The Plague | The Character of Tarrou

In this essay, Aubrey discusses the character of Tarrou in Camus’s story, highlighting Tarrou’s opposition to capital punishment and comparing this to Camus’s arguments in his essay “Reflections on the Guillotine.”

Of the main characters in The Plague, Tarrou is the only one who gives a long, first-person account of his life and the events that shaped his thinking. It is obvious that Camus attached great importance to Tarrou’s story, which occurs toward the end of part IV, in his conversation with Rieux. Tarrou is a central character in The Plague, because it is he who organizes the volunteer sanitary teams, which he does because he believes it to be his moral duty. Tarrou’s story of how his life had been shaped by his revulsion at the death penalty echoes Camus’s own passionate...

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