preview

The Stranger Character Analysis

Good Essays

The Stranger by Albert Camus follows the story of a man named Meursault, who received notice that his mother had passed away. Meursault was not emotionally connected to his mother, and his reaction is not what the reader would expect, as he did not seem to care at all. Therefore, the day after attending his mother’s funeral, Meursault goes to the beach and meets up with his girlfriend, Marie. After the beach, Meursault and Marie go to a movie and spend the night together. When he returns home from work the next day, Meursault runs into his neighbor, Raymond, who beats his mistress. Later in the story, Meursault, Marie, and Raymond go to a beach house, which is owned by Raymond’s friend, Masson. At the beach, Masson, Raymond, and Meursault …show more content…

Unlike round characters, flat characters do not change, but flat characters can be used to develop round characters.
Marie, Meursault’s girlfriend, is extremely emotionally attached to Meursault, and this is a weakness. Marie is dependent on Meursault as her source of happiness, even though Meursault does not show that he really cares about Marie. When asked if he loved her, he replied “it didn’t mean anything and that [he] probably didn’t love her” (41). Most people would despise being in a relationship in which they’re unloved by their partner. However, Marie stays with Meursault, even if he does not actually love her. Marie staying in a relationship where she is not even loved, is the result of her being emotionally attached to someone who does not feel the same way about her. However, Marie’s neediness also allows her to be extremely loyal. Loyalty is normally a strength, but Marie takes it to another level and makes her loyalty a weakness. Marie visited Meursault in prison and assures him”[he will] get out [of prison] and [they will] get married” (75). Even though Meursault murders someone, goes to jail and is sentenced to death, Marie stays with him almost all the way to the end of Meursault’s life. Most people would not be comfortable getting married to a murderer. However, Marie still wanted to get married to Meursault because

Get Access