Author of the novel "The Plague" Albert Camus
The writer was born in the fall of 1913 in Algeria. With the outbreak of World War I, the boy's father died, and caring for the family fell on his mother's shoulders.
When Albert grew up, he received a scholarship to the local lyceum, and after graduation he continued his studies at the University of Oran.
With the emergence of fascism in Europe, Camus began to actively fight it. He wrote articles for the independent press in which he criticized the “brown plague.”
In the early 40s, the writer moved to France, where he collaborated with the Resistance Movement. It is noteworthy that, unlike the USSR, in which the fight against fascism was the only way for people to survive, in France the Nazis behaved more tolerantly, and many French people supported them. Participation in the Resistance was equivalent to signing one's own death warrant, and not many French people risked their well-being and joined it.
During these years, Camus published articles criticizing the doctrines of fascism in underground publications. Later, memories of this period of life will form the basis of Albert Camus’ novel “The Plague,” a summary of which is the topic of our conversation today.
Over time, the writer forms his own philosophy, close to the ideas of existentialism (the irrationality of existence). During this period, the writer’s story “The Outsider” and the philosophical essay “The Myth of Sisyphus” were published.
In 1943, Camus began work on the parable novel “The Plague.” However, it is possible to complete and publish it only after 4 years.
In subsequent years, Camus reconsidered his views and wrote the essay “The Rebel Man,” because of which many like-minded people began to view him negatively, but Camus’s books were popular, and in 1957 the writer received the Nobel Prize.
This man's life was cut short in January 1960 when he was involved in a car accident. Albert Camus was buried in the Lourmarin cemetery in the south of France.
True humanity from the point of view of the characters in the novel “The Plague”
One of the main meanings of A. Camus’s novel “The Plague” is the question of humanism, of good and evil. The solution to this issue is carried out through a number of situations that occur with the heroes of the work. Journalist Rambert, who desperately wants to escape from the plague-ridden city, comes to Dr. Rieux and asks, as an exception, to issue him a certificate stating that he is completely healthy and has the right to leave the quarantine zone. However, the doctor remarks that he cannot guarantee that Rambert will not catch the microbe before he leaves the city. He explains to the journalist that there is a serious danger that through him the plague could enter Paris and lead to the death of hundreds of people. So the author puts Rieux in a situation of a difficult choice - to act humanly and let Rambert go to his wife, or, no matter what, show firmness and refuse. Rieux cannot allow even one person to die and chooses the second option. Rambert reproaches him for his lack of humanism and inhumanity.
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Meanwhile, in the infected city, volunteer units are formed to fight the plague. The initiator of this movement is Tarru, who unexpectedly decided to fight the plague. Doctor Rieux, Gran, and then Rambert join this detachment. The question of humanism is further developed in one of the scenes where Tarrou and Rambert work in an infected quarter. Tarrou expresses the opinion that by carrying out such actions, people themselves sometimes contribute to the spread of the infection. Thus, humanity and goodness can bring evil.
But then, if good in the usual sense can lead to terrible consequences, death, tragedy, evil, what then is real good? And does good exist at all? What will be the alternative to traditional humanism?
Background of the novel
The idea of writing a novel about fascism came to Camus back in the early 40s, when he was teaching in Oran. However, Albert Camus began work on the novel only in 1943.
“The Plague” (a chapter-by-chapter summary will be discussed later) was completed only in 1947 and published in the same year. Europe, which had not yet had time to recover after the war, perfectly accepted the parable novel, since everyone still remembered the invasion of the “brown plague.”
Composition of the novel by chapters
The language of the work is rather dry and devoid of emotion, because this is a chronicle novel consisting of the notes of Dr. Bernard Rieux and Jean Tarrou, who arrived shortly before the outbreak of the epidemic.
In total, the novel consists of 5 chapters, each of which illustrates a certain emotional state of people in relation to the plague:
Chapter I - “Denial”.
Chapter II – “Anger.”
Chapter III – “Permissiveness.”
Chapter IV - “Depression and fatigue.”
Chapter V – “Humility.”
The main characters of the novel
It is worth first considering the main characters of the novel before starting a brief retelling of the content.
The plague (Camus Albert emphasized this) is the main character of the work.
It is omnipresent and inexorable, senseless and merciless - absolute evil. Most of the other characters are heroes fighting her. So, their leader can be called Dr. Bernard Rieux. He is a dark-skinned, dark-haired, brown-eyed man, 35 years old. The doctor tries to keep all his experiences to himself. He suffers from separation from his wife, but does not complain or make any attempts to escape from the city, and day after day, despite his fatigue, he continues to treat the sick. His credo: “You have to be mad, blind or a scoundrel to put up with the plague.”
The opposite of the doctor is a young journalist from Paris, Raymond Rambert. Despite a lot of experiences (he fought in Spain), the reporter remains a very emotional person. Having accidentally found himself in a plague-ridden city, he tries to get out of it in order to return to his beloved wife.
At first, he behaves as if everything that happens around him does not concern him. But he soon changes his attitude and, having received a chance to escape, remains in the city and selflessly fights the plague. This character was not in the original drafts for the novel.
Another bright character is Jean Tarrou. Since childhood, he grew up in prosperity, but, realizing that others lived worse, he decided to devote his life to helping them. Over time, Tarrou discovers that in his attempts to help, he often made things worse. Despite bitter disappointment, with the advent of the plague, Tarrou abandoned his philosophizing and organized the first volunteer medical detachment to help fight the infection. Ultimately, this hero dies from the plague in anticipation of defeating it.
Father Panlu. This image embodies all the nuances of the Christian worldview. At first, he interprets the epidemic as God's punishment for the sins of the city's inhabitants. However, over time it turns out that both innocent children and old sinners are dying from the infection. Despite this, the priest does not lose his faith and accepts what is happening with humility. He becomes an assistant to the atheist Rieux and takes care of the sick, sparing no effort. Having fallen ill, the priest refuses treatment and accepts death with a crucifix in his hands.
Summary – “The Plague” by Camus Albert
Summary
"The Plague" Camus Albert
The novel is an eyewitness account of a survivor of the plague that broke out in 194... in the city of Oran, a typical French prefecture on the Algerian coast.
The narration is told on behalf of Dr. Bernard Rieux, who led anti-plague measures in the infected city. The plague comes to this city, devoid of vegetation and not knowing the singing of birds, unexpectedly. It all starts with dead rats appearing on the streets and in houses. Soon, thousands of them are collected throughout the city every day. On the very first day of the invasion of these gloomy harbingers of trouble, not yet realizing the catastrophe threatening the city, Dr. Rieux sends his wife, who has long been suffering from some kind of illness, to a mountain sanatorium. His mother comes to help him with housework.
The first to die of the plague was the gatekeeper at the doctor's house. No one in the city yet suspects that the disease that has struck the city is a plague. The number of sick people is increasing every day. Dr. Rie orders a serum from Paris that helps the sick, but only slightly, and soon it runs out. The need to declare a quarantine becomes obvious to the city prefecture. Oran becomes a closed city.
One evening, the doctor is called to see him by his long-time patient, a city hall employee named Gran, whom the doctor treats for free due to his poverty. His neighbor, Cottard, attempted suicide. The reason that pushed him to take this step is not clear to Gran, but later he draws the doctor’s attention to the strange behavior of his neighbor. After this incident, Cottard begins to show extraordinary courtesy in communicating with people, although previously he was unsociable. The doctor suspects that Cottard has a bad conscience, and now he is trying to earn the favor and love of others.
Gran himself is an elderly man, of thin build, timid, having difficulty finding words to express his thoughts. However, as the doctor later learns, he has been writing a book in his free time for many years and dreams of composing a truly masterpiece. All these years he has been polishing one single, first phrase.
At the beginning of the epidemic, Dr. Rie meets journalist Raymond Rambert, who arrived from France, and a still quite young, athletic man with a calm, intent look of gray eyes named Jean Tarrou. From his very arrival in the city, several weeks before the unfolding events, Tarrou kept a notebook, where he entered in detail his observations of the residents of Oran, and then of the development of the epidemic. Subsequently, he becomes a close friend and ally of the doctor and organizes volunteer sanitary teams to combat the epidemic.
From the moment the quarantine was announced, city residents began to feel as if they were in prison. They are forbidden to send letters, swim in the sea, or leave the city, which is guarded by armed guards. The city is gradually running out of food, which is taken advantage of by smugglers, people like Cottard; The gap is growing between the poor, forced to eke out a miserable existence, and the wealthy residents of Oran, who allow themselves to buy food at exorbitant prices on the black market, indulge in luxury in cafes and restaurants, and visit entertainment venues. Nobody knows how long all this horror will last. People live one day at a time.
Rambert, feeling like a stranger in Oran, rushes to Paris to his wife. First through official means, and then with the help of Cottard and smugglers, he tries to escape from the city. Dr. Rieux, meanwhile, works twenty hours a day, caring for patients in hospitals. Seeing the dedication of the doctor and Jean Tarrou, Rambert, when he has a real opportunity to leave the city, abandons this intention and joins the Tarroux sanitary squads.
In the midst of an epidemic that is claiming a huge number of lives, the only person in the city who is satisfied with the state of things is Cottard, since, taking advantage of the epidemic, he makes a fortune for himself and does not have to worry that the police will remember him and the trial that has begun against him will be resumed.
Many people who have returned from special quarantine institutions, having lost loved ones, lose their minds and burn down their own homes, thus hoping to stop the spread of the epidemic. In front of the indifferent owners, looters rush into the fire and steal everything they can carry.
At first, funeral rites are performed in compliance with all the rules. However, the epidemic becomes so widespread that soon the bodies of the dead have to be thrown into a ditch; the cemetery can no longer accommodate all the dead. Then their bodies begin to be taken out of town, where they are burned. The plague has been raging since spring. In October, Doctor Castel creates a serum in Oran itself from the virus that has taken over the city, for this virus is somewhat different from its classic version. In addition to the bubonic plague, pneumonic plague is also added over time.
They decide to try the serum on a hopeless patient, the son of investigator Ogon. Dr. Rieux and his friends observed the child's atony for several hours in a row. He cannot be saved. They take this death hard, the death of a sinless being. However, with the onset of winter, at the beginning of January, cases of recovery of patients begin to repeat more and more often, this happens, for example, with Gran. Over time, it becomes obvious that the plague begins to unclench its claws and, exhausted, release victims from its embrace. The epidemic is on the decline.
Residents of the city initially perceive this event in the most contradictory way. From joyful excitement they are thrown into despondency. They do not yet fully believe in their salvation. During this period, Cottard communicates closely with Dr. Rieux and Tarrou, with whom he has frank conversations about the fact that when the epidemic ends, people will turn away from him, Cottard. In Tarrou's diary, the last lines, in already illegible handwriting, are dedicated specifically to him. Suddenly Tarrou falls ill, with both types of plague at the same time. The Doctor fails to save his friend.
One February morning, the city, finally declared open, rejoices and celebrates the end of a terrible period. Many, however, feel that they will never be the same. The plague introduced a new feature into their character - a certain detachment.
One day, Dr. Rieux, heading to Gran, sees Cottard, in a state of insanity, shooting at passers-by from his window. The police have difficulty neutralizing him. Gran resumes writing the book, the manuscript of which he ordered to be burned during his illness.
Dr. Rieux, returning home, receives a telegram announcing the death of his wife. He is in great pain, but he realizes that there is no accident in his suffering. The same constant pain had plagued him for the past few months. Listening to the joyful cries coming from the street, he thinks that any joy is under threat. The plague microbe never dies, it can lie dormant for decades, and then the day may come when the plague awakens the rats again and sends them to die on the streets of a happy city.
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Minor characters
Having become familiar with the main and minor characters of Camus’s novel (“The Plague”), the summary of the work will be easier to understand.
A small freelance employee of the mayor's office, 50-year-old Joseph Gran does not look like a hero at all. In normal circumstances, he is a classic loser, unable to adapt to life. Because of this, he is poor and abandoned by his wife. The novel of his entire life remains at the level of the first phrase about the Amazon. However, at the moment of common misfortune, courage awakens in this little man. He is a hero, but not one of those who throws himself at an embrasure. During the chaos of the epidemic, Gran manages to remain calm and continue to regulate the work of the squads day after day. Having fallen ill with the plague, he miraculously recovers, and this incident becomes the beginning of the victory over the disease.
Smuggler Cottard is a vivid example of those people who benefit from misfortune. While everyone is dying from the epidemic, he rejoices at the chaos that has ensued, because of which he avoids prison. He manages to make a fortune during a terrible misfortune, but inner emptiness and loneliness lead him to madness. At the beginning of the novel, he tries to hang himself, but this suicide attempt is more like a cry for help. Behind his ostentatious indifference lies a loneliness that the hero cannot cope with.
There are also several female characters in the novel. First of all, this is the doctor’s wife - a selfless woman who tries to the last not to worry her husband and hides the deterioration of her health.
Rie's mother looks just as worthy. She shows kindness and care to her son and his friends. No wonder Tarrou admires her in his notes.
The novel also mentions Rambert’s faithful wife, who waited for her husband all the time while he was locked in quarantine.
Albert Camus, “The Plague”: a summary of the novel
Having understood the composition of the novel and the main characters, it is worth moving on to the plot. He created a fairly clear Camus architecture in his work. “The Plague” (it’s better to summarize it in chapters) consists of 5 parts.
So, Chapter I. It tells about the Algerian seaside city of Oran.
At the beginning of April, the doctor finds a dead rat on the steps of his house, and later another one. After accompanying his wife to the train (she is leaving for treatment at a sanatorium), Rie discusses with a local investigator the increase in the number of rats in the city. In the afternoon, the doctor gives an interview to a correspondent from Paris, Rambert.
A few days later, rats in the city began to crawl out of their holes in whole swarms and die. Their numbers increased so much that in just one day, 6,231 rat corpses were burned.
Soon the watchman from the doctor's house fell ill with a strange illness and died. By that time, the rats had disappeared, and people began to suffer from an unknown fever with a fatal outcome. Rie gathers colleagues to find out what kind of disease this is. The test results show that this is an unusual type of plague.
The city authorities were in no hurry to respond to the epidemic, and only through the efforts of Rieux they were able to force them to take preventive measures. Meanwhile, the number of deaths reaches 30 per day, and only then the city is quarantined.
Chapter II. Even after the start of quarantine, the townspeople could not understand the reality of what was happening. However, when the number of deaths exceeded several hundred, they began to fear. Many residents were sent on vacation at their own expense; gasoline and essential products were sold in limited quantities. Many shops closed, and only cafes flourished.
At the end of the first month of quarantine, journalist Rambert came to the doctor and asked him to help him leave the city. Rieux could not help the guy, and he began to look for other ways through the smuggler Cottard.
Meanwhile, more than 100 people died from the infection per day. To restore order, Tarrou persuades Rieux to organize sanitary groups. Rambert, waiting for the opportunity to escape from the city, also begins to work in the sanitary squads.
Chapter III. Cases of looting have become more frequent in the city. The poor suffered more than the rich, but the plague spared no one. There were not enough coffins, and the bodies of the dead began to be burned. People were desperate.
Chapter IV. The plague continues to rage. Rambert, having the opportunity to escape from the city, but, inspired by the example of the doctor, remains to work in the sanitary squads, corresponding with his wife. A new anti-plague vaccine has been developed in the city, but it does not help. Soon the priest Panlu dies. Gran falls ill, but suddenly recovers, followed by several more sick people, and it becomes clear that the epidemic is on the decline.
Chapter V Despite the gradual retreat of the plague, the city's residents could not believe it. However, on the eve of victory over the plague, Tarru fell ill and died, which crippled the doctor even more than the subsequent news of his wife’s death in the sanatorium.
In February, the city's quarantine was lifted, and people rejoiced at meeting their relatives after a long separation. The doctor continued to work and thought that the plague virus had not been killed and could return at any moment.
“The Plague” by A. Camus summary
“The Plague” by A. Camus, you can read a very brief summary of the novel in 5-7 minutes.
“The Plague” by A. Camus summary
The plot of the novel is based on the events of the Plague Year in Oran (Algeria), a terrible epidemic that pushed the townspeople into the abyss of suffering and death. Doctor Rieux talks about this - a man who recognizes only facts; he led anti-plague measures in the infected city.
The plague comes to the city unexpectedly. It all starts with dead rats appearing on the streets and in houses. Soon, thousands of them are collected throughout the city every day. On the very first day of the invasion of these gloomy harbingers of trouble, not yet realizing the catastrophe threatening the city, Dr. Rieux sends his wife, who has long been suffering from some kind of illness, to a mountain sanatorium. His mother comes to help him with housework.
The first to die of the plague was the gatekeeper at the doctor's house. No one in the city yet suspects that the disease that has struck the city is a plague. The number of sick people is increasing every day. Dr. Rie orders a serum from Paris that helps the sick, but only slightly, and soon it runs out. The need to declare a quarantine becomes obvious to the city prefecture. Oran becomes a closed city.
One evening, the doctor is called to see him by his long-time patient, a city hall employee named Gran, whom the doctor treats for free due to his poverty. His neighbor, Cottard, attempted suicide. The reason that pushed him to take this step is not clear to Gran, but later he draws the doctor’s attention to the strange behavior of his neighbor. After this incident, Cottard begins to show extraordinary courtesy in communicating with people, although previously he was unsociable. The doctor suspects that Cottard has a bad conscience, and now he is trying to earn the favor and love of others.
Gran himself is an elderly man, of thin build, timid, having difficulty finding words to express his thoughts. However, as the doctor later learns, he has been writing a book in his free time for many years and dreams of composing a truly masterpiece. All these years he has been polishing one single, first phrase.
At the beginning of the epidemic, Dr. Rie meets journalist Raymond Rambert, who arrived from France, and a still quite young, athletic man with a calm, intent look of gray eyes named Jean Tarrou. From his very arrival in the city, several weeks before the unfolding events, Tarrou kept a notebook, where he entered in detail his observations of the residents of Oran, and then of the development of the epidemic. Subsequently, he becomes a close friend and ally of the doctor and organizes volunteer sanitary teams to combat the epidemic.
From the moment the quarantine was announced, city residents began to feel as if they were in prison. They are forbidden to send letters, swim in the sea, or leave the city, which is guarded by armed guards. The city is gradually running out of food, which is taken advantage of by smugglers, people like Cottard; The gap is growing between the poor, forced to eke out a miserable existence, and the wealthy residents of Oran, who allow themselves to buy food at exorbitant prices on the black market, indulge in luxury in cafes and restaurants, and visit entertainment venues. Nobody knows how long all this horror will last. People live one day at a time.
Rambert, feeling like a stranger in Oran, rushes to Paris to his wife. First through official means, and then with the help of Cottard and smugglers, he tries to escape from the city. Dr. Rieux, meanwhile, works twenty hours a day, caring for patients in hospitals. Seeing the dedication of the doctor and Jean Tarrou, Rambert, when he has a real opportunity to leave the city, abandons this intention and joins the Tarroux sanitary squads.
In the midst of an epidemic that is claiming a huge number of lives, the only person in the city who is satisfied with the state of things is Cottard, since, taking advantage of the epidemic, he makes a fortune for himself and does not have to worry that the police will remember him and the trial that has begun against him will be resumed.
Many people who have returned from special quarantine institutions, having lost loved ones, lose their minds and burn down their own homes, thus hoping to stop the spread of the epidemic. In front of the indifferent owners' eyes, looters rush into the fire and steal everything they can carry.
At first, funeral rites are performed in compliance with all the rules. However, the epidemic becomes so widespread that soon the bodies of the dead have to be thrown into a ditch; the cemetery can no longer accommodate all the dead. Then their bodies begin to be taken out of town, where they are burned. The plague has been raging since spring. In October, Doctor Castel creates a serum in Oran itself from the virus that has taken over the city, for this virus is somewhat different from its classic version. In addition to the bubonic plague, pneumonic plague is also added over time.
They decide to try the serum on a hopeless patient, the son of investigator Otho. Dr. Rieux and his friends watch the child's agony for several hours in a row. He cannot be saved. They take this death hard, the death of a sinless being. However, with the onset of winter, at the beginning of January, cases of recovery of patients begin to repeat more and more often, this happens, for example, with Gran. Over time, it becomes obvious that the plague begins to unclench its claws and, exhausted, release victims from its embrace. The epidemic is on the decline.
Residents of the city initially perceive this event in the most contradictory way. From joyful excitement they are thrown into despondency. They do not yet fully believe in their salvation. During this period, Cottard communicates closely with Dr. Rieux and Tarrou, with whom he has frank conversations about the fact that when the epidemic ends, people will turn away from him, Cottard. In Tarrou's diary, the last lines, in already illegible handwriting, are dedicated specifically to him. Suddenly Tarru falls ill, and with both types of plague at the same time. The Doctor fails to save his friend.
One February morning, the city, finally declared open, rejoices and celebrates the end of a terrible period. Many, however, feel that they will never be the same. The plague introduced a new feature into their character - a certain detachment.
One day, Dr. Rieux, heading to Gran, sees Cottard, in a state of insanity, shooting at passers-by from his window. The police are having a hard time neutralizing him. Gran resumes writing the book, the manuscript of which he ordered to be burned during his illness.
Dr. Rieux, returning home, receives a telegram announcing the death of his wife. He is in great pain, but he realizes that there is no accident in his suffering. The same constant pain had plagued him for the past few months. Listening to the joyful cries coming from the street, he thinks that any joy is under threat. The plague microbe never dies, it can lie dormant for decades, and then the day may come when the plague awakens the rats again and sends them to die on the streets of a happy city.
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Symbols in the novel
Despite the apparent simplicity of the plot, Camus’s novel “The Plague” is full of symbols (summary of the work above).
The most important symbol in the parable novel is the plague itself. Its spread occurs contrary to all laws of logic and justice. She spares no one: both the noble dreamer Tarrou and the honest priest Panelu die. At the same time, old man Gran is recovering, and the smuggler Cottard is not sick at all. In a narrow sense, the plague is fascism, which almost destroyed Europe. However, Camus proposed to understand it as a symbol of global indestructible evil, which is always nearby, ready to attack, and which must be constantly fought.
Another symbolic harbinger of the plague is rats.
They are like the small weaknesses of people, which usually cause only minor inconveniences, but when their number increases, they can cause great trouble. So, at first no one pays attention to the rats until there are a lot of them. It is noteworthy that at the end of the novel, rats reappear in the city, as a symbol of the fact that a person always has minor weaknesses, and no one knows which of them can turn into trouble in the future. In this case, we can draw an analogy with one of the “fathers” of fascism, Adolf Hitler. Due to difficult relationships in his family, he had a negative attitude towards Jews since childhood. In particular, this shortcoming of his did not affect anything, but when the Fuhrer stood at the head of a great people, it was this minor weakness that led to the death of millions of Abraham’s descendants.
“The Plague” by A. Camus main characters
The characters in the novel “The Plague” by A. Camus live through difficult times; using their example, the author wanted to convey to readers the main idea of his work.
“The Plague” by A. Camus main characters
- Dr. Bernard Rieux,
- Jean Tarrou,
- priest Father Panlu,
- reporter Raymond Rambert,
- Cottard,
- Gran,
- Madame Rieux (the doctor's mother).
Dr. Rie
lives in the city of Oran, he recognizes only the facts, so in his presentation of events they lose the admixture of any artistic embellishment. In fact, fighting the plague is almost hopeless. Soberly understanding this, Dr. Rie does not stop his work for a second, risking his own life. Thanks to the logic and seriousness of the doctor, we see the real picture of the epidemic. Dr. Rieux, due to his profession, came face to face with death many times. The death of the child, which awakened Father Panelu to his true existence, was a serious test for Dr. Rie. It would seem that global ideological issues have long been resolved by the doctor: he does not recognize God not because he does not exist, but because he is not needed: “So, since the order of things is determined by death, perhaps it is generally better for the Lord God that they didn’t believe him...”
The plague also changed the attitude of patients towards the doctor, “never before has the profession of a doctor seemed so difficult to Riya. Until now, it turned out that the patients themselves made his task easier and completely entrusted themselves to him. And now, the doctor encountered the incomprehensible isolation of his patients. A struggle began, to which the doctor was not yet accustomed.”
Father Panelu
initially appears before the reader in the rather repulsive form of a preacher who almost exults over the epidemic. In it he sees God's punishment for the sins of the Orans. This train of thought, which is quite typical for Christianity, indicates that the priest continues to exist by inertia - he has not yet begun to “be.” Panelu wants to use the fear of his parishioners to strengthen their weakened and lackluster faith. A great test for the Jesuit father is his own illness: accepting the help of doctors means admitting the weakness and inconsistency of his own beliefs. The priest, moreover, understands perfectly well that this help will not help him be saved. Judging by the original version of the novel, Camus led Panelu, who fell ill with the plague, to a religious catastrophe. But in the final version of the novel, Panelu remains true to his own choice.
Among those trying to leave the plague-ridden city is the only character with a name, Rambert
. Camus gives him a name for one reason only: he doesn't run. He doesn’t run, despite the fact that he is a stranger in the city, despite the fact that his beloved woman is waiting somewhere and Rambert sincerely believes that he should be next to her. The moment of awakening of the human essence for Rambert is an attack of suspiciousness, when he “suddenly imagined that the glands in his groin were swollen and something under his arms was preventing him from moving his arms freely. He decided it was the plague."
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Screen adaptation
Despite the popularity of the novel, it was only filmed in 1992.
The film of the same name lacks many of the plot elements of the novel, but it does contain interesting findings. So, in order to convey the atmosphere of the book, there is no musical accompaniment in the film. In addition, the atmosphere of the film is modernized, and because of this it looks even more frightening.
In this article we discussed the plot of a serious novel, however, only a brief summary of it is presented to your attention. Albert Camus (“The Plague” is far from his only work with a philosophical meaning) surprisingly accurately conveyed the atmosphere of a plague-ridden city, and everyone would do well to read this book in its entirety.
