A Murderers Journey Through The Works Of Dostoyevsky And Poe :: essays research papers fc

A Murderers Journey Through The Works of Dostoyevsky and Poe     Some people believe that closely murderers have a mental illness whichcauses them to commit their crime. This belief is strongly disagreed with bythe authors Edgar Allan Poe and Fyodor Dostoevsky. Crime and Punishment, TheTell-Tale Heart, The Black Cat,and The Cask of Amontillado are genuinely similarin this contradiction. Each murderer takes a specific journey that has beenillustrated in each case. The psychological make-up of each murderer shows thathe is a normal person up to the point at which something compels him to committhis horrible crime, and after that his conscience usually leads to his owndownfall.     Before the murder has been committed the caseful is a regular humanbeing. In most cases the characters that end up carrying through with thiscrime are above average people. Raskolnikov from Crime and Punishment is "... quite an extraordinarily handsome young man ..." (Crime and Punishment, pg.21)Raskolnikov is a very gifted university student, with a very good talent forfiguring people out. Raskolinikov takes great pride and awe for his family. Onreceiving a letter from his mother     ...he quickly raised the letter to his lips and kissed it then he spenta long time poring over the mitt on the envelope, over the small,slanting handwriting, so familiar and dear to him, of his mother who had oncetaught him to read and write. (Crime and Punishment, pg.47)Raskolnikovs mother, who taught him how to read and write did this job quitewell. This resulted in a very gifted and brilliant university student. Thispoint is illustrated throughout the novel from the planning and carrying out ofthe murder, to interactions with the police.      The narrator from the short story "The Black Cat" describes his"tenderness of disembodied spirit was even so conspicuous as to make me the jest of hiscompanion s." ("The Black Cat", pg.390) He is quite a regular human being who is"...especially hearty of animals..." ("The Black Cat", pg.390) The narrator alsohas a great wife whom he describes as being quite similar to himself, whichshows that he must be quite normal if a good woman chooses to marry him. Muchalike is the narrator from the short story "The Tell-Tale Heart". Again thischaracter is beat of love. The victim of his crime had done no wrong and forthat the narrator "...loved the old man." ("The Tell-Tale Heart", pg.384) Thenarrator shows the same brilliance in planning the crime that Raskolnikovexhibits. hoi polloi with great intelligence, great lives, possessions and friendsmust be normal people.