Albert Camus and the Myth of Sisyphus Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Albert Camus and the Myth of Sisyphus - Essay Example The latter presents a situation in which we must ask ourselves whether this warrants committing suicide. However, Camus is interested in showing us the possibility of a third option that requires us to accept the reality that the world lacks meaning and purpose. This absurdism presents a situation in which any attempts of reconciling the contradictions in it are an attempt of escaping from it. In this regard, Camus refers to Sisyphus as an absurd hero by the manner in which he faced life. Sisyphus is said to have been condemned by the gods for eternity to roll a rock up the mountain only to face the situation in which the rock rolls down after reaching the top and he has to roll it back up again. In his elaborations, Camus uses Sisyphus’ case of punishment to represent the human condition. Just as Sisyphus has to struggle endlessly without any hope of success, humans also live a lifestyle in which they go through lifetime struggles and pains that they can never avoid. In this regard, Camus says that Sisyphus only has one option; that is to accept the absurd struggle in order to find happiness in his life. This is from the fact that his eternal living is condemned to this type of lifestyle, a situation which presents him with less no other option but to accept it in order to find happiness. Sisyphus would feel a lot of sorrow as he was rolling down the mountain to roll up the rock once again. He gains happiness only after accepting his fate. According to Camus, in this state, Sisyphus could approach his task with joy. In his view, it is hard to separate absurdity from happiness. We can make life what we want of it even if there is no hope. Therefore, continuing to hope is a situation that can only work to make life horrible. We make our fate horrible when we contrast it with something preferable. Therefore, preferring nothing and accepting the existence of absurdity is what places Sisyphus above his fate. In his initial narrations of the story of Sisyphus , Camus describes Sisyphus as a person who loved life to such an extent that he was condemned by the gods to an eternity hopeless labor yet he eventually came to accept his fate that helped him regain his happiness. When we look at his fate, we react with horror because of the futility and hopelessness that we see in it yet that is not the case for him. In this regard, we can be able to see that according to Albert Camus, Sisyphus was an absurd hero by choosing to accept his fate as he undertook life struggles without hope. This is because of the realization that attempting to avoid or deny the struggle and hopelessness that are the major part of our lives is an attempt to escape from the absurd contradiction. However, the main solution or alternative to this problem is for the absurd man to live his life with full awareness of the absurdity he exists in. Sisyphus toils and struggles to push the rock up the mountain. When going down the mountain, his burden has been relieved but he is fully aware of the life facing him whereby the struggling will never end for him. Richard Taylor’s view According to Richard Taylor, it is very difficult to answer the question that what is the meaning of life when in the first place it is difficult to understand the question about whether life really has meaning.