Sisyphus
In Greek mythology Sisyphus was the founder of Ephyra. He was punished by the Gods for his constant deceitfulness by being made to push an immense boulder up a hill, only to watch it roll back down the other side. Sisyphus was made to repeat this for eternity. The theme of this story is that of a never ending existence of punishment that is never ending and completely futile, it is considered the ultimate torture. Yet some see it as an inflection on will-power and unimaginable strength of being.
While usually seen as an ever lasting torture that is meaningless and impossible to complete, it remains that what Sisyphus was doing was a true test of will-power and strength. And as many author's have done one could draw parallels to Sisyphus in this more positive light as easily as in a negative light. This conclusion would be useful to draw when comparing Sisyphus’s task to human life, while it's true that life is often monotonous and fruitless, it's also true that getting through some parts of life takes incredible strength, and incredible will-power. Sisyphus is truly the best metaphor for human existence; we will supposedly be wiped off the face of the earth, and supposedly it should have happened many times, but even in a reality that seems futile and fruitless the human race still keeps pushing, that will-power from Sisyphus is seen in people all over the world.
- One place that you would find this reference is in the intro to the book, L'Etranger, by french existentialist Albert Camus. Camus likens the eternal punishment of Sisyphus to the life of humans. He does this by saying that, like Sisyphus, we are all pushing a boulder to the top of a hill as we go through our lives, but that there is no real purpose to this, because in the end, no matter what we do, we will die. Like Sisyphus we are all trying to achieve an unrealistic, and unfruitful goal said Camus in his early years of writing.
- In the poem Yet I do Marvel, by Countee Cullen, the author makes a direct reference to Sisyphus and his task. He observes the task as a worldly imperfection, that not only Sisyphus underwent but that all of man kind does so. In context he is questioning the ways of God. Having accepted that there is indeed a true God, he inflects as to how tortures like the trials of Sisyphus can exist at the same time as the grace of God. This, questioning of the viability of God's 'goodness', is a common argument against most religions that Cullen puts into perspective for the reader through his reference to Sisyphus.
- In book eleven of the great Greek Epic, The Odyssey, the famed hero Odysseus traveled down to the underworld to meet Sisyphus. “And I saw Sisyphus at his endless task raising his prodigious stone with both his hands. With hands and feet he' tried to roll it up to the top of the hill, but always, just before he could roll it over on to the other side, its weight would be too much for him, and the pitiless stone would come thundering down again on to the plain” (Homer). The observance of Homer is one that can be seen as both to negative points and to positive. The negative is obvious, the observance of a truly impossible task that in the end if completed would be meaningless anyway. The positive side is as simple but less obvious; Sisyphus must have known that what he was doing was meaningless yet with unreal will-power he built incredible strength to eventually overcome the top of the hill.
While usually seen as an ever lasting torture that is meaningless and impossible to complete, it remains that what Sisyphus was doing was a true test of will-power and strength. And as many author's have done one could draw parallels to Sisyphus in this more positive light as easily as in a negative light. This conclusion would be useful to draw when comparing Sisyphus’s task to human life, while it's true that life is often monotonous and fruitless, it's also true that getting through some parts of life takes incredible strength, and incredible will-power. Sisyphus is truly the best metaphor for human existence; we will supposedly be wiped off the face of the earth, and supposedly it should have happened many times, but even in a reality that seems futile and fruitless the human race still keeps pushing, that will-power from Sisyphus is seen in people all over the world.