Caligula and Three Other Plays

Albert Camus is as good at writing plays as he is at everything else he does. Whether you are new to Camus or not, you will definately enjoy this.

Camus does an excellent job of contrasting individual insanity and collective insanity in his play Caligula. Basically, Caligula is insane. He is a despot who holds the lives of his subjects in his hands. At times, for very arbitrary reasons, he kills or executes someone from his court. This seems arbitrary and frightenging. Yet, Caligula is contrasted against sane military officers who engage in terrible acts of war where thousands upon thousands of civilians and soldiers are killed. So who is insane? Is it the dictator who might execute someone in his court for very trivial reasons or is it the rational military general who kills thousands and thousands of persons in rational and supposedly justified warfare? Camus reveals to the careful reader that societal evil is far more dangerous than individual evil. This is a wonderful thoughtful classic play that demonstrates Camus' ability to bring complex concepts to dramatic life. The Misunderstanding, another play in this volume, is another complex drama. An innkeeper and her old maid daughter kills guests of the inn when they are able to discern that the guest's death can not be tracked. They rob the guests which supplements their income. They long for the return of the beloved son of the innkeeper who has been gone for years and years without contact. As you might expect, the son returns to the inn and is murdered by his mother and sister. The deed is revealed when his wife arrives and finds him missing. Camus here deals with the concept of objectification of others so that violence may be done to them without remorse. When the innkeeper and her daughter find they have murdered the long lost son, they are beside themselves with grief. But yet they have murdered many innocent travelers without remorse because they have been able to divorce themselves from any thoughts that these travelers were fellow humans. A simple play with a simple point, yet it points to a terrible feature of human existence, that we can commit unspeakable horror on others once we have convinced ourselves that they are no longer human beings. Camus recognized that prejudice kills, it is not beneign. I appreciate Camus' ability to make a point without preaching or overstating. I strongly suggest this book of 4 short plays.

The cover of Caligula shows an abstract horse bucking, and that is just what Caligula does to us. It knocks us off our high-horse by bringing us face-to-face with death. Only (and I do not choose that word lightly) a true understanding of death can put lives in perspective. Sure Caligula is a despot who could have the life of any of his subjects, but the fact-of-the-matter is that our lives can end at any second. Caligula teaches us not to take life for granted, which is something that is all to easily done in this era. This theme also exists in State of Seige. The other two plays, The Misunderstanding, and The Just Assasins are more subtle, but they also deal with idea that we take petty concerns and ideas too seriously, and fail to look and the big picture. I should also add that the language and passion of the plays are exceptional.

Encompassing the doctorine of the Ubermensch cast alongside the dictatorship of Hitler, Camus creates an absurd, absolute ruler whom the people are at his beck and call. Every whim, be it for food or a specific person's death for the merge specticle of it, are just some of the scenes depicted in this play. It forces the question of whether one would rather possess a ruler who is consistant in all actions, thought, etc. or one who is willing to contradict him or herself for the good of the people. This is a complex work whose depths it seems may never be compeletly explored. Often overlooked due to the potency of his prose, Camus has produced yet another masterwork.

Camus' raw talent. There isn't anything negative to say about Camus, other than he died too young. If he'd lived through the 60's, he'd at the most give Sartre a good run for his money.I love Camus simply because he's the only writer/philosopher who 'beats you up' with the truth, and comforts you with the notion, that he too has done this to himself. He doesn't try to replace your religion or your belief, or even question your place in the world. And he certainly didn't trade in one 'ism' for another like his Toad-faced contemporary!Read this! It's wonderful. Camus sums up life's absurdities simplier than Kierkergaard and a tad bit kinder--maybe even sublte--than Nietzsche (who in my estimation is the one and only TRUE existential----maybe Che Guevara is a close second)