The real Plague
Although never given permission to kill, by supernatural or natural means, man has reserved for himself the right to kill other men. This self-imposed right has been put into use in our civilizations and countries. Whether train of logic is offered or not, murder is very difficult to justify. As existentialists believe, "honesty with oneself" cannot be compromised in any shape or form. Why, then, does man murder? Perhaps man tries to use the excuse of good intentions to escape the responsibility for his actions. In Camus', The Plague, Jean Tarrou dares to go against the idea of men having the right to kill other men. He represents a small part of the general public, in both the novel and in real life. While most of the character development is based on the direct conflict with the physical pestilence, Tarrou takes on a more powerful type of plague as well as this corporeal epidemic; his goal is not only of combating the plague which physically robs men of life, but to suppress the plague which ravages men's hearts, specially his own. To start a task force, one needs people. When Rieux and Tarrou converse, they discuss who to put into the task force. Rieux suggests that maybe Jean should consider using some of
Tarrou attempts to be a man of good faith. He thinks, by merely ignoring the plague and not joining forces with it is not enough. By using this type of ignorance, Tarrou would be actually be supporting it. This is "why [Tarrou] have resolved to have no truck with anything which, directly or indirectly, for good reasons or for bad, brings death to anyone or justifies others' putting him to death," (252). To have "no truck"(252) with the plague, one must not join forces with the plague, such as the magistrate has done. To Tarrou, to "not join forces with the pestilence,"(254) he must join the "victim's side," (254). He does, in fact, have plague, for he "had had an indirect hand in the deaths of thousands of people; that ¥I'd even brought about their deaths by approving of acts and principles which could only that way," (251). This is why he has to join the side of the victims. As the existential philosophy would direct, his actions have to be evaluated if everyone else had committed them. Later in the court trial scene, again, it shows Tarrou's belief clearly. Before looking at Tarrou's perceptions on how the "poor owl"(252) was handled, one should see that Tarrou completely agrees that this man is guilty of whatever crime he had committed. He has confessed to the crime, and is, unequivocally, guilty. In spite of this fact, Tarrou does not believe the man should receive his death sentence. The certainty of the man's innocence of a crime is irrelevant to Tarrou's decision that the man deserves death. Regardless of the outrage of the crime the "poor owl"(252) may have committed, Tarrou believes he unjustified his punishment. There is no excuse to kill a man, because we do not "know everything." We are
Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1157
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)
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