Crime and
Punishment by
Fyodor
Dostoevsky, 1866-
1867
Main characters: Raskolnikov, Luzhin, Porfiry Petrovich, Svidrigailov,
Raskolnikov’s conscienceMain Plot/Idea/Concept: Raskolnikov is a poor ex-student who conceives of
and carries out his plan to kill an unscrupulous pawnbroker for her money. He
will gain wealth and rid the world of a horrible person. Raskolnikov attempts
to convince himself that murder is acceptable if it achieves a higher purpose.Tags: psychology of crime and punishment, poverty, alienation from society,
religious redemption, moral dilemmaKing Lear by
William
Shakespeare, first
folio 1623
Genre: play, tragedySetting: England, 8th century BCEMain characters: King Lear of Britain; Lear’s daughters Goneril, Regan, and
Cordelia; Edmund, the bastard son of GloucesterMain Plot/Idea/Concept: King Lear decides to step down from his throne and
divide his kingdom among his three daughters, but before doing so, he tests
their loyalty. Goneril and Regan betray their father.Tags: madness, justice, authority versus chaos, betrayal, reconciliation, love
and forgiveness, redemption, weather as a symbolHeart of Darkness
by Joseph Conrad,
1899 (serialized),
1902
Genre: short novel, novellaSetting: late 19th century, primarily the Belgian CongoMain characters: Marlowe, KurtzMain Plot/Idea/Concept: A young sailor, Marlowe, joins a Belgian trading
company and goes deep into Africa to meet a man named Kurtz. Kurtz, who had
established himself with natives as a kind of god, had descended into madness.Tags: frame story, imperialism (arrogance of imperialism), madness,
wastefulness, questBilly Budd (Billy
Budd, Sailor) by
Herman Melville,
published 1924
Genre: novelSetting: 1797, four years into the Napoleonic Wars; an English warship, the
Bellipotent, somewhere on the Mediterranean SeaMain characters: Billy Budd and ClaggertMain Plot/Idea/Concept: Billy’s natural innocence and goodness comes in
conflict with evil, in the character of Claggert.