246 Camus, Albert
wealth, power, war, religion, injustices heaped
upon weaker members of the society, restraints
on personal liberty and freedom of speech, and
many more issues frequently monopolize the poet’s
attention.
England herself occupies center stage for a major
share of Byron’s bitter tirades and provides a fertile
ground for a satirical treatment of English society.
After his Turkish adventures, Don Juan joins the
Russian army. Empress Catherine is charmed with
him. Sent to England for a change of climate, he is
a handsome young man with fine, polished manners,
who has impressive bearing and acts with appropri-
ate decorum. With a hero who is intensely distracted
by indifferent young maidens and madly swooned
over by others, the poem’s social setting provides
Byron with many delightful opportunities for sat-
ire. An innocent foreigner—that is, an observant
bystander—becomes a stock device for the satirical
treatment of social situations. Byron makes good use
of Don Juan in this role. Juan comes to England full
of enthusiasm, “lost in wonder for so great a nation, /
... ‘And here,’ he cried, ‘is Freedom’s chosen station’ ”
(11.9.3–5) when his idealistic reverie is interrupted
by a highwayman: “Damn your eyes! Your money or
your life!” (11.10.8).
Byron goes on to satirize England of the
years when the French Revolution was at its
most idealistic high. Vulgar oligarchy is bit-
terly denounced, materialistic attitude and social
hypocrisy are ruthlessly exposed. In comparison,
England’s heroic defiance in the Napoleonic Wars
of the early decades of the 19th century is recalled
fondly. In English society, loveless, “cold” mar-
riages of convenience are criticized. In fact, in Don
Juan, marriage itself is treated ironically. Most
marriages that Byron portrays in Don Juan are
shown as unhappy.
The pastimes of the bored rich—fox hunting,
lounging, cards—are ridiculed. The high political
ideals of the Whigs and the Tories are treated as
indistinguishable, and political turncoats receive the
bitterest scorn. The dedication to Don Juan focuses
on Robert Southey; William Wordsworth receives a
similar rebuff, while the self-indulgent, self-congrat-
ulatory narrow focus of the romantic poets receives a
rap on the knuckles:
You—Gentlemen! by dint of long seclusion
From better company, have kept your own...
There is narrowness in such a notion,
Which makes me wish you’d change your
lakes for Ocean. (Dedication. 5.1–8)
The social fabric is found to be unfavorable to a
citizen’s growth and development. The absence of a
meaningful sociopolitical structure and the failure of
a system to nourish the individual in the end leads
to amorality, irresponsibility, and defiance of existing
social values, as these values have been corrupted
and degraded by the dominating social classes.
Despite his resourcefulness and courage, Don
Juan is shown as a passive character. He ends up
symbolizing society’s helpless victim, debased and
manipulated rather than sheltered and supported.
Byron provides a new definition of evil in this con-
text. Unlike what the legend of Don Juan projects,
evil, Byron would have us believe, flourishes not
through rogue individuals but through society gone
awry.
Gulshan TanejaCAMUS, ALBERT The Stranger ( The
Outsider) (1942, 1946)
The Stranger, Albert Camus’s first novel, was pub-
lished in French in 1942 and in English in 1946.
Told in first-person point of view by the main char-
acter, Meursault, it recounts the events leading up to
his execution for committing murder. Meursault’s
mother dies at the beginning of the book, but other
characters include Marie, a girlfriend who wants to
marry him; Raymond, a neighbor who wants his
help in getting revenge on a girl; Salamano, another
neighbor; and, later, other characters in court and
in prison.
The 123-page novella is told in a very sim-
ple style, in brief sentences with little description
but a lot of movement. Characterization, symbol-
ism, epiphany, and suspense are present. Although
numerous themes are apparent, including death,
race, futility, alienation, and justice, the novel
is most often discussed in light of absurdism, a phi-
losophy that Camus (1913–60) basically invented.