Contrasting the Murderers in Dostoevskys Crime and...

Central to both The Stranger and Crime and Punishment is a senseless murder, however, the way each murderer feels about his own act of murder is quite different. Meursault in The Stranger has no personal value attached to things he does in life whether it be day-to-day activities or murder. Raskolnikov in Crime and Punishment, on the other hand, feels that in certain cases values of society do not apply, however after the murder realizes that this is not the case for himself. These differences in thought not only provide more insight on the characters individually, but show that although society helps to guides it is up to the individual, based on values and morals, to decide how to live his or her life. Through out the novel, Meursault†¦show more content†¦Because Meursault has no values, even if he did love her, it wouldn’t mean anything to him, it would just be another thing in life. The murder to him was just another thing in his life and was meaningless. While t he prosecutor in the court room is ranting about how he has no remorse for what the murder, Meursault â€Å"couldn’t help admitting that he was right. I didn’t feel much remorse for what I’d done... I had never been able to truly feel remorse for anything† (Camus 100). Raskolnikov on the other hand does feel remorse for what he did and almost goes insane because of it. Before the act, however, he felt differently. He even wrote a paper saying that there are certain people above the law and they should be able to do things above law, including murder. Pyotr Petrovich even questions him: â€Å"Why, carry out logically the theory you were advocating just now, and it follow that people may be killed† (Dostoevsky 153) However after he commits the murder, he goes crazy over the fact that people might convict of the death. When Porfiry asks Raskolnikov how he is, he replies â€Å"I haven’t been quite well.† Porfiry then says he looks quite p ale and Raskolnikov returns â€Å"I am not pale at all... No, I am quite well.† (Dostoevsky 253). This sudden change in answer shows that Raskolnikov is hesitant to answer either direction because he is afraid he might give away his guiltiness. In both stories, it was the society that put pressure on the murderer to