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The Myth of Sisyphus

Sisyphus, the founder of the city of Corinth, allowed himself all sorts of misdeeds. He killed guests, seduced his own niece, and revealed Zeus' secret. Zeus sent the god of death Thanatos to take him to Tartarus. Sisyphus managed to imprison Thanatos, which led to people not dying or sacrificing to the gods for some time but Ares freed him. Before his death, Sisyphus wanted to order his wife not to perform the funeral rite when he died. Therefore, he persuaded Hades to let him go to Earth to ask his wife to do so, and then refused to return to the underworld. For his impudent behavior in order to make himself immortal and disrespecting the authority of the gods, he was punished by pushing a large stone uphill. When the stone reached the top, it would roll back, so Sisyphus was sentenced to endlessly repeat the same pointless task in which cunningness couldn't help.

Absurdism is the ideology that we need to accept the lack of meaning in life. We are all devoid of reason and sufferers of the human condition, pushing the same rock of fulfilment, only to fall down. If we accept the absence of purpose and repetitivity of our tasks, and that there is nothing else to our existence, maybe we can find happiness in it?

The essay The Myth of Sisyphus, written by Albert Camus, intrigued me and I decided to make a drawing of how I imagine Sisyphus pushing a stone uphill. I drew colorful flowers and trees at the top of the mountain because trees and flowers symbolize Sisyphus’ meaning and happiness he found in the absurd, and it is worth pushing the rock to the top of the mountain because there his happiness lies.

Elena Kutlić, 4. f
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