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Responsibility and Crime in Literature

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  • EDWARD SAGARIN
  • ROBERT J. KELLY

Abstract

Accountability for one's actions has been a major theme that literary artists have grappled with over the centuries. Among the works in which it plays a significant role, and which are here analyzed, are the Oedipus trilogy, Hamlet, The Brothers Karamazov, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, The Trial, The Stranger , and three twentieth-century American novels: An American Tragedy, Light in August , and Native Son. Insights into the dark recesses of the human mind, which can complement the insights of legal philosophers and social scientists, are revealed in these and other works. They point to an argument that prophesy is not immutable destiny and that social causation is not social determinism. The human being achieves freedom by acceptance of responsibility, each man for his own acts, each woman for hers.

Suggested Citation

  • Edward Sagarin & Robert J. Kelly, 1985. "Responsibility and Crime in Literature," The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, , vol. 477(1), pages 12-24, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:anname:v:477:y:1985:i:1:p:12-24
    DOI: 10.1177/0002716285477001002
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