Finding Meaning in Albert Camus’ The Plague Essay

During the fourteenth century a disease ravaged across the middle east that calculated up to fifty million deaths and impoverished half of Europe. This disastrous disease had attained the nick-name, “Black Death”, referring to its high fatality rate. The plague, as some may call it, scattered amongst the whole world taking many lives because of the lack of medical attention or treatment and is even still around till this day. The Black Death is best understood through its symptoms, treatments, and death toll changing life in the fourteenth century.

The plague affected people not only on a physical level but a mental one as well. The mental health of the citizens of Oran was amongst the plague's many victims, it suffered of exhaustion as well as being forced to handle mental confrontations. When the citizens dealt with these issues, some people lost their capacity to love as intently, but overall the general capacity of people to uphold their devotion remained resilient to the challenges the plague provided.

A book of horrors, fear and death. “The Plague” is a book by Albert Camus which weaves these emotions and events into one suspenseful tale. Each paragraph and section is written and structured in such a way as to give the reader insight into the feelings of the victims of the plague, and to show somewhat of a theme. The passage from section 4, part 4, line number 1 to line number 35 gives us a glimpse of the melancholy of the people of Oran to their dead loved ones to the extent that they do not attend All Souls' Day, for they were thinking of them too much as it was. Albert Camus fills this passage with figurative devices, including, diction, personification, pathetic fallacy, metaphors, irony and a turning point. The first two paragraphs

Sometimes the missteps of the medical community went so far as to cause inadvertent harm. Jacme D’agramont, physician and professor, writes in his “Regiment de preservacio a epidimia o pestiliencia e mortaldats” of the dangers of bathing because it opens one’s pores and “through these pores corrupt air enters and has a powerful influence upon our body and on our humors.” (Aberth, 1186). The entire period was wrought with novelty cures and hypotheses about overcoming the plague, and so often these approaches failed that eventually the people would find solace wherever they could. Even art had a voice in coping with the Black Death. Much of the art was not only therapeutic for the artists and those who enjoyed them but they serve as an insight into the shared setiments of the time. These pieces understandably emphasize death and its inevitability as a primary theme. While the real victor over the plague turned out to be time, this perspective on conflict serves as a testament to the long-suffering determination of humanity to survive and thrive.

The plague was a catastrophic time in history, and happened more than once. It took millions and millions of people’s lives. It destroyed cities and countries, and many people suffered from it.

The book When Plague Strikes, is about 3 deadly diseases. It 's about the Black Death, Smallpox, and AIDS. Each of these diseases can cause a serious outrage of death. The book also tells about how doctors try to come up with treatments, medicines, and antibiotics to try and cure these diseases. All these diseases got the best out of everyone. Some people reacted differently than others with these diseases. All the diseases came in play in A. D. 1347, when the Black Death broke out for the first time in what’s today is know. As southern Ukraine.

Norman F. Cantor, In the Wake of the Plague (New York: Harper Collins First Perennial edition, 2001) examines how the bubonic plague, or Black Death, affected Europe in the fourteenth century. Cantor recounts specific events in the time leading up to the plague, during the plague, and in the aftermath of the plague. He wrote the book to relate the experiences of victims and survivors and to illustrate the impact that the plague had on the government, families, religion, the social structure, and art.

Geraldine Brook’s novel, Year of Wonders is based on a true story which recounts a 17th Century Plague, which struck the English village of Eyam and put many in strife. The story revolves around the protagonist, Anna Frith as she develops strength throughout the novel from being a maid in the beginning of the novel and eventually becomes a midwife. Similarly, Steven Soderbergh’s Film, Contagion is set in 21st Century America, which narrates the epidemic of the MEV1 virus, which causes dispute amongst many characters and has a manipulative effect on the characters in the film. In both the text and the novel, Diseases not only attack individuals but also causes the breakdown in society. Diseases cause the greed and the want for money in some characters, which has a huge impact on society as a whole. Similarly, diseases cause the need for self-preservation in order to survive. On the other hand, diseases cause characters to lose faith.

The Bubonic Plague took the lives of many individuals in the heart of Florence. Its reign affected “not just that of men and women…but even sentient animals” (Stefani). While the plague only lasted a mere six months, from March 1348 – September 1348, it is a piece of time that society should forever acknowledge and learn from. Much of the significant information from the Bubonic plague are unbeknownst to people today, even though it possesses such an importance aspect in our history. Therefore, in this essay, I will discuss the effects the plague had on the people of Florence, and how the appearance of this plague brought about short and long term historical change what we see today.

He is upset when he finds out that Dr. Rieux cannot help him to escape, and in protest against being told he can’t leave, Rambert claims: “But, confound it … I don’t belong here!” (Camus 85). Dr. Rieux tries to console Rambert by pointing out that as a journalist Rambert has an excellent topic to cover in Oran. Rambert responds by saying: “It’s do damn silly, Doctor, isn’t it? The truth is I wasn’t brought into the world to write newspaper articles. Buts it’s quite likely I was brought into the world to live with a woman. That’s reasonable enough, isn’t it?” (Camus 85).

In Albert Camus’ The Plague, events lead Dr. Rieux to understand the meaning of man’s existence. In this novel, several existentialist principles are illustrated. First, men have freedom of choice. Second, men are responsible for their actions and the consequences which come from them. Third, what each man believes is good for all mankind. Fourth, how responsibility brings anxiety and or suffering. Fifth, the absurdity of life through death being the ultimate end. Each aspect and principle reflected upon in the book affect both Dr. Rieux, Jean Tarrou, and Cottard.

In “The Plague” by Albert Camus, his construction of the human condition is centered on the catastrophic plague in the town of Oran. Dr.

After the quarantine lasts quite a few months, many of Oran 's citizens lose their selfish obsession with personal suffering and come to recognize the plague as a collective disaster that is everyone 's concern, and join anti-plague efforts. The citizens are subjected to their Christian beliefs being tested and the citizens must choose to believe everything or nothing about God. All or the citizens faced difficulties during the plague epidemic, excluding Dr. Rieux, who faced irreparable difficulties die. This leads to the other citizens’ difficulties becoming resolved after the quarantine and the public quickly returns to its old routine of normalcy. Dr. Rieux knows that the fight against the plague is endless because it can exist dormant for years. The Plague is his account of the situation of human suffering that so many people are willing to easily forget.

In his novel The Plague, Albert Camus presents a pseudo-historical documentary of a plague that confines and controls the citizens of Oran within their city gates. The plague possesses the power of life and death over the people, as it determines which citizens will face their death or those who work to stop death. These latter men, personified by the character's of Rieux, Grand, and Tarrau, each struggle endlessly to master the plague's power over their lives, even with the realization they may never succeed. For Camus, this idea of "impossible struggle" against an unseen power resonates throughout the novel and reoccurs in another "plague" which these men must contend - the limits of human

Widely recognized for philosophical writings as a French essayist and playwright, Albert Camus is a major contributor to exploring the absurd in modern Western literature. Characterized by highlighting the human condition, Camus’ writing style focuses on the everyday lives and inner psyche of individuals in both ordinary and extraordinary circumstances. Such a character-driven writing style is most notably displayed in his 1946 work, The Stranger, a tale of an emotionally-detached man known as Meursault, who lives in French-colonized Algiers during the intermission of the two World Wars. Consisting of two parts—The Stranger first explores his daily life as a free man, and in the second, delves more into the character’s own philosophy as Meursault contemplates during his remaining time in jail. At its core, the story explores the relationships and interactions of the odd Meursault through the character’s inner monologue and dialogue with those around him. The story itself is very ambiguous in its’ nature, and the idea of contemplating the meaning of life and purpose is prevalent throughout The Stranger. Evidently, Camus writes Meursault as a man who believes that life has no meaning, and therefore people are free to do as they please. To supplement the protagonist’s view, the author also presents Meursault alongside various personalities of key supporting characters, each with their own unique personality, and differing outlooks on life. Doing so thus enables Camus to get readers to contemplate about meaning through multiple perspectives. Stylistically, through many devices that emphasize diction, imagery, and story themes. Ultimately, The Stranger is a way for Camus to convey that there are multiple ways to perceive the meaning of life, using Meursault to directly project a different view than what readers are used to. Surely, with the intent of crafting a protagonist so strange, that Meursault becomes comparable to other characters; less so as a reflection of what the author personally believes the meaning of life is, but more of what such exploration of the idea could be.