The plague and love

The Plague and Love This paper will examine ” The Plague” by Albert Camus and the movie ” Casablanca” directed by Michael Curtiz. This paper will encompass a discussion of both of these works in the context of the theme love. The dictionary definition of love is ” A feeling of intense desire and attraction toward a person with whom one is disposed to make a pair; the emotion of sex and romance.” (American Heritage Dictionary) There are many definitions of love and many contexts it can be applied to so if you would think of love as an ambiguous term for purposes of this discussion.
” Casablanca” is regarded as a love story in the truest sense. According to reviewer Tom Keogh ” Casablanca” is ” a truly perfect movie, the 1942 Casablanca still wows viewers today, and for good reason. Its unique story of a love triangle set against terribly high stakes in the war against a monster is sophisticated instead of outlandish,” This definitive love story and the love and conflicts that are included in ” Casablanca” are going to be compared Albert Camus’ work ” The Plague”.
It may seem an absurd premise at first but after giving love careful consideration the premise is not as absurd as fit first seems.
In ” The Plague”, Albert Camus writes, ” All I maintain is that on this earth there are pestilences and there are victims, and it’s up to us so far as possible, not to join forces with the pestilences.” (Camus) What is writing about does not differ so much from a love triangle as we see in ” Casablanca”. Love can be seen in ” The Plague” in many different examples. For instance love of others (romantic or otherwise), love of state, love of an ideal, or there can be love of self. After careful consideration, although not as apparent as in ” Casablanca”, love my very well be the theme of Camus’ work.
Time father Paneloux says that ‘Religion in a time of plague cannot be ordinary religion.’ The same goes for morality. What, then, is the difference In the film version, Martine Rambert says, ‘The worst thing about despair is getting used to it.’ Why What does it mean to do so Then, what does it mean to resist that despair What choices must be made and what are the grounds we must adopt for predicating those choices
The point I am trying to express is that love is everywhere and felt for different reasons. Although it is more apparent in ” Casablanca”, love abounds in Camus’ work as well. To overcome the feelings of doom and despair just discussed, there has to be some self-love involved. As well, there has to be a love for something. If that love for something did not exist, there would be no motivation to preserve and go on.
In essence I am saying that even in the darkest and most dismal of circumstances a love for something, be it self or something else, must exist or there would be no reason to fight to go on. It could be love for life, love for someone or love for anything but it has to be there and love must exist to overcome the dismal circumstances.
This can be seen in ” The Plague” and also in ” Casablanca”. In ” Casablanca” (another love story on many levels), Rick Blaine tries to avoid despair by choosing no to make moral choices. His pal, Capitaine Louis Reynaud (attempts to avoid moral issues altogether by not making any choices at all. Vikor Laslow, on the other hand, is the paragon of virtue by making and sustaining moral decision in spite of the despair and danger.
Therefore, we must ask how these people resolve their normal dilemmae. The way that solve their dilemmas is the factor the relates ” Casblanca” to ” The Plague”. I conclude it is love. Love is the motivator of decisions made, whether they are moral or not. However if love is not apparent the issue of morals is not as important therefore the decisions made are not motivated or even sincere. The next time you consider what’s love got to do with it You might answer everything as after perusal of these two works it does.
Works Cited
Camus, Albert.” The Plague ” Vintage; Reissue edition (May 7, 1991)
Curtiz, Michael, Director. ” Casablanca” 1942 re-released 2001.
The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. 2000. Houghton Mifflin Company.