The Real Plague Essay Research Paper The

We are given a more intimate view of Tarrou s repudiation for the plague when we study Tarrou s opinion of Othon who may have the most severe case of plague in the novel. Serving as magistrate, Othon s ignorance leads him to believe that he “knows everything and therefore claims for [him]self the right to kill,” (131). Othon has the power to sentence a human to death. Where did this power come from? We can only hypothesize it the base of it is “ignorance,” (131). After all, Tarrou believes there is no way to justify condemning a man to death. Othon must be ignorant not to realize this and letting “good intentions” conceal the truth. Eventually, Tarrou gives him the title “Enemy Number One,” (146).

Tarrou attempts to be a man of good faith. He thinks, by merely ignoring the plague and not joining forces with it is not enough. By using this type of ignorance, Tarrou would be actually be supporting it. This is “why [Tarrou] have resolved to have no truck with anything which, directly or indirectly, for good reasons or for bad, brings death to anyone or justifies others putting him to death,” (252). To have “no truck”(252) with the plague, one must not join forces with the plague, such as the magistrate has done. To Tarrou, to “not join forces with the pestilence,”(254) he must join the “victim s side,” (254). He does, in fact, have plague, for he “had had an indirect hand in the deaths of thousands of people; that I d even brought about their deaths by approving of acts and principles which could only that way,” (251). This is why he has to join the side of the victims. As the existential philosophy would direct, his actions have to be evaluated if everyone else had committed them.

Later in the court trial scene, again, it shows Tarrou s belief clearly. Before looking at Tarrou s perceptions on how the “poor owl”(252) was handled, one should see that Tarrou completely agrees that this man is guilty of whatever crime he had committed. He has confessed to the crime, and is, unequivocally, guilty. In spite of this fact, Tarrou does not believe the man should receive his death sentence. The certainty of the man s innocence of a crime is irrelevant to Tarrou s decision that the man deserves death. Regardless of the outrage of the crime the “poor owl”(252) may have committed, Tarrou believes he unjustified his punishment. There is no excuse to kill a man, because we do not “know everything.”

It becomes evident to the reader that Tarrou s troubles are completely based on existential beliefs. To clarify, Tarrou loses his peace and suffers only because of an existential viewpoint. It is important that society does not blame Tarrou for the unjustified deaths placed on men. One reason, obviously, is that society does not consider the majority of these deaths unjustified, thus there is no place to give blame. But, if a defendant who had received the death penalty were later found innocent, blame would lie in the courts, prosecutors, jury, and judge. No individual would place blame upon him, unless he is an existentialist. Tarrou is this person. What makes his situation all the more complex is the fact that he believes that all imposed deaths are unjustified, and, because he has contributed to the deaths of these people, he is faced with a huge burden. The desire to rid himself of plague becomes Tarrou s greatest virtue, and obstacle Xnot to be ignorant. .