Camus ~ The Plague (1947)
 The plague strikes Oran
– Setting is in the 1940s in Oran, a French
port on the Algerian coast
– Oran is an ordinary, ugly, commerciallyoriented place with an “absurd lay-out”
(24).
– Plague begins
– Dr. Rieux sees his wife off to a
sanitarium in the mountains
Camus - The Plague - slide 1
Camus ~ The Plague (1947)
– Reflects how he has been remiss in his
attentions to his wife. Significance of
this.
 Meanings of the plague
– Occupation of a city during time of war
– Resistance of nature to human choices.
Cf. Sartre
– Encounter with nothingness--the absurd,
meaninglessness
Camus - The Plague - slide 2
Camus ~ The Plague (1947)
– Natural evil
– A boundary situation
Camus - The Plague - slide 3
Camus ~ The Plague (1947)
 Theme 1 - the absurd; the experience of
nothingness
– The Existentialists took this theme from
Nietszche
– For the Existentialists, there are two
main sources for this experience
• 1. The rejection of God and of all
transcendental values
Camus - The Plague - slide 4
Camus ~ The Plague (1947)
• 2. Epistemological skepticism
– There is no certain knowledge
– Scientific knowledge cannot
answer the most important
questions in life
» Camus in “An Absurd Reasoning”
states: “Whether the earth or
the sun revolves around the
other is a matter of profound
indifference.”
Camus - The Plague - slide 5
Camus ~ The Plague (1947)
» Rejection of the Enlightenment
faith in science.
– Knowledge cannot give meaning to
life & cannot answer the most
fundamental questions about life.
– Cf. Plato - knowledge is salvation;
knowledge is one of the highest
values and that which is most
worth pursuing
Camus - The Plague - slide 6
Camus ~ The Plague (1947)
 Joseph Grand
– Municipal clerk
– Never gets raises or promotions because
he “coundn’t find his words” (45)
– Separated from his wife
Camus - The Plague - slide 7
Camus ~ The Plague (1947)
– Has a secret project
• “Gentlemen, hats off!” (102)
• Interpretation: His way of fighting
against the absurdity of life
– When plague begins, he works on
sanitary squads; his city job suffers
– Rieux reflects that Grand is an
“insignificant and obscure hero who had
to his credit only a little goodness of
heart and a seemingly absurd ideal”
Camus - The Plague - slide 8
(137).
Camus ~ The Plague (1947)
– Gets plague, but survives
– At end of plague, writes to his wife.
 Theme 2 - boundary situation
– The plague causes a crisis in the lives of
the people of Oran; it forces them to
reevaluate their lives
Camus - The Plague - slide 9
Camus ~ The Plague (1947)
 Theme 3 - Resistance against life & nature
as we find it
– All persons encounter meaninglessness at
some point in their lives
– How can this be faced and transcended?
– One must resist it, fight against it (see
133 - “Many fledgling moralists . . .”)
– “The Myth of Sysyphus” (1942)
• The myth
Camus - The Plague - slide 10
Camus ~ The Plague (1947)
• How does Sysyphus find meaning in his
punishment?
• Resistance for the sake of what?
Camus - The Plague - slide 11
Camus ~ The Plague (1947)
 Raymond Rambert
– Journalist from Paris
– Has mistress in Paris
– Tries repeatedly to escape
• His initial form of resistance
– Decides to stay; joins Rieux in fighting
plague
• This is his new form of resistance
Camus - The Plague - slide 12
Camus ~ The Plague (1947)
– Survives the plague & has joyous reunion
with is mistress
 Theme 4 - transcending absurdity by
commitment to other persons
– Rieux: “If there is one thing one can
always yearn for and sometimes attain, it
is human love” (300).
Camus - The Plague - slide 13
Camus ~ The Plague (1947)
– Camus in Notebooks, 1942-1951: “What
balances the absurd is the community of
men fighting against it. And if we
choose to serve that community, we
choose to serve the dialogue carried to
the absurd against any policy or
falsehood or of silence. That’s the way
one is free with others” (126).
Camus - The Plague - slide 14
Camus ~ The Plague (1947)
 Theme 5 - Theory of stages; brings
themes 1, 3, & 4 together
– Not a descriptive theory; rather
prescriptive - a moral theory
– Three moments or stages in achieving
mature personhood
• 1. Awareness of absurdity
• 2. Resistance to this absurdity
• 3. To fellow human persons
Camus - The Plague - slide 15
Camus ~ The Plague (1947)
 Jean Tarrou
– The chronicler, diarist
– At the outset of the plague, immediately
volunteers to help; organizes sanitary
squads
– Reveals to Rieux that he has already had
the plague
• Story about his flight from home for
the sake of creating a more perfect
world Camus - The Plague - slide 16
Camus ~ The Plague (1947)
• Then came to realize that no ideology
could justify “such butcheries” (252).
• Even the best of the revolutionaries
could not keep from killing “because
such was the logic by which they live”
(252).
Camus - The Plague - slide 17
Camus ~ The Plague (1947)
– In The Rebel (1950), Camus proposes
that revolt must have limits.
• Revolt must never be for absolute
(perfect) justice, but only for a
“measure of justice.”
• The rebel must be a scrupulous,
hesitant, careful, reflective.
– Tarrou contacts the plague and dies
Camus - The Plague - slide 18
Camus ~ The Plague (1947)
 Paneloux
– Jesuit priest, learned & militant
– 1st sermon
• The plague has come upon “you”
because of your evil ways
• The plague is God’s punishment
• Helps in sanitary camps; witnesses
death of Othon’s son.
Camus - The Plague - slide 19
Camus ~ The Plague (1947)
– 2nd sermon
• Opens with “we”
• Rejects explanation of plague given in
1st sermon
• Adopts a Kierkegaardian Christianity - belief which goes beyond
understanding
– Becomes ill; refuses medical treatment
Camus - The Plague - slide 20
Camus ~ The Plague (1947)
– Dies
– Camus’ viewpoint: Paneloux refused to
resist the plague
 Othon
– Judge
– Has two children whom he marches into
his favorite restaurant like “performing
poodles.”
Camus - The Plague - slide 21
Camus ~ The Plague (1947)
– Othon is very rigid, formal, unvarying in
his habits
– Son gets the plague & dies
– Othon volunteers to help in the camps;
becomes a camp manager
– Shoelaces untied
– Papers lost; he accepts situation.
– Contacts plague & dies
Camus - The Plague - slide 22
Camus ~ The Plague (1947)
 Cottard
– Criminal
– At home with the plague
– After the plague is over, he goes insane
– Camus’ anti-hero
 Dr. Bernard Rieux
– Sees wife off to sanitarian before
plague breaks out
Camus - The Plague - slide 23
Camus ~ The Plague (1947)
– Man of habit and routine
– Events like the plague help “men to rise
above themselves” (125).
– Rieux says that he thinks he is on the
right road “in fighting against creation
as he found it” (127).
• Rieux’s form of resistance is fighting
the plague through the practice of
medicine.
Camus - The Plague - slide 24
Camus ~ The Plague (1947)
– Comparison of the practice of medicine
with the practice of life
• In both one must sometimes make
choices based on insufficient
knowledge
• “A man can’t cure and know at the
same time, so let’s cure as quickly as
we can. That’s the more urgent job”
(210).
Camus - The Plague - slide 25
Camus ~ The Plague (1947)
 Theme 6 - Skepticism about reason; the
importance of choice
– On the really important questions of life,
once must make choices which go beyond
knowledge
 See beautiful closing paragraph - p. 308.
Camus - The Plague - slide 26