Freedom and the unmotivated crime in Dostoevsky, Gide and Camus

In the early 20th century, a new significance was assigned to gratuitous behavior, the manifestation of an irrational will. As both a theme and a plot device, gratuitous behavior captured the imagination of many 20th Century novelists. Dostoevsky's treatment of gratuitous crime in Crime and Punishment can be seen to have inspired two later works - Gide's Lafcadio' s Adventures and Camus’ The Stranger. The treatment of gratuitous crime is, in each of the novels mentioned above an inquiry into the nature and limits of individual freedom.