Character Analysis Of Meursault In 'Stranger'

At first, Meursault is distraught and upset by this sentence, but he comes to terms with knowing he will die a prisoner. Meursault knows that he will not escape judgement and death. His only hope is that he does not have to die by guillotine. He believes that by being beheaded one has to hope that it happens on the first time, otherwise it would be extremely painful and lead to immense suffering. He does not want to rely on anyone else for how he dies.
Meursault contemplates an appeal and believes he may be pardoned and feels great joy and hope during these times, but eventually he is visited by the chaplain of the prison. The chaplain asks him one final time to turn to Christianity and God for comfort. Meursault refuses and claims he has no time or use for Christianity or God. When pushed further, he goes …show more content…
Meursault believes that by accepting Christianity, he is trying to escape his fate of death. Meursault believes this will keep him from becoming happy and dying knowing that he lived the fullest life he could, without any nonsense or false hope clouding his mind. He is especially upset at the magistrate and chaplain who will not let him die on his own terms and continue to try and convert him to a religion he does not believe in.
Society
In the novel, Meursault is looked as strange in the beginning for being too indifferent and detached from human emotion about his mother’s death. When he murders the brother, however, his lack of remorse or guilt, moves him to a level of refusing to conform to society’s standards. This moves him from being unemotional and stoic to characters in the novel, to being an evil monster that refuses to accept society’s standards of decent living. Meursault however, does not care for these rules and refuses to acknowledge or accept them. He refuses to follow rational rules and morality for a world that does not make sense.