The Adulterous Woman

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1 Introduction
2 Characters
3 Plot
4 Motifs
5 Source
6 See Also

[edit] Introduction

The Adulterous Woman is a short story written in 1957. It is the first short story published in the volume Exile and the Kingdom by Albert Camus.

[edit] Characters

The story concerns a childless, married, 'Pied Noir' couple; Janine and Marcel, living in Algeria. The story is written in the third person perspective following events in the life of Janine. Marcel is a merchant and Janine acts as his assistant. Assumed French by birth or descent, the couple live an isolated life in Algeria neither of them speaking the native Arabic language.

[edit] Plot

The story begins with the couple on a business trip through Algeria by bus. It is here that we first learn of the strained relationship between Marcel and Janine. In her thoughts Janine portrays a negative image of her husband who she sees as inert and tied up with his work, having relinquished the passions and ambitions that he possessed as a youth when they met. Janine sees herself as still being attractive in a mature way and reminisces about her adolescence.

Also on the bus is a French Algerian soldier. The soldier seems interested in Janine, letting it be noticed that he is looking at her and offers her a lozenge from a box in his pocket. Janine welcomes the soldier's attention and this reinforces Janine's opinion that she can still be attractive to men but feels dejected when later nothing comes of it.

The couple stop at a hotel for the night and decide to visit a nearby fort. At the fort Janine feels inspired and is excited by the experience. Marcel contrastingly is totally unmoved and convinces his wife that they should get out of the cold.

Once back at the hotel, Marcel falls asleep in their room after making love to Janine. Janine lays in bed unsatisfied and cannot sleep. After consideration, she decides to sneak out of their room that night and return to the fort alone. Once at the fort Janine is overcome with an even stronger feeling of excitement and freedom than when she visited with her husband. At this point the narrative becomes increasingly dramatic and sensual as Janine runs around the fort feeling charged with life, eventually ending up laying on her back beneath the stars.

Back at the hotel, Marcel wakes up and Janine breaks down in to tears. Janine insists that it's nothing and never tells her husband about her frustration or her trip to the fort.

[edit] Motifs

[edit] Biblical Reference

The title of the story is taken from the Gospel of John (John 8:3-11 - The Adulterous Woman) in which a mob brings an adulteress before Jesus for judgment, the usual punishment for adultery being death by stoning. Jesus decrees that the first stone be thrown by one who is free from sin; until eventually no one remains. This story from the bible parallels Camus' thinking on Capital Punishment as outlined in Reflections on the Guillotine. Namely, that no authority exists which is capable of passing judgment on another human being because no person possesses absolute innocence.

[edit] Intent vs. Act

Contrary to the title, at no point does Janine commit any physical act of adultery. The adultery in question is symbolic and in her own mind. By the end of the story, Janine is only guilty of the thought but it is not clear if she will take further action on her frustration or if she is prepared to go back to how things were before and accept her life. The title could be read as implying that the will to commit the act is equal to the act itself.

[edit] Lost Youth

Early in the story, Janine reflects on her adolescence and the period when she met her husband and the choice she had at that time between security and independence. Reacting to various events in the story, Janine's perception of herself changes from awareness of her weight and poor physical condition to pride in still being attractive to other men. The story could be seen as being more about regaining lost youth than adultery itself.

[edit] Power

Throughout the story, Janine is reoccuringly repelled by her husband because of his inherent inertness, advancing age and lack of vitality. Similarly Janine is attracted to notions of primal vigor and power. The man on the bus whom she is briefly fixated by is a soldier and the place where Janine is reinvigorated with a sense of youth is a fort. It should be noted that Janine made love to her husband before visiting the fort but only experienced excitement from the latter which is described in a semi-erotic manner.

[edit] Pied Noir and the Arabs in Camus' Algeria

As with Camus' other works, 'The Adulterous Woman' is set in Algeria but native Algerians rarely play any significant part in the story. Marcel especially, displays disdain and distrust for the Arabs; neither he nor Janine have bothered to learn Arabic and whenever Marcel speaks to or about a native Algerian it is to express his disapproval.

It should be noted however that Camus' one novel which is not set in Algeria ('The Fall' which is set in Holland and was initially intended as another story in 'Exile and the Kingdom') is similarly lacking in any native Dutch characters. Both of the main characters in The Fall are French with Dutch citizens having no dialogue and never being referred to by name.

[edit] Source

The Plague, The Fall, Exile and The Kingdom and Selected Essays (Everyman's Library Contemporary Classics) (Hardcover) by Albert Camus (Author), David Bellos (Introduction), Stuart Gilbert (Translator), Justin O'Brien (Translator) ISBN-10: 1857152786, ISBN-13: 978-1857152784