In The Myth Of Sisyphus, Camus depicts a man who transcends his absurd condition to find happiness in an otherwise futile and hopeless life. However, Sisyphus found happiness in accepting his fate. The Gods wanted to punish Sisyphus with a fate worse then death, eternal and meaningless labor. His fate belongs to him” ( The Myth of Sisyphus, Camus 121-3). While Sisyphus’ consciousness makes his story tragic, it also provides him with joy: “The lucidity that was to constitute his torture at the same time crowns his victory… All Sisyphus’ silent joy is contained therein.

He argues, “If this myth is tragic, that is only because its hero is conscious… Sisyphus, powerless and rebellious, knows the whole extent of his wretched condition. Camus articulates that Sisyphus’ finds happiness through his ability to accept and rise above his hopeless and frivolous fate.

He believes that, “one must imagine Sisyphus happy” ( The Myth of Sisyphus, Camus 123). While Sisyphus’ punishment sounds both pointless and tragic, Camus does not believe so. If the rock rolled back down the mountain, Sisyphus pushed it up again. In Albert Camus’, The Myth Of Sisyphus, Gods condemned Sisyphus to ceaselessly roll a rock to the top of a mountain. The work can be seen in relation to other works by Camus: the novel The Stranger (1942), the play Caligula (1945), and especially the essay The Rebel (1951).Meaningless Joy: Finding Happiness Through Albert Camus’ Message in The Stranger The essay concludes, 'The struggle itself.is enough to fill a man's heart. The final chapter compares the absurdity of man's life with the situation of Sisyphus, a figure of Greek mythology who was condemned to repeat forever the same meaningless task of pushing a rock up a mountain, only to see it roll down again. It requires revolt.' He then outlines several approaches to the absurd life. Does the realization of the absurd require suicide? Camus answers: 'No.

In the essay, Camus introduces his philosophy of the absurd: man's futile search for meaning, unity and clarity in the face of an unintelligible world devoid of God and eternal truths or values. It comprises about 120 pages and was published originally in 1942 in French as Le Mythe de Sisyphe the English translation by Justin O'Brien followed in 1955. The Myth of Sisyphus is a philosophical essay by Albert Camus.

The stranger and the myth of sisyphus