Death and Freedom in Sorrows of a Young Werther and Crime and Punishmen

Death and Freedom in Sorrows of a Young Werther and villainy and Punishment The relationship between death and independence is a common thread throughout Sorrows of a Young Werther by Goethe and Crime and Punishment by Dostoevsky. The relationship illustrated in both deeds is that one cannot achieve true freedom until they are dead. Until death, Werther and Raskolnikov depart forever feel the restrictions that community places upon them. Werther feels restricted due to the unrequited love of angler and Raskolnikov feels restricted by the moral code that society establishes. In Sorrows of a Young Werther by Goethe and Crime and Punishment by Dostoevsky both characters express their freedom through death. In Sorrows of a Young Werther, Werther views self-destruction as a human right and the ultimate expression of ones power. Death representing freedom is evident in Weathers suicide because he feels that he cannot go on living in such(prenominal) torment. The only way to free hi m from this torment is to kill himself. In Crime and Punishment death representing freedom is evident in Raskolnikovs apology for the pawnbrokers murder. He justifies the murder first through its circumstances. When Raskolnikov discovers that Lizaveta will be out of the house at seven, he views this information as a sign that the murder must be committed, all intimacy of action and free-will were gone. Next Raskolnikov claims that the pawnbroker deserved to die and it was his duty to rid society of the wretched li...