The Myth of Sisyphus

 

Mythology of Sisyphus

You might have come across this term Sisyphean task; both extremely effortful and futile, came from a Greek myth.

Sisyphus is a figure from Greek Mythology. He was the king of Corinth and was famous for his trickery when he cheated death twice. Sisyphus enchained the spirit of Death so that during imprisonment, no human being died. Pluto could not endure the sight of his deserted, silent empire. He dispatched the god of war who liberated, death from their conqueror. Naturally, when the Spirit of Death was freed, his first victim was Sisyphus. It is also said that he told his wife not to do any traditional burials when he died and cast his unburied body in a public square. Soon, after going to the underworld, he complained the Hades that his wife had not observed any rites for his death. He obtained permission from Pluto to return to the world and chastise his wife. He was granted permission to live on the earth. Once granted a second lease on life, Sisyphus refused to return to the underworld world. When Zeus came to know about it, he gave Sisyphus an eternal punishment in the world, doing futile work until his death. He was given the penalty of bringing the stone to the mountain and rolling it down from the top for eternity.

Albert Camus a famous writer called Sisyphus an absurd hero for his life and punishment. He said that during the lifetime of Sisyphus, he embraced his punishment of doing futile work and started enjoying his penalty. Thereby in 1942, he stated in one of his books Sisyphus the Myth that,

" 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑺𝒕𝒓𝒖𝒈𝒈𝒍𝒆 𝒊𝒕 𝒊𝒔 𝒆𝒏𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉 𝒕𝒐 𝒇𝒊𝒍𝒍𝒔 𝒎𝒂𝒏'𝒔 𝒉𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒕 ".

He also said that acknowledging the 'crushing realities' like eternity and futile fate is enough to render them less crushing. Happiness and absurd are closely linked with each other, suggests Camus. They both are connected with our discovery that our world and our fate are our own.