Essential question
What limit does Raskolnikov try to place on his idea that extraordinary people may break the law?
Marked passage
- Passage location
- Part III, Chapter V
- Start anchor
- Ordinary men have to live in submission, have no right to transgress the law
- End anchor
- But it does not follow from that that Newton had a right to murder people right and left and to steal every day in the market.
The extraordinary-man theory
Ways to teach it
Listening
Listen to the exact passage; visual following is optional. Same question and evidence demand.
Solo
Read the exact passage independently.
Supported
Use narration and sentence highlighting while reading the same passage.
Teacher guide
Close
Name the single detail that most changed or sharpened your interpretation, and explain why.
Evidence
Use the extraordinary-man exception, examples such as lawgivers, and his explicit denial of indiscriminate killing.
Mark
Underline the rights Raskolnikov grants to 'extraordinary' people. Circle the examples or conditions he uses to limit those rights. Star the point where he insists the theory does not authorize murder 'right and left.'
Instructional move
Separate a theoretical exception from unlimited permission
Notice
• What separates an 'extraordinary' transgression from ordinary crime in Raskolnikov’s theory? • Who gets to decide whether the idea is important enough to justify breaking the law? • Why is the limit difficult to enforce if the person breaking the law also judges his own exception?
Strong answer
Raskolnikov tries to limit the theory by saying transgression is justified only for genuinely extraordinary people pursuing ideas important enough to require breaking existing law, not as general permission to commit crimes at will.
Think
Answer provisionally: What limit does Raskolnikov try to place on his idea that extraordinary people may break the law? Choose the strongest interpretation you can defend from this passage alone.
Watch for
Do not accept the limit as workable without question. A strong answer can note the problem of who decides that a person is truly extraordinary.
Why this passage
Raskolnikov’s extraordinary-man theory permits transgression only when a person’s idea supposedly justifies breaking existing law. He tries to distinguish exceptional historical action from random criminal license, revealing the limit he needs in order to make the theory sound defensible.
Write
Write a short evidence-based response to: What limit does Raskolnikov try to place on his idea that extraordinary people may break the law? Use at least two details from the assigned passage and explain how they support your interpretation.
Student tasks
Mark
Underline the rights Raskolnikov grants to 'extraordinary' people. Circle the examples or conditions he uses to limit those rights. Star the point where he insists the theory does not authorize murder 'right and left.'
Notice
What separates an 'extraordinary' transgression from ordinary crime in Raskolnikov’s theory? Who gets to decide whether the idea is important enough to justify breaking the law? Why is the limit difficult to enforce if the person breaking the law also judges his own exception?
Think
Answer provisionally: What limit does Raskolnikov try to place on his idea that extraordinary people may break the law?
Write
Write a short response using at least two pieces of evidence from this passage. Use evidence from the assigned passage. Show what you noticed and how the text supports your interpretation.