PERSONAL MOTIVE vs. SOCIETAL INFLUENCES
Bourgeois society enslaves one such that any attempt to transcend the induced limitations results in self-destruction. In The Stranger by Albert Camus, Meursault's lack of a local cause, motivation, and personal means of justification for his crime offers the possibility of such an outside force pulling him towards the direction of wrongdoing. Raskolnikov of Fyodor Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment contrasts himself with Meursault in that he continually wrangles with himself over the motivation of his crime. On the other hand, Raskolnikov is also un…
