Sisyphus Belief In Greek Myth

Sisyphus is condemned to spend eternity in the underworld pushing a rock to the top of a mountain where it will roll back down so he must do it again. Camus states the reason that people see Sisyphus’ tale as tragic is because Sisyphus when he descends the hill, he is aware that he will do this task for eternity with no progress. Yet, the only reason that people respond with horror to Sisyphus’ trials is because they believe in hope. Camus argues that only if Sisyphus continues to hope is his fate truly tragic. If Sisyphus has embraced the absurdity of his fate and that there is no chance of an end, then he can experience genuine happiness. However, if this reasoning is applied to the punishments described in Dante’s Inferno, are those …show more content…
With that, they should have some form of conscious thought; however, Camus’ conclusion is that experiencing happiness is possible if there is enough conscious thought to embrace the hopelessness of the punishment. Yet, Hell is supposed to exist as an absence of God, and thus an absence of joy. Perhaps the people in Dante’s Hell do not have conscious thought, but then how much are they suffering if they cannot reflect upon their sins and tribulations. In Hell, there must be some form of hope in existence that allows these souls to have conscious thought and be tortured without the chance of obtaining happiness. Possibilities for this hope could be that God will grant mercy on their sins, or that their suffering will end on the Day of Judgement. Yet, with that possibility it establishes that these people believe in God to a certain degree, but what may have drove them to sinning was their distance from God. Additionally, the existence of Hell acknowledges that there must be a God somewhere, but are they aware of that they are in Hell? The answer to this question must lie in how much the residents of Hell are aware of, how conscious they are, and how much hope exists in