Throughout Albert Camus’s The Stranger, women characters are not portrayed as important because of who they are, but because of what outcomes they allow Camus to create within the novel. The three significant women characters present in the novel include Meursault's mother, Marie, and Raymond’s girlfriend. With each of these women, it can been seen that they personally are not essential to the story, but the actions they produce are vital to the stories meaning. The portrayal of women as insignificant contributes to the ultimate purpose of the novel, which is that the world and the people who inhabit it are insignificant. Furthermore, the unimportance of the female characters helps the reader concentrate on the intended focus of the novel,
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Marie is portrayed as a mere sexual object in the eyes of Meursault and he feels no emotional attachment to her as a person. Throughout the novel, Marie is described in strictly physical terms while her personality remains unimportant. When Meursault first encounter’s Marie at the pool he describes her as once being a “typist at the office” whose “hair was over her eyes… and she was laughing”, he then says that he let his “hand stray over her breasts” (23). Meursault’s description of Marie is one only of her physical description, he does not mention once in the novel being attracted to her because of her personality. Marie’s lack of description throughout the novel in regards to who she was as a person, helps to further create Meursault as emotionless due to his lack of love for Marie and his desire for only the physical aspects of life such as sex. Meursault’s lack of love is further proven when Marie asks if he loves her, Meursault’s response is: “that sort of question has no meaning, really; but I supposed I didn’t” (44). The fact that Marie could be replaced with any other woman and serve the same purpose proves her insignificance. Meursault himself says that Marie is easily replaceable when he goes to prison and states that: “I was plagued by the desire for a woman… I never thought of Marie especially” …show more content…
Raymond describes his girlfriend as being only being interested in “getting into bed with men whenever she’d the chance” (38). Again, Camus illustrates the insignificance of who the woman was as a person, and instead focuses on physical actions and attributes. Camus also uses Raymond’s girlfriend, like with the other women, to characterize Meursault. After being told that Raymond has abused his girlfriend, Meursault replies with: “I quite understood his wanting her to suffer for it” (Camus 40). Furthermore, Meursault agrees to write a letter that he knows will result in the women receiving “spit in her face”, and being “[thrown]... out of the room” (40). Meursault’s lack of compassion for the woman and his willingness to help promote further violence enforces Camus’s image of him as detached and emotionless. Perhaps even more importantly than the enforcement of Meursault’s character traits, is the woman’s role in creating the main conflict of the novel. Though the woman herself is not important, the conflict that she has played part in is vital to the plot of the story. If the women had never cheated on her husband, Meursault would not have entered a situation where he had the choice to kill an Arab man, which is one of the prominent moments in regards to characterizing
Marie is portrayed as a mere sexual object in the eyes of Meursault and he feels no emotional attachment to her as a person. Throughout the novel, Marie is described in strictly physical terms while her personality remains unimportant. When Meursault first encounter’s Marie at the pool he describes her as once being a “typist at the office” whose “hair was over her eyes… and she was laughing”, he then says that he let his “hand stray over her breasts” (23). Meursault’s description of Marie is one only of her physical description, he does not mention once in the novel being attracted to her because of her personality. Marie’s lack of description throughout the novel in regards to who she was as a person, helps to further create Meursault as emotionless due to his lack of love for Marie and his desire for only the physical aspects of life such as sex. Meursault’s lack of love is further proven when Marie asks if he loves her, Meursault’s response is: “that sort of question has no meaning, really; but I supposed I didn’t” (44). The fact that Marie could be replaced with any other woman and serve the same purpose proves her insignificance. Meursault himself says that Marie is easily replaceable when he goes to prison and states that: “I was plagued by the desire for a woman… I never thought of Marie especially” …show more content…
Raymond describes his girlfriend as being only being interested in “getting into bed with men whenever she’d the chance” (38). Again, Camus illustrates the insignificance of who the woman was as a person, and instead focuses on physical actions and attributes. Camus also uses Raymond’s girlfriend, like with the other women, to characterize Meursault. After being told that Raymond has abused his girlfriend, Meursault replies with: “I quite understood his wanting her to suffer for it” (Camus 40). Furthermore, Meursault agrees to write a letter that he knows will result in the women receiving “spit in her face”, and being “[thrown]... out of the room” (40). Meursault’s lack of compassion for the woman and his willingness to help promote further violence enforces Camus’s image of him as detached and emotionless. Perhaps even more importantly than the enforcement of Meursault’s character traits, is the woman’s role in creating the main conflict of the novel. Though the woman herself is not important, the conflict that she has played part in is vital to the plot of the story. If the women had never cheated on her husband, Meursault would not have entered a situation where he had the choice to kill an Arab man, which is one of the prominent moments in regards to characterizing