The Myth of Sisyphus is the subject of a famous essay by Albert Camus who is generally recognised as one of the main figures in the existentialist movement. Camus himself presents Sisyphus as the absurd hero and goes on to show how Sisyphus illustrates his [Camus’] own beliefs about the human condition. So on the one hand the story of Sisyphus is existentialist because one of the main figures of existentialism presents it as portraying his view of life. However, we can go beyond what Camus has said and by looking at the thoughts of other adherents to the existentialist perspective we can see that the myth of Sisyphus is an existentialist story for many other reasons than just those mentioned by Camus. The Myth of Sisyphus is presented by Camus as follows:

The gods had condemned Sisyphus to ceaselessly rolling a rock to the top of a mountain, whence the stone would fall back of its own weight...he [Sisyphus] is accused of a certain levity in regard to the gods.  He stole their secrets. Aegina, the daughter of  Aesopus, was carried off by Jupiter. The father was shocked by that disappearance and complained to Sisyphus.  He, who knew of the abduction, offered to tell about it on condition that Aesopus would give water to the citadel of Corinth. To the celestial thunderbolts he preferred the benediction of water.  He was punished for this in the underworld.  Homer tells us also that Sisyphus had put Death in chains.  Pluto could not endure the sight of his deserted, silent empire.  He dispatched the god of war, who liberated Death from the hands of her conqueror.

It is said also that Sisyphus, being near to death, rashly wanted to test his wife’s love.  He ordered her to cast his unburied body into the middle of the public square.  Sisyphus woke up in the underworld.  And there, annoyed by an obedience so contrary to human love, he obtained from Pluto permission to return to earth in order to chastise his wife.  But when he had seen again the face of this world, enjoyed water and sun, warm stones and the sea, he no longer wanted to go back to the infernal darkness. Recalls, signs of anger, warnings were of no avail.  Many years more he lived facing the curve of the gulf, the sparkling sea, and the smiles of earth.  A decree of the gods was necessary.  Mercury came and seized the impudent man by the collar and, snatching him from his joys, led him forcibly back to the underworld, where his rock was ready for him. (Camus, pp. 88/89)

According to Messerly the first basic idea of existentialism is that ‘reason is an inadequate instrument with which to comprehend the values, depth, mystery, and meaning of life.’ We can see that for Sisyphus this is very much the case. Camus claims that Sisyphus is ‘accused of a certain levity in regard to the gods. He stole their secrets’. If reason were what dictated his actions he would surely treat those more powerful than himself with respect and avoid the theft of their secrets. Putting death in chains seems also to have been a risky action if considered from a purely rational point of view. However, it is clearly not reason that dictates Sisyphus’ actions. He appears an impulsive, spirited and passionate person. Also his reaction to his wife’s throwing his unburied body into the middle of the public square clearly indicates that human emotions such as love, take precedence over reason. It was probably reason that dictated his wife should follow her husband’s dying wish, but Sisyphus clearly expected and wanted his wife’s love for him to be the overriding factor in determining her actions. Comprehending the ‘values, depth, mystery, and meaning of life’ involves understanding such emotions as love which are not accessible to reason. A further basic idea of existentialism according to Messerly is that ‘concrete personal experiences’ are superior to ‘rational abstractions’. This point is illustrated by the fact that Sisyphus preferred water to the ‘celestial thunderbolts’. Water, as a common concrete and necessary commodity is more desirable than communing with the gods or having access to ‘rational abstractions’. As human beings we are all faced with death and deal with it in different ways. Many of us resort to ‘rational abstraction’ as we intellectualise and rationalise about it. However, Sisyphus’ way of dealing with Death was to put her in chains. Putting her in chains was taking concrete, personal and direct action to overcome his enemy. When he managed to convince Pluto to give him permission to return to earth from the underworld, he was seduced by the ‘concrete personal experiences’ of ‘water and sun, warm stones and the sea.’ ‘Rational abstraction’ would indicate that he did not belong on earth any longer. He had died and so belonged in the underworld. However, Sisyphus was not interested in what reason might dictate. He wanted the concrete personal experience of water, sun and stones. Despite the gods summoning him back to the underworld he continued to ignore them (against reason?) choosing instead the concrete reality he was experiencing on earth. This helps to explain how Camus can see Sisyphus as being basically happy. Sisyphus’ punishment of pushing a rock to the top of a mountain, is very much a concrete personal experience. Even though it is not a very pleasant experience, for a man like Sisyphus it is preferable to floating around in the ether as a spirit which can be dismissed as a ‘rational abstraction’.

Human beings being radically free is a third basic idea of existentialism according to Messerly. At first glance this may appear to be untrue of Sisyphus. After all, he is condemned to pushing a rock to the top of a mountain for eternity. One would appear to be more free locked up in a prison cell. At least there you could choose what to do. Sisyphus’ prison is the mountain-side and furthermore he is forced to work. However, when we look carefully at what existentialists mean when they say man is radically free, we can see that Sisyphus is indeed free. In fact it is his freedom that has led him to his punishment. Other men avoid such punishment by surrendering their freedom. When we look at Sisyphus’ actions as recounted in the story we see that he is prepared to do things that most of us would avoid because our ‘reason’ tells us that it wouldn’t be good for us to do it. Not even the gods can prevent Sisyphus from doing what he wants. Sisyphus stole secrets from the gods. When given the chance for any wish to be granted Sisyphus chose water. Sisyphus put death in chains. Sisyphus talked the gods into giving him permission to return to earth after dying. Sisyphus remained on earth against the wishes of the gods. If we have been convinced by Camus, then perhaps the greatest way in which he is free is by being happy despite having to push his rock to the summit of a mountain. For an existentialist a man is free to be happy in any circumstances. As Messerly puts it ‘If we are in a bad mood, for example, it is because we choose to be. The external world does not impose itself upon our consciousness, we control our moods, thoughts, attitudes, and choices’ (Messerly, p. 4) So Sisyphus is free because he is in control of his moods, thoughts, attitudes and choices. Neither the gods, the rock not the mountain determine how he feels. He is very much in control and so he is free.

We have seen above that Sisyphus, is an excellent example of an existentialist hero. he does not allow reason to dictate the course of his life. he relies very much on passions in determining his actions and judges others not on how rational they are but rather on how passionate they are. Furthermore he very much enjoys the concrete, physical side of life taking pleasure in sunshine, water and the physical objects he finds around him. Finally he, through his own volition, takes control of his life and makes himself superior to his fate so that although he is condemned to eternal punishment he is still happy. We may not be comfortable with calling the original write of the myth, an existentialist but when read with existentialist ideas in mind, Sisyphus and his predicament can be seen to clearly and concretely illustrate the ideas of a range of philosophers usually associated with existentialism. Albert Camus’ choice of Sisyphus as his ‘absurd hero’ is testament to the extent to which The Myth of Sisyphus is an existentialist story.

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