Why a rebel? Because Sisyphus dared to commit the ultimate sin that can be taken against the Man even when the Man is a god. Sisyphus does not just rebel, he rebels against the gods! Entities capable of annihilating you in a second after just a second’s consideration. One of the various versions of the myths related to the punishment of Sisyphus posits the king as a certified rager against the machine. In his landmark existential essay The Myth of Sisyphus, Albert Camus proceeds to disentangle from Homeric legend the precise conditions that led to such an extraordinarily resonant if undeniably excessive punishment. Whether in pre-Christian eras, the Middle Ages, at the dawn of the Industrial Revolution or tomorrow, the punishment of Sisyphus works as a metaphor for almost every conception of labor ever devised: pointless, despairing and monotonous.
What more appropriate punishment could retain such an elevated degree of relevance than being subjected to pushing a rock up a hill only to have to watch it roll back down upon you, forcing the entire process to begin anew and end exactly the same…ad infinitum. Whatever the cause for the average-joe connection with this king of ancient Greek myth, perhaps what really allows people of all strata throughout those millennia to find common ground with Sisyphus more than is typically found with the other gods, demi-gods and royalty is that singular punishment. He seems not just less than a god-which he is-but also less than a king-which he isn’t.
Perhaps it is the rebellious spirit at work behind the particularly deceitful nature of Sisyphus that connects him across the millennia to modern society. And yet there is within the character of Sisyphus something that the average person can relate to far more strongly than there is any relation to most humans from those ancient myths who also happened to be of royal lineage. Sisyphus was a mere human albeit a king so hardly just the average guy on the street himself. In the pantheon of the myths of the ancient Greeks, Sisyphus stands tall as one of the few characters known to the average guy on the street who was not a god or even a demi-god. We are thankful for their contributions and encourage you to make your own.
These notes were contributed by members of the GradeSaver community.
0 kommentar(er)
