Caligulas Quest for Happiness - Essay Example

Caligula’s quest for “happiness” Caligula in Camus’ play is a character who tries to philosophize about the enigma of human existence and comes to know that death is the cause of unhappiness of man. He wants to liberate himself from this unhappiness and wishes to take command of the things in his hand. He also takes it to himself to guide the people to their happiness. He thinks that with absolute power he could direct his subjects to their destiny. He resorts to violence and persecution to get this end. But his strategy proves counter-productive and in his sadistic pursuit of his goals he made everyone in Rome his enemy. He could not attain his objective at the cost of the happiness of all others around him. Ironically, his acts backfire and the suicidal path he chooses for himself becomes the cause of his downfall. The “ superior suicide” of Caligula exposes the tragic flaw of Caligula who in order to get freedom for himself restricted the freedom of others. Caligula’s psychological state is somewhat similar to Hamlet who in the melancholia of his father’s death lost all interest in life. Caligula in the same way develops melancholia after the death of Drussila. Torn and shattered by the death of his lover-sister, he undergoes a state of shock and loses his sanity. The immediate escape after the death of his beloved sister shows how much that incident affected the mind of the young monarch. The apparent state of Caligula portrays him as an insane man but his discourse is not that incoherent. We find some wisdom in the word he speaks. The death of the beloved sister has made him brood upon the existential questions of life. The man is sane enough to have reached to a conclusion about the cause of human unhappiness. Impact of the death of Drussila Caligula during the first phase of his rule remained normal but a complete transformation took place in his personality and character when he developed incestuous relationship with his sister Drusilla. Incest was not allowed in Rome and he could fulfill his wish of marrying his sister. Perhaps this may be the reason of this man’s violent behavior afterwards. Then the sudden death of Drusilla made the matters worse and deeply affected the mind of Caligula. Scipio tells about Caligula’s condition in the following words: He moved towards Drusilla’s corpse. He touched her with two fingers. Then he appeared to meditate, turning in upon himself, and went out at an even pace. Since that time we’ve followed him.( Caligula 1.2.9-13). One obvious impact of Drussila’s death could be seen in Caligula’s attempt to abduct and rape the wives of his courtiers. The failure to get the true love of his sister might have made him reactionary. The possible resistance against his supposed incestuous marriage would have made him secret enemy of the high ranked courtiers who were opposed to his ideas of incestuous marriage. Caligula now has resorted to utmost cruelty to get the revenge from the courtiers. If the mighty ruler cannot have the object of desire, nobody under his rule should be allowed to get his or her heart’s desire in the form of true love. Superior Suicide Caligula’s immediate understanding of the enigma of existence leads him conclude that the supreme beings or gods are perhaps against the happiness of man as they have put limitations to his freedom and do not permit him certain things he desires. This realization made him a rebel who desired to outwit fate. Caligula says: What I wish for today With all my might, is beyond the reach of some gods. I take the charge of a kingdom where the impossible is king ( Caligula 1.2.53-55). Freedom or extreme liberty is the way through which one could defeat fate. This was the existential choice Caligula made for himself. But when he tried to impose his philosophic truth on others, he resorted to the ways which proved fruitless and all his efforts to win freedom failed. In his attempt to liberate people he put them in more bondage and deprived them of their liberty. He took the path of destruction of others but ironically paved the path of his own destruction. But if his truth is to rebel against fate, his error is to deny men. One cannot destroy without destroying oneself. This is why Caligula depopulates the world around him and, true to his logic, makes arrangements to arm those who will eventually kill him. Caligula is the story of a superior suicide. It is the story of the most human and the most tragic of errors. Unfaithful to man, loyal to himself, Caligula consents to die for having understood that no one can save himself all alone and that one cannot be free in opposition to other men.( Literature of all time para 3). Tragic hero To Camus his main character was a tragic hero. He was immensely powerful man on earth who emulated gods in his use of power. But the incidents of his life exposed his limitations and he came to know about the absurdity of human life and found no meaning in values of life. He chose the path of murder in order to show that he possessed powers like gods. The capriciousness we see in his character is actually the characteristic of gods who “ kill human beings for their sport”. But this was the misunderstanding on the part of Caligula. Human beings no matter how powerful they become, still have certain limitations. The man took a too simple view of human condition on earth and the solution he sought was even more absurd. He was a vain ambitious man who took the wrong path to achieve his goal. Hi desire for impossible is quite evident in his conversation with Helicon. Wish for impossible In Scene 4, where we see him for the first time on stage, he is engaged in conversation with Scipio and tells him that they had run away to get moon. His desire to get moon symbolically shows his hidden desire to get the impossible. Caligula: It was difficult to find. Helicon : What, then? Caligula : What I want. Helicon : And what do you want? Caligula : ( still natural) The moon. (Caligula, 1.4.13). He also expresses that he was unable to find the object of his desire and that’s why he is tired. According to his new found wisdom the world is an unbearable place and in order to avoid the pain and unhappiness of this world he is after something which is not of this world. He craves for “ Moon, happiness or immortality”. Caligula thinks that he has found out the truth and now he is bent upon teaching that truth to the people. He tells Helicon, “I want only that men live in the truth. And justly, I have the means to make them live in truth” ( Caligula 1.4.61-63). He will use his power to make people accept his viewpoint. Camus’ Caligula shows the corruption of highly powerful who in their attempt to bring order in life breed chaos and disruption. Caius was intelligent enough to brood on enigma of existence and to find out the inherent meaningless in it. But he failed to “set right” the disjointed things. He perhaps took an exaggerated view of himself and tried to perform those exploits which he was not capable of. He instead took a suicidal path and during the process of others’ destruction brought about his own downfall. Works Cited Camus, Albert. The Misunderstanding and Caligula : Two Plays by Albert Camus/translated by Christopher Williams. Trans. Christopher Williams. West Hobart: Knocklofty, 2007. Print. "Caligula by Albert Camus." Rev. of Caligula by Albert Camus. Web log post. Literature of All Time. N.p., 20 May 2013. Web. 07 Mar. 2014. . Read More