1. Attitudes toward death in The Plague. 2. The advantages or disadvantages of an ironic tone (or irony) in The Plague. 3. Optimism and pessimism in The Plague. 4. Camus’ ideas concerning religion in The Plague. 5. Imagery and symbolism in The Plague. 6. Happiness in Oran, before and after […]
Read more Study Help Suggested Theme TopicsStudy Help Essay Questions
1. Considering only the remarks about Oran in Chapter 1, what can you say concerning the character of the anonymous narrator? 2. Rambert insists on leaving Oran; is it because he fears death? Why or why not? 3. What events prompt Tarrou to try to live as a saint? How […]
Read more Study Help Essay QuestionsCritical Essays The Plague as Allegory
Attempts to explain an allegorical work are, at best, rarely satisfactory. Allegorical interpretations are as elusive and as tenuous as their interpreters. One critic will charge that the work has been diced into irreparable ruins; another will dismiss the same essay as superficial and general. Camus recognized this difficulty and […]
Read more Critical Essays The Plague as AllegoryCritical Essays Camus and the Absurd
To enter into the literary world of Albert Camus, one must realize, first off, that one is dealing with an author who does not believe in God. Major characters in Camus’ fiction, therefore, can probably be expected either to disbelieve or to wrestle with the problem of belief. One’s first […]
Read more Critical Essays Camus and the AbsurdCharacter Analysis Joseph Grand
The civil servant is fiftyish, tall, and bent. He leads a dreary, quiet life until the plague seals off Oran from the outside world. Until then, he spends his free time polishing the first sentence of a prose-perfect book he dreams of writing. Stacks of scribbled pages do not deter […]
Read more Character Analysis Joseph GrandCharacter Analysis Raymond Rambert
The former football player, and at present a feature writer for a Paris newspaper, is in Oran on assignment when the city is quarantined. He first tries to leave the city by appealing to the civil authorities. Then when that fails, he offers money to several shady characters belonging to […]
Read more Character Analysis Raymond RambertCharacter Analysis Jean Tarrou
A wanderer who comes innocuously to Oran, he stays to help Rieux battle the plague and becomes its last victim. Deeply convinced that his lawyer-father was wrong to demand the death sentence for a criminal, and later disillusioned when his revolutionary party guns down former heads of state, Tarrou believes […]
Read more Character Analysis Jean TarrouCharacter Analysis Father Paneloux
The priest interprets the sudden plague as just punishment for the sins of his congregation. He is vividly adamant during his sermon and further confuses an already puzzled, fearful populace. Later, after enrolling in the plague fighters’ battalion, he has direct contact with day after day of poisoned, contorted victims. […]
Read more Character Analysis Father PanelouxCharacter Analysis Dr. Bernard Rieux
The narrator is about thirty-five years old. He is a highly respected surgeon, but Tarrou thinks that he might pass more easily for a Sicilian peasant. For example, Rieux’s hands are not long and sensitively surgeon-like, but broad, deeply tanned, and hairy. Rieux is of moderate height and broad-shouldered; he […]
Read more Character Analysis Dr. Bernard RieuxSummary and Analysis Part 5
Oran does not begin to jubilate immediately at the first signs of the plague’s waning. Hope has become so slender that it cannot bear the weight of sudden happiness. It must be strengthened with caution and a degree of fear. In spite of the plague’s diminishing, Chapter 26 is not […]
Read more Summary and Analysis Part 5