The worst crime one can possibly commit is murder. Murder is the unlawful killing of one human by another, usually premeditated. It is malice in its ultimate form. The legal punishment for murder is most often life imprisonment, ensuring the villain will never walk the streets again. In some cases, if the murder was truly horrific, the punishment can be death, ensuring the villain will never kill again. While these punishments are designed to cause …showed first 75 words of 2156 total…

…showed last 75 words of 2156 total…to end Macbeth’s rule. Macbeth is eventually slain in battle. Guilt, the remorseful awareness at having done something wrong, can have devastating effects on people who choose to commit horrible crimes, punishing one far more than any sentence in prison. For Raskolnikov, Macbeth, and Lady Macbeth, the crime was murder. They murdered for their own goals, to benefit themselves, and as a result paid the ultimate mental price: an unyielding, unrelenting conscience and guilt.