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Criminality Videos 10 videos
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Crime and Punishment is all about a boy killing for money, literally, and then spending the rest of the book trying to hide it. Although the book c...
Crime and Punishment 30972 Views
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Crime and Punishment is all about a boy killing for money, literally, and then spending the rest of the book trying to hide it. Although the book covers a grim plot line, it is filled with romance, kindness, sympathy, and big-brother love. Sounds just great, doesn't it?
Transcript
- 00:04
Crime and Punishment, a la Shmoop: AKA Law and Order: St. Petersburg
- 00:10
In case you haven't noticed, we're obsessed with crime.
- 00:13
We want to know who did it . . . . . . how they did it . . .
- 00:16
. . . and why they did it. Maybe that's why Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment
- 00:20
. . . . . . is still relevant today.
Full Transcript
- 00:22
Raskolnikov, a poor, young student in 19th Century Russia . . .
- 00:26
. . . commits a double murder . . . . . . but isn't particularly sorry about it.
- 00:31
Was he right to feel the way that he did? Can killing another human being ever be justified?
- 00:37
Raskolnikov killed Alyona because she was a mean, old cheat . . .
- 00:41
. . . without whom the world would be a better place.
- 00:43
He also thinks that he can use the money he steals from her . . .
- 00:46
. . . to do good things. So, is that it?
- 00:49
Is it justifiable to whack someone . . . . . . as long as they're a despicable excuse
- 00:53
for a human being . . . . . . or if something good could come out
- 00:56
of it? But who really gets to decide who's evil . . .
- 00:58
. . . and what happens when someone innocent like Lizaveta gets in the way?
- 01:03
Maybe it's easier to take the stance that killing can never be justified . . .
- 01:06
. . . that taking a life for any reason is wrong.
- 01:09
Our anti-hero clearly didn't agree . . . . . . though he did end up spending quite
- 01:13
a bit of time in Siberia. So, where do you stand?
- 01:16
Do you agree with Raskolnikov that evil people deserve to die? That good can come from their
- 01:22
demise? Or do you think that killing another human
- 01:25
being can never be justified? In a world full of wars . . .
- 01:28
. . . and quite a few despicable people . . . We've got to admit this is a tough one.
- 01:36
Shmoop amongst yourselves.
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