Sherlock Holmes vs. TVD vs. Meursault

 

If you haven't seen Sherlock...EDUCATE YOURSELF! IMMEDIATELY!

    In the Stranger, we can see how Meursault navigates through life without a care in the world. Or at least that's how it appears. He answers questions truthfully and doesn't beat around the bush. This is the case for characters in the show "The Vampire Diaries," as well as Sherlock Holmes in "Sherlock." Holmes fully embraces his anti-humanist personality, as shown in the quote above, and uses his up-front nature to solve crimes to better the community. Characters in "TVD" (The Vampire Diaries), however favor the opposite end of the spectrum. Vampires in that story are able to "shut off their humanity" and live their lives in a way that they don't have to care for other people's feelings. They go on rampant killings with no desire to conform to human rules. 

    My guess is Vampires are the worst, Meursault is a little less sociopathic than them, and Sherlock is the least sociopathic. Meursault killed a man and feels no remorse, instead, he finds it annoying. He gets annoyed often, like when he told the guard why it was unfair he couldn't see Marie whenever he wanted, but when given an answer about it being his punishment, he simply takes it and says that it makes sense. In some ways, as I continue reading this, I think Meursault might be more cold-hearted than a vampire. Throughout TVD, they keep saying "we have to make her feel something; any emotion," but we see them feeling angry all the time. Meursault, on the other hand, seems like he literally can't feel even if he tried.

    Okay so to recap: Meursault > Vamps. Alright. Who saw that one coming? Oh well, let's revisit Sherlock. I initially said that Vampires were the worst of the sociopaths, and now that that's been debunked, Meursault is at the top, and Sherlock is at the bottom. Sherlock is literally the baby of the group. He is a self-proclaimed sociopath that only adheres to the title when it benefits him.

He obviously cares for John Watson, his flatmate and detective partner, and simply lives the way he wants to. I suppose to him, his weaknesses and pressure points, rather than his genius deduction skills, are what make him "highly functional." 

 

    This brings up an interesting final thought; Does Meursault have any weaknesses? I mean who knows the range of a sociopathic scale? How close are the vamps to Meursault? From what we know about him, he has very few people he interacts with. He thinks about Marie only when he's lonely and in need of companionship, and forgets about her completely when she's not around. So she's definitely not a weakness. I mean, my guess is if he found out she died, he'd say "oh, weird, what's for lunch?" His uncaring personality puts him in a place where he doesn't have anyone close to him. Can you imagine if Raymond or Salomano were kidnapped and this dude got the ransom note? Oh boy. Sure Meursault always supports these two when they need something, but it's always because "he doesn't mind." If he had to go out of his way to do something, he'd probably mind. This dude plainly doesn't see how his callous personality is the reason his quality of life has dropped so much already.

In conclusion: don't ask Meursault to write your eulogy. 

Unless you want something super heartless for the *aesthetic*