When Meursault talks with the lawyer that the court has appointed, he agrees to follow the lawyer's advice. The lawyer already knows that Meursault's case is not the simple case that Meursault is convinced it is. For example, he does not like the possibility that he will have to explain Meursault's attitude toward his mother's death.
Full Answer
Meursault's attorney tells him that it wouldn't last more than two or three days because a more interesting parricide (the murder of a family member) case is coming up after his trial. Trial opens with the sun glaring outside (surprise) and the air stifling inside.
No, because he is telling false things about Meursault's life. he feels confused about his lawyer's point of view. he does not pay attention, does not care about religion on his last days, calls God "Mr." instead of father. he wants an absurd ending to an absurd life he doesn't want the end of it to make sense.
By Albert Camus At first, Meursault finds the pleading stage and closing remarks amusing. Both lawyers plead guilty, but his attorney does it with an explanation, whereas the prosecutor does so without one. Meursault feels that all through trial, more is said about him than about the crime he committed.
How does the lawyer react to Meursault during their first meeting? The clerk types an answer he assumes Meursault will give to the magistrate's question about Meursault's mother, but then has to cross it out when Meursault responds differently than expected.
Meursault feels that his lawyer defended him during the trial as best he could. he wants to spend his last minutes on earth alone and in quiet reflection. he doesn't believe in God, so this life is it.
Meursault's attitude toward his mother's death can be used with blatant reminders in order to convince the jury that, before them, is a man who has no feelings, evidenced by witnesses, for his own mother's death. Thus he is capable of killing — because of his lack of feeling.
What defense did Meursault's lawyer present? Meursault's lawyer offers an interpretation of the events that led up to the crime, speaking in the first person, as though he were Meursault.
What is Meursaults complaint about the trial proceedings and especially about both the defense lawyer and the prosecuting attorney? How does he react? He finds the trial extremely boring. Can Meursaults crime be considered premeditated?
After only a few days of trial, the jury in The Stranger declares that the main character, Meursault, is to be executed by guillotine in the town square. The trial and its verdict are one of the important parts of the novel, as Albert Camus uses them as a metaphor to summarize the two main tenets of absurdism.
In a moral sense, the prosecutor argues, Meursault is just as guilty as the man who killed his own father. Calling for the death penalty, the prosecutor elaborates that Meursault's actions have paved the way for the man who killed his father, so Meursault must be considered guilty of the other man's crime as well.
What does Meursault's lawyer ask him not say in front of others? That people sometimes wish that their loved one's were dead.
After the examination of Perez on the witness stand, he says, “Here we have a perfect reflection of this entire trial: everything is true, and nothing is true!” Unconsciously, the lawyer has just sided with Meursault-the truth of the court is arbitrary and meaningless.