The play The Misunderstanding (French: Le Malentendu), also known as Cross Purpose, was written in 1943 by Albert Camus while France was under German occupation. The story explores Camus’s idea of the Absurd, which examines the tension between humans’ search for meaning and the indifferent nature of the world.
A man who has lived abroad for many years returns to his home country. He discovers that his sister and his mother, who is a widow, earn money by accepting guests into their home and then killing them. Neither his sister nor his mother recognize him. To avoid being discovered, he pretends to be a guest himself and does not reveal his true identity.
Plot summary
Martha and her mother, along with a quiet old man, manage a guest house where they harm wealthy travelers who visit alone. Martha hopes to earn enough money to move to a place by the sea. Her mother is tired from the harm they cause.
Jan returns to the house he left 20 years ago. He heard his father had died and brought money for his mother. He expected to be greeted warmly, but his mother does not recognize him. His wife, Maria, says a normal person would introduce himself, but Jan plans to watch his family from a distance to understand what will make them happy. Maria agrees reluctantly to let him stay for one night.
Jan registers using a fake name. Martha is distant and avoids answering personal questions. When Jan hints at his reason for returning and asks if his mother had a son, she does not respond but pleads with Martha not to harm him.
Martha becomes slightly more friendly toward Jan, but when he shows interest in her, she ends the moment and decides to kill him. She gives him a cup of tea laced with drugs. The mother tries to stop her but is too late. Jan attempts to express his feelings, but the mother replies without emotion. After he falls asleep, Martha takes his money, and they prepare to throw him into the river.
The next morning, Martha seems happy, but the mother feels tired. The old man finds Jan’s lost passport, and they realize without emotion what they have done. The mother decides to drown herself, ignoring Martha’s objections. Martha is left alone with her anger.
Maria arrives, searching for her husband. Martha first says he has left, but then admits they gave him drugs and drowned him for his money, calling it “a slight misunderstanding” that led her to kill her own brother. Maria is very upset. Martha coldly compares this to her own loss of her mother. After realizing she is alone, Martha decides to kill herself. She tells Maria to pray God turns her to stone or that Maria also kills herself, then leaves the house. Maria prays for mercy, and the old man appears. Maria asks for help, but he refuses to assist.
Origin
Albert Camus wrote the play Le Malentendu in 1942 and 1943 while living in Le Chambon-sur-Lignon, France, which was under Nazi control during World War II. The play was originally planned to be called Budejovice, after the city of České Budějovice in Czechoslovakia, where Camus briefly stayed during a trip to Europe with his first wife in 1936.
The play shows Camus’s personal view of human life during the difficult times of 1942–1943. It reflects parts of his life, such as leaving Algeria, where he was born, and leaving his second wife and friends behind. He also struggled with depression and tuberculosis during this time. In addition, he lived in danger because he worked for the French Resistance, which opposed the Nazi occupation. Camus once said that Le Malentendu is the play that most closely represents his own experiences.
The story of Le Malentendu is similar to an article found by the main character in Camus’s 1942 novel The Stranger. The article describes a man who becomes wealthy abroad and returns to his village, where his mother and sister run a hotel. He hides his identity to surprise them later, but they kill him while he sleeps because they believe he is poor.
The play also turns the idea of a brother being recognized by his family upside down, which is a common theme in ancient Greek plays like Electra and in the biblical story of the Prodigal Son.
Style
The play Le Malentendu has a simple plot and characters, and it creates a feeling of being trapped or confined. Camus used formal and structured language, similar to how ancient Greek tragedies were written. Because he wrote the play during a time of war, it uses many symbols and metaphors, and the story feels as unavoidable as a Greek tragedy. In the style of Greek plays, each character explains their actions, whether they are good or bad. This allows Camus to explore ideas like innocence, sorrow, guilt, betrayal, punishment, honesty, and silence, all tied to deep questions about life. Even though the ideas are presented quickly, the play moves slowly, more like a serious discussion than a natural story.
The play is the most poetic of Camus’s stage works, but sometimes the characters’ words and situations do not match perfectly. The characters express unclear or confusing ideas without realizing it, and they indirectly share philosophical thoughts. Le Malentendu is filled with so many unclear meanings and layers that it almost feels exaggerated, which might explain why it is not as successful as a tragedy.
Themes
Camus's main idea is about a "failed savior," a person who cannot save others because they cannot speak clearly to those in need.
In the play Le Malentendu, a family is shown breaking apart because they cannot communicate with each other. Jan ignores his wife Maria's advice to introduce himself plainly. His sister Martha only accepts communication that is impersonal. His mother is too tired to respond to Jan's hints.
The play shows the love between Jan and his wife, but also the lack of love from his sister and mother. When the mother realizes she has made a mistake, she commits suicide, taking away the maternal love Martha needs. Maria's hope for a loving relationship with God is also not fulfilled.
A key theme is the difficulty of finding happiness. Even though Jan's marriage is successful, he is not happy while living in exile and wants to return home to be happy with his family. Martha longs to be somewhere else, and their mother wants peace, but these wishes are only met through death.
The misunderstandings and lack of understanding that prevent these wishes show Camus's idea of the Absurd. These problems cause the drama, such as Jan hiding his identity, Martha insisting on formal rules, her misunderstanding of Jan's decision to stay, Maria's confusion after a cold confession, and the Old Man's lack of care.
When Camus revised the play in 1958, he changed four short parts to make the Old Man's indifference more dangerous. For example, he distracts Martha when she tries to check Jan's passport. Camus wanted to create a stronger feeling of deep, unending darkness, ending with the word "Non!"
The play shows a dislike of religion but also explores religious ideas, such as the story of a son who leaves home and returns. Camus never stopped talking with Christian thinkers, but he had a tense relationship with Christianity.
Jan's return from a happy life in Africa to a violent home, and Martha's desire to be in the sun, show a contrast between Northern Europe and the Mediterranean, a theme found in all of Camus's work.
Philosophy
The vision is dark, as Camus' belief in the absurd is shown through a character who says, "This world we live in doesn't make sense."
In Le Malentendu, Camus explores the idea of the absurd. This idea suggests that human desires often clash with a world that is random, confusing, and unfair. A key theme of the play is that life treats people the same, regardless of whether they choose a "good" or "bad" path. According to Camus, life is equally harsh to those who act kindly and those who act cruelly. This unfairness is what makes existence absurd.
In The Myth of Sisyphus, Camus describes "The Absurd" as the feeling of being completely separated from the world, making a person feel like an outsider to others and even to themselves. This sense of being in exile leads to deep doubt about beliefs and systems that claim to give life meaning, even though these systems may actually take away meaning instead.
Although some critics see Le Malentendu as a dark work, Camus did not think it was pessimistic. He stated, "After the tragedy, it would be wrong to believe this play supports giving in to fate. Instead, it shows resistance, and maybe even a lesson about honesty." This suggests that if characters had acted as their family members asked them to, the family might have avoided destruction. The play shows that values are not made up alone but are found together through shared understanding.
Camus himself said he thought the play was not successful because people kept asking him what it meant. He believed that if people needed to ask, the play was unclear, and he had not done well as a playwright.
Performance history
The play Le Malentendu was first performed at the Théâtre de Mathurins in Paris on August 24, 1944. Marcel Herrand directed the play and also played the role of Jan. Maria Casarès performed as Martha. The performance happened at the same time as the Liberation of Paris. The play had two short performances, but neither was very successful. This was the first of Camus' plays to be performed, even though Caligula had been written two years earlier.
In 1945, the French audience found it difficult to understand the complex stories and deep meanings in the play. They felt the play lacked clear reasoning and realistic portrayal of emotions. The serious tone, elegance, and poetic style of the play were not enough to satisfy the audience, who wanted clear ideas and precise thinking.
In 2012, a production of Cross Purpose was performed in English at the King's Head Theatre in London. AM Media Productions produced the play. Jamie Birkett played Martha, Christina Thornton played Mother, David Lomax played Jan, Melissanthi Mahut played Maria, and Leonard Fenton played the Old Man. The play was performed again in 2013. In this version, Paddy Navin played Mother, and Kemi-Bo Jacobs played Maria.