If this Myth is tragic, that is because its hero is concious. Where would his torture be, indeed, if at every step the hope of succeding upheld him? The workman of today works every day in his life at the same tasks, and his fate is no less absurd. But it is tragic only at the rare moments when it becomes concious. Sisyphus proletarian of the gods, powerless and rebellious, knows the whole extent of his wretched condition: it is what he thinks during his descent. The lucidity that was to constitute his torture at the same time crowns his victory. There is no fate that cannot be surmounted by scorn.
Alber Camus,
The Myth of Sisyphus |
