An Explication of Obscure Correlations between the Character of Meursault and the Archetype of Jesus Christ from Scenes in The Stranger by Albert Camus, a Story About an "Ordinary Man who Unwittingly Gets Drawn into a Senseless Murder on a Sun-Drenched Algerian Beach"

In my group’s panel during class, we explored the idea of comparing the archetype of Jesus Christ with Meursault’s role throughout the story. To summarize, we basically compared Meursault’s trial and behavior throughout the story to Jesus Christ, using several scenes as evidence.

Meursault’s dinner with Raymond was an example of a scene that shows his similarities: relative to Meursault, Raymond is a satanic figure. He tempts Meursault with the letter, and his offer of wine and sausage (representative of blood and flesh) is comparable to Satan’s temptation of Jesus Christ in the wilderness. The dinner scene could also be interpreted as an analog to the Last Supper, which signifies that Meursault is about to be tricked (like Jesus was tricked by Judas).

Similarly, Meursault’s behavior during the trial corresponds to Jesus’ behavior during his crucifixion. Both characters were silent while they were accused, and they play the role of a scapegoat during their trials (the French society wants to condemn Meursault for his amorality, and Jesus was crucified because he was viewed as a political/religious threat). In addition, their sentences are abnormal and extreme, since both get the death penalty despite their respective legal systems that rarely doled out capital punishments.

Basically, Meursault represents the character of Jesus, but a failed one: his goal is to unite the pied noir society and the Arab society in Algeria to prevent the future civil war and fragmentation. He killed the unnamed Arab on the beach as a warning: if the pied noir society would continue to discriminate against Arabs in this way (since it appears that Meursault basically killed him for no reason), Algeria would eventually degenerate into civil war. However, he fails in this regard, as the trail focuses on his failure to show emotion, rather than justice for the victim. Jesus had died for humanity’s sins, but Meursault essentially dies for nothing (which ties in with his view at the end of the book). Also, we have to consider the obvious distinction between Jesus and Meursault: the latter straight up murders someone to get his point across.

The explanation is already kind of weird, but I’d like to further get into the more abstract parallels between Meursault and Christ, the arguments that were too much of a stretch to make it into the panel.

First, we should look at the sun, since it holds incredible significance in influencing Meursault’s behavior. The author of our article argued that the sun was a “father figure” to Meursault, so the relationship between the sun and Meursault can be interpreted as a father-son relationship. Basically, if Meursault is Jesus, then the sun is God himself. In the scene on the beach, Meursault is essentially submitting to the sun’s will, much like Jesus submits to his father, God. However, why does God provoke Jesus into killing an Arab? The precedent is there- God has certainly killed hundreds of people throughout history (although these are mostly indirect, like how he condemned all the firstborn sons to die in Egypt), so it isn’t entirely unreasonable. It could be seen as God being the original mastermind behind the plan of uniting Algeria, and Jesus/Meursault simply manifesting and carrying out the plan.

The scene where Raymond, Masson, and Meursault approach the Arabs on the beach is also worth looking at: the three people on the beach represent a holy trinity of sorts, similar to Jesus, God, and the Holy Ghost, but in this situation it would be more like Jesus, Satan, and the Unholy Ghost, as a negative counterpart to the holy trinity. However, this wouldn’t make sense, as this would mean that Satan and God would collaborate for a common goal. Why would this happen? Why would God want to kill the Arab, who is also an enemy of Satan?

Finally, the significance of Meursault’s killing of the Arab is shown through the exact number of bullets used. Five represents the wounds received by Christ on the cross during his crucifixion, like the thorns in his head and the nails in his hands. This changes our interpretation; Jesus is using his own wounds to symbolically retaliate. We often wondered why Meursault would empty four more bullets into the dead body after his murder; this scene could mean that Meursault is a Jesus that is leaning towards evil; he is still aiming to accomplish his goal, but he is willing to use more cruelty to do so.

Honestly, I don’t know where I’m going with this post, but it was just interesting to think about.