Existentialism in Albert Camus' The Plague and Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godot

As defined in The American Heritage College Dictionary, existentialism emphasizes the uniqueness and isolation of the individual in a hostile or indifferent universe, regards existnece as unexplainable, and stresses free choice and responsibility for one's actions.  Existentialism is personalized from other schools of thought by its embodiment of three important criterion; 1) the emphasis of the individual as the centerpoint of his domain; 2) an accentuation of human choice and freedom; and, 3) a critique of social norm and its aim for individuals to congregate as merely part of a herd.  These three standards of action are present in all works defined as existential, and are absorbed in Achebe's Things Fall Apart.

If God does not exist, then both man and the universe are absurd. As the Bible says, I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching. For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths. As for you, always be sober-minded, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry (2 Timothy 4:1-5). Which means that in this world we may come across troubles, but we can endure them through grace and speaking the word of god. For example, I pray for those who think the word is meaningless and absurd. I strongly believe that life has meaning and is wonderful with Jesus Christ.

Existentialism is a Humanism by Jean-Paul Sartre, was published in 1945 at the height of Existentialism's cultural resurgence. As Sartre states in his opening line, his purpose is to “offer a defence of existentialism against some charges that have been brought against it.” (Sartre, 1945) At a time where Existentialism was heavily associated with wearing black and smoking (Fahlenbrach, 2012) Sartre felt the need to draw attention to its philosophical and more meaningful aspects, beyond it simply being a passing trend. Sartre outlines, “Man is nothing else but that which he makes of himself. That is the first principle of existentialism” (Sartre, 1945) This is rooted in what Sartre believes to be the basis of all Existential

As stated by the Webster Dictionary, an existentialist is: “individual existence in an unfathomable universe and the plight of the individual who must assume ultimate responsibility for acts of free will without any certain knowledge of what is right or wrong or good or bad.” In the novel The Stranger, Albert Camus creates a character who fits this ideology, Meursault. Throughout the whole story, his actions and the things he says makes him fit into the category of an existentialist, a person who follows existentialism. Within the story by Camus, the protagonist, Meursault, exemplifies the ideas and philosophy of existentialism through indirect and direct characterization.

Existentialism is often defined as a philosophical movement that emphasizes individual existence, freedom and choice. Existentialism is a philosophy that emphasizes a few main points, such as the freedom to choose and how the choices you make should be made without the assistance of another person or standard. From the existentialist point of view, you must accept the risk and responsibility of your choices and follow the act and result to wherever it takes the individual. Someone that is put in a certain situation understands it far more than someone looking in on that same situation; one commonly used situation that appears often in existentialist works is

In this novel, Camus sets the story in Oran, Algeria, coincidently , where he grew up. He describes the town as dull, boring, and soulless almost. “ The town itself, let us admit, is ugly”. (Camus, p. 1) The author is showing us that there is nothing really special about Oran, or in existentialist terms, the people don’t make Oran special. Their only concern, or their only focus, was conducting what they called “business”; nothing more. However, the main protagonist, Dr. Rieux, was one of the few in his society to actually question, what is the true definition of life? He seemed like he was the only one that realized that Oran was missing just this; life. He was curious what was a person’s or an individual’s purpose in this dry town. When masses of dead rats were lining the street, the public showed little curiosity with, of course, the exception of the doctor. As the plague soon hit, the attitudes of the public had miniscule change.

  Existentialism is a philosophy dealing with man's aloneness in the universe. Either there is no God or else God stands apart from man, leaving him free will to make his own choices. From this basic idea of man being alone in an uncertain and purposeless world, many related ideas have developed. One great worry of existentialist writers is that life is becoming too complicated and too impersonal. People become more and more involved with their work, which is taking them away from their friends, family, and culture. However, these provide the only "meaning" that life could possibly have. One author prominently known for his work with existential ideas was Franz

Waiting for Godot, Samuel Beckett's existential masterpiece, for some odd reason has captured the minds of millions of readers, artists, and critics worldwide, joining them all in an attempt to interpret the play. Beckett has told them not to read anything into his work, yet he does not stop them. Perhaps he recognizes the human quality of bringing personal experiences and such to the piece of art, and interpreting it through such colored lenses. Hundreds of theories are expounded, all of them right and none of them wrong. A play is only what you bring to it, in a subconscious connection between you and the playwright.

Perhaps the most telling symptom of existentialist philosophers is their ever-divergent theories on the fundamental characteristics of human life and their steadfast refusal to assign an explicit meaning or reason to our existence at all. Contrary to criticism which therefore labels the movement cynically nihilistic, existentialism justifies life with reasoning similar to that of Zen Buddhism. Specifically, the notions of hopelessness and absurdity can be gleaned from Buddhism in a manner helpful to the understanding of existentialist viewpoints on the same.

The existentialist is one who is concerned only with that intense moment of awareness with only his senses at his disposal, never looking to the future – the most living awareness. McCandles, the protagonist, in Into the Wild has come to the realization that existence is already being dead and accepting the fact that life is absurd and marvelous. He embraced the sublime absurdity of existence by renouncing the language games society plays. What is so enticing about the existentialist is that he is not concerned with the pressure of appearances and small talk which society employs to lie about what they think and feel. Existentialism is accepting the inevitability of death and living life for the moment without entertaining hope or falsities that distract one from living and accepting truth. The existentialist sees the simplicity in life and the absurdity of complicating it with pretences and lies, the existentialist is a naked man, he is one who becomes one with the rest of creation in accepting his fate on this earth and not hoping for anything more – he simply exists.

The Merriam – Webster Dictionary defines existentialism as a chiefly 20th century philosophical movement embracing diverse doctrines but centering on analysis of individual existence in an unfathomable universe and the plight of the individual who must assume ultimate responsibility for acts of free will without any certain knowledge of what is right or wrong or good or bad (Merriam, 2011). In other words, an existentialist believes that our natures are the natures we make for ourselves, the meaning of our existence is that we just exist and there may or may not be a meaning for the existence, and we have to individually decide what is right or wrong and good or bad for ourselves. No one can answer any of those things for us. A good

Theo Decker, the protagonist of the story was sent on a quest to find his individuality at a young age. He learned that life isn’t always fair but one can still write their own rules and make life the best for them. Existentialism can be seen throughout the book with many decisions that Theo makes are risky. Still, existentialism would not apply to the whole story.

“The existential theory is concerned for the personal "commitment" of this interesting existing unique in the "human circumstances”.

I consider myself an existentialist. There are two basic approaches to this philosophy: either one rejoices in the freedom of the idea that a higher power is not imposing rules and purpose onto our existence, or, one sinks beneath the burden of responsibility that this bequeaths. Existentialists like Sartre, who can only see the bleak and meaningless aspects of living, have missed the opportunity that this philosophy gives to structure and guide their lives based on their own inner moral principles. I think that the inability to cope with inherent absence of meaning points to a dependence on the guidance of a higher power: in effect, a reluctance to take responsibility for oneself. I see existentialism as an incredibly liberating

It is human nature to question the meaning of life and for the individual to question their own purpose. The phrase “fate or free will” often comes up when questioning ones purpose in life. Is life predetermined and the individual has no control? Or rather can the individual take charge and choose their own path in life. Existentialists believe that humans are born first and that life is meaningless until the individual defines their own purpose. It is the belief that one's existence precedes one’s essence. In both the late 16th century play Hamlet and Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead (a play within a play based on Hamlet) ideas of existentialism are explored. The later play builds upon the ideals developed in Hamlet and confirms that Hamlet is indeed an existential play. This is evident as the main characters Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are more object like than human and can therefore be considered existential objects, which then forces readers to look at Hamlet as an existential hero. This is because Rosencrantz and Guildenstern exist only in the present and lack free will, in contrast to Hamlet. Both Rosencrantz and Guildenstern question the absurdity of life and death and what it all means, much like how Hamlet explored the absurd. Tom Stoppard meticulously crafted the two minor characters in Shakespeare's Hamlet and put them center stage in his own play and gave them existential object qualities, which was contrast to Hamlet’s character and confirms the idea