The main female characters of Sonia and Marie in Crime and Punishment and The Stranger, respectively, do more than faithfully support Raskolnikov and Meursault in their difficult times. Their roles structure the men's characters and ultimately help them form their philosophy: Sonia manages to modify Raskolnikov's superman theory while Marie's presence reinforces Meursault's absurd theory. Through the varying influence of women, they connect the protagonists between individuality and society, and through an awakening, Sonia ultimately leads Raskolnikov to embrace the rules of society while Marie leads Meursault to abandon society and still assert more life and its individuality. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay Through the choice of female company of Raskolnikov and Meursault, the reader can already perceive elements of character. Both Sonia and Marie appear in the novels due to the disparate needs of the men. Sonia's first call to Raskolnikov is deeply moving; he finds comfort with a woman also isolated from society due to her prostitution. However, to Raskolnikov's own surprise, Sonia becomes his beacon: she is more enlightened than him on the ways of the world. On the other hand, Meursault is attracted to the pretty and playful Marie because she knows how to satisfy his physical desires. He is indifferent to any deep emotional connection; even when Marie attempts to illicit his love, he says that “it [love] meant nothing but I probably didn’t love it” (Camus 41). However, she too becomes a beacon of light in a different sense. Meursault tries to see Marie's face in his prison cell because she represents a purpose in his life – physical desires rather than emotions. Interestingly, Raskolnikov also thinks of Sonia in his prison cell because his love for her – and not for her body – represents his inspiration. It is clear from the general portrayal and description of female characters by men that Raskolnikov is much more emotionally and internally. involved as Meursault. Meursault describes his world through sensual experiences, and his description of Marie never goes much beyond her job as a typist and her appearance. Meursault recounts Marie's effects on him in striking detail: the sensation of brushing "her breasts" (19), of placing his head "on her stomach" (20) and of feeling "Marie's heart beating gently" (20 ). For Meursault, these moments are the only valuable experiences in a meaningless life. On the other hand, Raskolnikov considers Sonia's facial expressions and postures as a window into his soul: “Raskolnikov looked at her strangely. He read everything on her face…” (Dostoyevsky 255). He questions her about her faith and her vision of life and takes care to note the evolution of her emotions. He is deeply concerned with the psychological; his bond with her is never limited to the physical. Sonia and Marie act as bridges, connecting men to society. Each of these female characters has a different outlook on life than the man in question, and her influence contributes to the development of the protagonist's philosophy. Despite Sonia's desecration of her body, she is one of the purest and most innocent characters in the novel. Sonia and Raskolnikov's attraction to each other is surprising because they are so different. Even though they are both in turmoil, Sonia is Raskolnikov's foil; she is reassured by her faith. Throughout the latter part of the novel, she is the Christ-like savior who saves Raskolnikovof the forgetting of a meaningless life and links it again to humanity. Sonia is his only path to salvation: she teaches him that only repentance for his sins and responsibility for his actions can save him. His emotional investment in Sonia is so great that he is able to confess his crime to her, and his eventual return to society is preceded by unserious events. After all, he hasn't really felt much for another human being in a long time. Thus, Sonia slowly brings Raskolnikov back to the social convention of feeling, and she continues to await his ultimate metamorphosis by following him to Siberia. Raskolnikov's philosophy of the superhuman distances him physically and emotionally from society. It is only when he returns to the murder by which he attempted to assume the role of the "übermensch", the superhuman, that he will be able to reintegrate humanity and feel true emotion for another person. With his cleansing from sin, he can embrace his love for Sonia without fear. He opens his heart to accept her love and her beliefs: “Can't her beliefs be mine now? His feelings, his aspirations at least…” (430). Although she tried to introduce religion to Raskolnikov in the literal form of the Bible, it is not until the very end of the novel, when he realizes his love for her, that he actually attempts to open the pages. Dostoyevsky, by describing an individual as helpless as Raskolnikov but still living with hope through the faith of a companion, signifies that a spiritual connection is necessary to combat the dismal world and understand one's place in society. On the other hand, Marie offers Meursault the choice of being an emotional individual by asking for his love. Obviously, she leads a different life from that of Meursault: she is surprised by the apathy he shows when he can enjoy himself so fully, swimming and going to the cinema so soon after the death of his mother . Marie serves in the novel as a representation of sensual pleasure, and her identity as an individual is not as important to Meursault as her identity as a woman who embodies the physicality of all women: "I never thought specifically to Mary. But I thought of a woman, of women…” (Camus 77). While Sonya's individuality and personality save Raskolnikov, Marie's universality and body lead Meursault to his own awakening. In The Stranger, Meursault is never intimidated by the misery of the prison; above all, he is a man who simply wants to continue living. Due to his crime and imprisonment, Meursault's daily life as an employee is suddenly interrupted by the painful realization that death is an inevitable fate. Meursault is the absurd man who has the passion to exhaust everything he has at any given moment. Mary is one of his passions in life, and he never thought about when this enjoyment would end. Likewise, he never thought about his relationship with the world. It is only when this pleasure, Marie, is taken away from him that he is truly taken out of his world of self-contentment and forced to think about his true connection to society. Unlike Sonya, Marie does not intentionally try to change Meursault's mentality so that he accepts society or denies it. His role actually affirms his absurd theory in another way. Without the idea of ​​losing Marie, who is his only connection to the world, he might never have rebelled, and the thought of Marie continues to encourage him to fight against death even in prison. Thus, through Mary, he evaluates his values ​​in relation to the world and ultimately attempts to fight society as his own individual. These two female characters illuminate the messages at the end of their respective novels., 2001.