The myth of Sisyphus was a character from Greek mythology who founded the kingdom of Corinth. He was so cunning that he managed to deceive the gods. Sisyphus was greedy for money and to obtain it he resorted to any form of deception. He is also said to have promoted navigation and trade.

You will see in this article a detail about Sisyphean story , that:

• As punishment, he was condemned to carry a rock up a hill, to the top of a mountain;
• Once there, he should release the rock, descend the mountain, and begin his "work" of climbing again, eternally.
• For today's analysts, the Myth of Sisyphus is an allegory of the unending and alienated condition of human labor.
• By this analysis, work is shown as incapable of satisfying the subject, since it reproduces the functioning of a status quo.
• As in the myth of Sisyphus, work would be a form (at least, in a hyperbolic analysis) of a torture; in etymology, the word "work" comes from " tripalium ", a torture instrument of "three sticks" in Latin.

Sisyphus

He was the son of Eolo and Enareta, and the husband of Mérope, there are cultures that indicate that he fathered Odysseus with Anticlea before she married Laertes. However, he is known for his sentence which was to place a stone on top of a mountain. That before reaching its apex it would return to its beginning, reiterating more and more that failure of this illogical process.

He was a promoter of navigation and trade. But he was also greedy and a liar, resorting to illegal measures, including the murder of travelers and wayfarers to increase his fortune. From the same periods as Homer, Sisyphus was reputed to be the most intelligent and wise of all men.

Myth of Sisyphus in Greek Mythology

Legend has it that Sisyphus witnesses the kidnapping of Egina, a nymph, by the god Zeus. She decides to remain silent about it, until her father, Asopos, god of the rivers, arrives in Corinth asking for her.

This is when Sisyphus finds the opportunity to propose an exchange: the secret, in exchange for a source of fresh water for Corinth. Asopo accepts.

However, upon finding out, Zeus is furious and sends Thanatos, god of death, to kill Sisyphus. Thanatos' appearance was frightening, but Sisyphus was not bothered. He receives him warmly and invites him to eat in a cell, in which he surprises him by trapping him overnight.

The living will die no more

For a long time, no one has died, and who is now furious is Hades, god of the underworld. The latter demands that Zeus (his brother) resolve the situation.

Therefore, Zeus decides to send Ares, god of war, to free Thanatos and lead Sisyphus to the underworld. However, in advance, Sisyphus had asked his wife not to give him funeral tributes when she died. His wife fully complied with his commitment.

Understand

With Sisyphus already in the underworld, he began to complain to Hades. He told him that his wife had failed in her sacred duty to pay him any funeral homage.

Hades ignored him at first, but due to his insistence, he granted him the favor of returning to life to rebuke his wife for such an offense. Of course, Sisyphus had planned in advance not to return to the underworld.

This being the case, he lived for many years until he finally agreed to return to Thanatos to the underworld.

Punishment

While Sisyphus was in the underworld, Zeus and Hades, who were not at all happy with Sisyphus' tricks, so they decide to impose an exemplary punishment on him.

This punishment consisted of climbing a heavy rock up the side of a steep mountain. And when he was about to reach the top, the big rock would fall into the valley for him to climb again. This would have to be repeated for all eternity.

Albert Camus

Albert Camus was a writer and philosopher who promoted the philosophy that sought individual freedom, so the essay The Myth of Sisyphus addresses the aspects of existence that seek results to get out of the illogic of humanity

Albert Camus' Myth of Sisyphus

Albert Camus uses this Greek myth to develop a philosophical essay entitled precisely: "The Myth of Sisyphus". In it, he develops a set of ideas associated with the concept of absurdity and futility of life. Determining aspects of Sisyphus' destiny are so characteristic of man today.

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Therefore, Camus refers to the absurd as the hope that grounds tomorrow, as if there is no certainty of death. The world, stripped of romanticism, is a strange and inhuman territory.

Thus, true knowledge is not possible, neither reason nor science can reveal the reality of the universe: their attempts lie in meaningless abstractions. Absurdity is the most painful of passions.

Camus' interpretation

According to Camus, the gods had condemned Sisyphus to constantly carry a stone to the top of a mountain. There, the stone fell back under its own weight. They thought, with some reason, that there is no punishment more terrible than useless and hopeless work.

For Camus, taking the absurd seriously means accepting the contradiction between reason and desire in an irrational world. Therefore, suicide must be rejected, because the absurd does not exist without man.

In this way, contradiction must be lived, and the limits of reason must be accepted without false hopes. The absurd must never be totally accepted; on the contrary, it demands to be confronted with a constant rebellion. In this way, freedom wins.

The life of the absurd

Camus sees in Sisyphus the hero of the absurd, who lives life to the full, abhors death, and is condemned to perform a useless task. However, the author shows Sisyphus' infinite and useless work as a metaphor present in modern life.

Thus, working in a factory or an office is a repetitive task. This work is absurd, but not tragic, except for the rare occasions when one becomes aware of it.

Therefore, Camus is particularly interested in what Sisyphus thinks as he walks back to the foot of the hill to start over. This is the truly tragic moment, when that man realizes how miserable his condition is. Without hope, fate is met with contempt.

Final considerations on the myth of Sisyphus

Recognizing the truth is the way to conquer it. Sisyphus, as an absurd man, keeps the task of moving forward. However, when Sisyphus is able to recognize the futility of his work and is certain of his fate, he frees himself to realize the absurdity of his condition. Thus, he reaches the state of acceptance.

The myth of Sisyphus says a lot about human behavior, they allow us to visualize in a representative way what we often cannot understand. Therefore, we invite you to learn more about the human mind by enrolling in our online course on clinical psychoanalysis.