Meursault's Lawyer. Disturbed by the effect Meursault's indifferent responses to the crime and Maman's funeral may have on the jury, he has Meursault speak little at the trial. Meursault feels that his summation is weak but his friends applaud it as excellent. Though he is sure the outcome will be favorable, the punishment is for death and he ...
At the novel’s outset, Meursault’s indifference seems to apply solely to his understanding of himself. Aside from his atheism, Meursault makes few assumptions about the nature of the world around him. However, his thinking begins to broaden once he is sentenced to death. After his encounter with the chaplain, Meursault concludes that the ...
Meursault's lawyer is confident that Meursault won't be sentenced to death. After forty-five minutes, the jury returns and Meursault is brought in to hear the sentence passed. He is told "in bizarre language" that he will be decapitated "in the name of the French people." He sees "a look of consideration" on everyone's face.
Perez, as someone who expresses his love for Madame Meursault, serves as a foil the indifferent narrator. The Examining Magistrate The magistrate questions Meursault several times after his …
Monsieur AntichristThe magistrate states that his own life would be meaningless if he doubted the existence of God, and concludes that Meursault has an irrevocably hardened soul. During the course of the eleven-month investigation that ensues, the magistrate takes to calling Meursault “Monsieur Antichrist,” with an almost cordial air.
Céleste calls Meursault "'a friend'" and has prepared a long-winded defense, blaming the crime on "'bad luck'" but the judge cuts him off, explaining the court is "to judge just this sort of bad luck." Hearing Céleste, Meursault feels for "the first time in my life I… wanted to kiss a man."
Meursault's lawyer insists the jury take note that the caretaker had likewise smoked during the vigil, accepting Meursault's offer of a cigarette. After the caretaker admits to offering Meursault coffee in the first place, the prosecutor derides Meursault as a disloyal son for not refusing the coffee.
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.
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.
3. Parricide is called the “most odious of crimes.”May 5, 2015
In the only surviving manuscript of the novel, (...), Camus still spells his narrator's last name "Mersault", identical to the hero of A Happy Death. Later, he would differentiate him from the main character of A Happy Death, by adding the "u" to Meursault's name.May 30, 2020
Masson. One of Raymond's friends, who invites Raymond, Meursault, and Marie to spend a Sunday at his beach house with him and his wife. It is during this ill-fated trip to Masson's beach house that Meursault kills the Arab.
SalamanoMeursaultRaymond SintesMarie CardonaMassonThe Stranger/Characters
Truth. Meursault's lawyer makes a good point when he says that in this absurd trial “everything is true and nothing is true.” The truth of the matter is that Meursault shot the Arab man for no good reason and without planning the murder in advance.Jan 13, 2022
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 was the jury's verdict? What does Meursault tell the chaplain?
What does Meursault's lawyer ask him not say in front of others? That people sometimes wish that their loved one's were dead.
Both the Magistrate and the Chaplain attempt to convince Meursault that he needs to repent and trust in God.
Meursault starts out by saying that it is always interesting when people talk about him. He is annoyed however that his lawyer will not allow him t...
Meursault starts out by saying that it is always interesting when people talk about him. He is annoyed however that his lawyer will not allow him t...
Meursault. The protagonist and narrator of The Stranger, to whom the novel’s title refers. Meursault is a detached figure who views and describes much of what occurs around him from a removed position. He is emotionally indifferent to others, even to his mother and his lover, Marie. He also refuses to adhere to the accepted moral order of society.
The brother of Raymond’s mistress. On the Sunday that Raymond, Meursault, and Marie spend at Masson’s beach house, Meursault kills the Arab with Raymond’s gun. The crime is apparently motiveless—the Arab has done nothing to Meursault. The Arab’s mysteriousness as a character makes Meursault ’s crime all the more strange and difficult to understand.
Meursault identifies with his mother and believes that she shared many of his attitudes about life, including a love of nature and the capacity to become accustomed to virtually any situation or occurrence. Most important, Meursault decides that, toward the end of her life, his mother must have embraced a meaningless universe and lived for the moment, just as he does.
Marie Cardona. A former co-worker of Meursault who begins an affair with him the day after his mother’s funeral. Marie is young and high-spirited, and delights in swimming and the outdoors. Meursault’s interest in Marie seems primarily the result of her physical beauty.
Marie does not seem to understand Meursault, but she feels drawn to Meursault’s peculiarities nevertheless. Even when Meursault expresses indifference toward marrying her, she still wants to be his wife, and she tries to support him during his arrest and trial. Read an in-depth analysis of Marie Cardona.
A priest who attends to the religious needs of condemned men, the chaplain acts as a catalyst for Meursault’s psychological and philosophical development. After Meursault is found guilty of premeditated murder and sentenced to death, he repeatedly refuses to see the chaplain. The chaplain visits Meursault anyway, and nearly demands that he take comfort in God. The chaplain seems threatened by Meursault’s stubborn atheism. Eventually, Meursault becomes enraged and angrily asserts that life is meaningless and that all men are condemned to die. This argument triggers Meursault’s final acceptance of the meaninglessness of the universe.
Raymond Sintes. A local pimp and Meursault’s neighbor. Raymond becomes angry when he suspects his mistress is cheating on him, and in his plan to punish her, he enlists Meursault’s help. In contrast to Meursault’s calm detachment, Raymond behaves with emotion and initiative.