Outline and thesis

Wendell Pfeffer

3/2/14

The sheer power of guilt can be chaotic to the human brain, however in Dostoyevsky’s Crime and Punishment Raskolnikovs change in character is not driven solely by pure guilt but by the possibility of being physical punished as well.

Outline:

1.     Humans are born into a state of violence, which makes peace almost impossible for us to attain. We find pleasure from killing, hurting and destroying things.

a.     Raskolnikov realizes that he is wasting his time.

b.     He believes that he can make society a better place if he gets rid of the pawnbroker lady.

c.      He kills her but does so without a clear conscious. He doesn’t think out the possible consequences to his actions.

2.     Raskolnikovs character completely changes as he thinks over the consequences to his actions.

a.     What if the police find out he committed the murder let alone his family, what will they think?

b.     He goes into a state of paranoia as he over thinks every detail of the crime.

c.      He becomes afraid that he will be thrown in a Siberian prison and thus becomes delirious, sick and mentally ill. He stays in bed for the next couple of days.

3.     People are beginning to become suspicious of Raskolnikov due to his change in character and bizarre behavior, especially Porfiry.

a.     Every time anybody brings up the topic of the murder Raskolnikov turns pale and begins to act in a strange manner.

b.     He goes and visits Porfiry and almost makes it evident that he is guilty.

c.      He Leaves in a disturbed state realizing that he is in trouble

4.     The END

a.     He gets called into Porfirys office and goes into a state of frenzy.

b.     A man named Nikolai falsely confesses to the murders.

c.      Raskolnikov finds relief and believes for a short time that he is decisively a free man, he will not have to suffer from any physical punishment.

d.     Porfiry visits him and tells him that he is the murderer and if he confesses his punishment will be taken less severely.

e.     He thinks it through and with Sonya’s help confesses to the murders.

f.      Raskolnikov never really cared about the people he killed. All he really cared about was himself and his fate. The aftermath of his crime would have gone much smoother if he knew that there wouldn’t be any sort of punishment afterwards.