Topic > Compare and Contrast the Stranger and Sisyphus

First of all, both Mersault and Sisyphus made mistakes and then only realized them once the end of their existence came. In Part II of The Stranger, it is at the trial that Mersault made sense of his wrongdoings. The trial describes and even represents the act of absurdity in which a rational order exists in an irrational environment (the trial). The irrational order is thought to be a threat to society, that's why Camus created these characters who try to find the rational order. Sisyphus tries to find his own happiness but in the end he does not find it because he has achieved nothing. Although, Camus claims, “We must imagine Sisyphus happy” (Camus). But one must not agree with this because, as has been said, Sisyphus achieved nothing in his life besides his crimes. Furthermore, Camus describes the same motif of happiness and applies it in The Stranger which coincides with Mersault and his death. Mersault thinks he cannot relate to the world, but the world is also different from him. As he was dying, “I could only wish that there would be a large crowd of spectators on the day of my execution and that they would greet me with cries of hatred” (123). After his death, he will gain peace and joy through pain and struggle. But it also allows him to enjoy life because he knows his mistakes can't hold him back. With that mentality he becomes happy and realizes Camus’