Metamorphosis_&_Crime_and_Punishment

Guilt is when someone is blamed for something he did. Guilt is not always controlled by us, one can create guilt. Guilt is also when someone innocent is blamed for something he has not done. Guilt can also be a feeling. Some people feel guilty for something they have done. Both Crime and Punishment by Dostoyevsky deals and Metamorphosis by Kafka deal with guilt we can see how guilt and its causes affected the protagonists Raskolnikov, and Gregor. The first part of Crime and Punishment deals with the plan of the crime, and the other five parts deals with Raskolnikov's moments of remorse and his overwhelming desire to confess and to rid himself of the guilt. He is unable of doing this until the end of the book. The whole novel deals with the crime. Raskolnikov's guilt and anxiousness to escape guiltiness close in on him. Raskolnikov is a student who lives in poverty he murders the pawnbroker, thinking that he would serve the society. After the crime he starts to suffer, and he starts feeling guilty for what he has done, he wants to confess the crime. Raskolnikov suffers from guilt, and he is unable to escape guilt. He created guilt because of a sin. He cannot take it much longer so he decides to confess and hands himself in to the police. Sonya his love is the one who urges him to confess to the police. Raskolnikov's best friend is Razumikhin, who is his also his savior. Raskolnikov is talking to his friend after the murder "who wants to do good deeds for someone who...spits on them' Why did you seek me out at the start of my illness' Maybe I would have been quite happy to die" Raskolnikov is starting to feel guilty and he is asking his friend why he save him from his illness. In the end of the novel right before he confesses Raskolnikov exclaims "I killed myself, not the old crone!" this shows that Raskolnikov feels that he has lost his life through a sin, and he feels very guilty and wants to be redeemed. Sonya answers him "accept suffering and redeem yourself by it". Sonya is very religious and very faithful; she is telling Raskolnikov to confess in order to be redeemed, and in order to get rid of guilt. Raskolnikov is feeling very guilty, and this guilt inside of him, makes him want to try to commit suicide. He is not only feeling guilty for the crime he has committed to the pawnbroker and her sister, but he is also feeling guilty towards his family. He is trying to help his sister, and his mother, but he is not able to after this murder he has done. Raskolnikov is feeling hopeless, and life has no meaning to him. Even though he will confess, and go to prison in Siberia he will still be feeling guilty and be blamed for the acts he has done, he will never forget the murders of the landlady and the sister. This guilt of Raskolnikov connects to the guilt of Gregor Samsa in The Metamorphosis. Gregor Samsa is a traveling salesman who hates his job but is forced to keep his job in order to support his family. He is working to pay off his father debts. One day Gregor wakes up and finds himself transformed into a giant insect. He is struggling with the feelings of guilt, because he is unable to support his family after his transformation, as if his inability to support is family was his fault. Gregor is now a burden to his family, he is being isolated and neglected from his family, his family is disgusted by his metamorphosis. Guilt is Gregor's most powerful emotion. Every time the family mentions money, he feels guilty by losing the ability to support his family. Gregor really hates his job. He hates having to worry about traveling, he hates the way his boss treats him. Gregor is being alienated from his family, his job, and himself. Gregor is like a slave to his family, forced into hated labor, he is feeling no bitterness, and his primary feeling is guilt. Gregor clearly feels guilt; he is not realizing that the situation he's in is out of his hands. His primary concern is to get to work and to make his excuses for being late; he is trying to hold on to his job for the sake of his family. He does not realize that his difficulty getting out of bed, and going to his work, is because of his transformation. Gregor's guilt is externalized to such an extent that he feels anything that delays his arrival to work and prevents his ability to make money must be by his own fault. This transformation is something that Gregor should not be responsible for his metamorphosis, and so he cannot be feeling guilty for it. Gregor also wants to escape from his guilt, and he hopes that he will be able to do so. Before he opens his door, he is curious to see other's reaction to his transformation. "if they were horrified, he thinks that "the responsibility was no longer his and he could stay quiet." Gregor's guilt and his need to feel it is so strong that he cannot simply accept even the most obvious way out of that guilt. Gregor is happy to provide his parents with money, his parents got used to their son as being a provider. When they saw that their son got transformed into a insect the family got so upset, they were thinking of who will provide them with money, they don't love their son, they see him as something low after the transformation. Gregor discovers through the conversations that the father had some money left after the collapse of his business, Gregor thought that his family was desperate for money, and that he had to work. In Gregor's case he is guilty because of his transformation; it is not something that he did for a purpose. Gregor realizes at the end that his life is the only thing keeping the family from a better life. He dies for them just as he lived for them. Gregor's family is thankful that their son died, they felt that he needed to disappear for the good of the family. As we see guilt is powerful effect that can make people in some cases commit suicide. There are some similarities in Metamorphosis and in Crime and Punishment. Raskolnikov feels guilty for not being able to help his family. Gregor feels the same way, he is feeling guilty for not going to work and paying off the debts his father owes the chief. Raskolnikov could have controlled his acts, but Gregor's transformation was not in his own hand, that is the only difference in Raskolnikov, and Gregor. (Word Count: 1144)