
But, still he says all is well, which means he accepts suffering in life like Sisyphus and Oedipus we should also accept life and try to make our own fate without thinking of suicide which is the suggestion of the writer in this essay.Albert Camus studied the philosophy of the absurd and decided that, to him, the most important philosophical question was “why not commit suicide?” In “The Myth of Sisyphus: An Absurd reasoning” (1942), he discusses his thoughts on the answer to this question. Oedipus unknowingly murders his father and sleeps with his mother, and then he makes him self-blind because he knows that he is victimized by fate. He also brings the allusion of Oedipus and says that in spite of suffering, Oedipus says all is well. As there is shadow after the light there is absurdity with happiness, so happiness and absurdity go together like the two sons of the same mother earth. We should hope but should not be sure of happiness because it is momentary. What he means is that, without facing the absurdity, we cannot get happiness but it is not necessary that happiness must come after absurdity. He even says that there is no sun without shadow or happiness and absurdity are the two sons of the same mother earth. Therefore, he says that there is no fate that cannot be surmounted by scorn. He says that we should try to make our own fate and should try to make our own fate and should hate the fate maker. He also suggests us that we should be hopeful of getting happiness but happiness is always momentary. It is his movement of happiness and scorn to the fate maker. Even for a second he is on the top of the hill and looks up and smiles. When he is on the bottom, he has a hope that he will reach on the top. Through the action of Sisyphus, we are reflected because our life and our day-to-day activities are also meaningless like Sisyphus.īut, Camus says that Sisyphus is happy and he should be happy because he has accepted the punishment given to him. He says that poor Sisyphus has to roll up the rock repeatedly but he does not achieve anything. At that time, Camus says that his attention is fixed to Sisyphus. He has to come down, the period of decent. It takes a long time to roll the rock up to the top of the hill but with in a second it rolls down and Sisyphus has to repeat again and again. Sisyphus recollects all the physical strength in his arms and giving the complete physical labour he pushes up the rock. As an allegory, Sisyphus symbolizes all humankind and what Sisyphus does is the symbol of what we do every day in our life, Camus describes that Sisyphus is on the bottom of the hill and he has to push the heavy rock to the top of the hill. Presenting the Myth of Sisyphus as an allegory Camus attempts to justify that life is meaningless absurd and fruitless but it should be taken as a challenge. So absurd philosophy avoids that suicide is not the theme of life and to interpret that idea he has taken the myth of Sisyphus as an allegory. He suggests that absurd life should be taken as a challenge and it should be continued. But, Albert Camus propounded the new concept of absurdism and rejected that suicide is not the solution but the sin so it is not the solution of problematic life.

Existentialism suggests that the problematic life has only the solution, which is suicide.

The philosophy of absurdity was developed as a branch of existentialist philosophy, which considers life as meaningless useless and fruitless nihilistic existence. Camus has brought the concept of absurdity, which is the essence of human existence. Myth of Sisyphus is presented as a meditation on the theme of suicide. In anger, Pluto gave Sisyphus the meaningless punishment of rolling up the rock from the bottom to the top of the hill. Sisyphus was enchanted by the shining beauty of the earth so he forget everything.Įven though Pluto sent many messengers before sending Mercury, who seized him on his throat and brought him back to hell. After many requests, Pluto gave chance to go to earth and come to hell as soon as possible. After death, he was awaken in the hell, he got angry with his wife & decided to go back to the earth to punish his wife. Another Myth says that Sisyphus ordered his wife to throw his dead body in a public place but not to bury it. One myth says that Sisyphus revealed the secret abduction of Aegina by Zeus so that in anger Zeus punished him to the underworld where he had to roll up the rock from bottom to the top of the hill.
