going to keep reliving Groundhog’s Day, he decided to take advantage of the situation. On one of the days Phil decided to drive foolishly around town with two drunks that he met at a bar and ends up in jail. Since he is reliving the same day many times, he decides to steal money from the money truck. Sisyphus however just gets stuck with continuously rolling the rock up the hill and he has to deal with his “hour of consciousness”.