The Myth of Sisyphus
Sisyphus through the eyes of Albert Camus
According to Homer, Sisyphus is a king who is the wisest of humanity, but whose wisdom cannot prevent his banditry. Also, Sisyphus is one of the three mortals who managed to enter and exit the Hades (Greek underworld).
Sisyphus is known in Greek mythology as the king of the city of Corinth on the Mediterranean coast. He is famous for his extraordinary intelligence and cunning. However, this cunning makes him subject to the wrath of the gods.
According to the legend, Sisyphus tricked Thanatos, the god of death, into chains and thus temporarily stopped people from dying. This situation angers the god Zeus and he decides to punish Sisyphus. Sisyphus’ punishment is to be forced to roll a large boulder to the top of a hill. However, each time he reaches the top, the rock rolls down and falls back down, forcing Sisyphus to repeat this process ad infinitum. This punishment is extremely damaging not only physically but also mentally.
The myth of Sisyphus is often associated with useless effort and despair. But this story contains deeper symbolism. This endless effort of Sisyphus represents the recurring difficulties and failures people face in their lives. From this perspective, Sisyphus’ struggle becomes a symbol of the perseverance and determination of the human soul.
The Myth of Sisyphus by Albert Camus
The Myth of Sisyphus is a book of essays by the French writer and thinker Albert Camus, published in the middle of the Second World War. It was published in France in 1942 under the name Le Mythe de Sisyphe. The book takes its name from Greek mythology. While questioning life and suicide, it describes the absurd, in other words, the incompatible.
According to Camus, Sisyphus, cursed by the gods and with no hope of salvation, realizes the “absurdity” of his situation at the moment when the stone falls, wakes up, and comes face to face with his destiny: torture that will last forever.
This is the moment when Sisyphus regains consciousness. Instead of relying on the uncertain and unfounded hope of salvation, Sisyphus, who faces the fact that this torture will last forever, accepts his fate, goes down, and starts to carry the stone back up, is now an absurd hero in the best way.
This is not submission, this is rebellion. It is the victory of Sisyphus over the gods. Because the gods wanted to do evil to him by taking all his hope from him with the punishment of endless torture, Sisyphus, who lost his hope, faced this fate and created his own salvation in despair and meaninglessness.
Taking its name from the myth of King Sisyphus, who was punished by doing the same job every day, Camus’ work is used to criticize modern life, but in the end, he explains that it is not necessary to choose suicide as a reaction to a meaningless life and that one should live with the happiness in the struggle to live…
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