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Sisyphus

Literary Character
Pronunciation

Understanding ARPABET Pronunciation

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The pronunciation guide uses the ARPABET phonetic system—the same system used in speech recognition and text-to-speech applications.

Vowel Examples:
AE1 = cat, bat
EH1 = bed, head
IY1 = see, me
OW1 = go, boat
UW1 = boot, do
Stress Numbers:
0 = no stress (unstressed)
1 = primary stress (loud)
2 = secondary stress (medium)
Example:
AH0 TH IY1 N AH0
= a-THEE-na (Athena)

The stressed syllable (marked with 1) is pronounced louder and clearer than others.

Quick Definition

A condemned king forced to roll a stone uphill forever, only to watch it fall back.

Detailed Definition
Sisyphus appears in Greek myth as a cunning ruler punished in the underworld for deceiving the gods and escaping death. His endless labor became a powerful literary image of futile repetition long before its modern philosophical reinterpretation. In poetry, he may represent political oppression, ordinary toil, artistic persistence, or consciousness trapped in an indifferent universe. The recurring ascent and collapse make him a figure of absurdity, but also of stubborn effort and defiant continuation.
Example
Example in poetry:
In Greek myth, Sisyphus is condemned to push a boulder uphill forever, making him an emblem of repetitive and apparently meaningless labor; A poem may describe a daily routine as a Sisyphean task to emphasize exhaustion and recurrence; A poet can reinterpret Sisyphus as admirable because he continues despite knowing the task will never be completed; The rolling stone may symbolize grief, ambition, addiction, or any burden that repeatedly returns.
Additional Notes
Sisyphus is punished for deceit and defiance by endlessly pushing a boulder uphill, only to see it roll back. The myth has become a central image of futile labor, repetition, absurdity, and human endurance. In modern philosophy, especially Albert Camus’s essay The Myth of Sisyphus, he also represents the possibility of creating meaning while facing an indifferent universe.
Other Meanings of “Sisyphus”
Also Known As
Sisyphos
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