Dr. Rieux

Dr. Bernard Rieux is described as a man about age 35, with black hair. He is a practical, kind when needed, serious and professional man, doing what needs to be done without any fuss and always focused on the work he loves: medicine, but he knows that the struggle against death is something that he can never win. Humanist and convinced atheist. He is a highly respected surgeon, a cult man and a highly intelligent one, but people think that he might pass more easily for a Sicilian peasant. Rieux's hands are not long and sensitively surgeon-like, but broad, deeply tanned. Rieux is of moderate height and broad-shouldered; he has dark steady eyes, a big, well-modeled nose, and thick, tight-set lips. He belongs to a small group of people whom Tarrou, his friend, calls "true healers." There is nothing heroic about his actions. He fights death and disease because he has been trained to and because he conceives of his life having value only when he is continuing to help others combat death and achieve health. There are only two evils for Rieux — death and man's ignorance of it.

About his personal relationships with his mother, Rieux has misgivings. His love for mankind is consummated daily, yet to those for whom he is son, he feels that he is probably inadequate. He always regrets not giving more physical and vocal affection. He does not separate himself or his duty from that of every man. Rieux tries to be definitely human — no more, no less.