s a number of possibilities for the motive and nature of the crime. What state of irrationality was it? Confusion or rage? It is not clear that the crime is premeditated. . .but it is also not clear that it isn't.
             After the crime, Julien is seized and put in jail. There, without the slightest reflection, Julien confesses his guilt and demands his own death. He asserts that the situation is perfectly simple: "I intended to kill, so I must be killed."(474) Even as it becomes clear that Julien can escape his sentence through pity and the ever-present dishonesty of men in power, he continues to demand that justice be served. The prevalent question is: why would a man actively seek his own death?
             There are different ways to interpret Julien's decision. It is possible that Julien is a broken and absurd man whose hypocrisy consumed him and who simply gives up. When faced with the destruction of his long cherished dreams, the only thing he knows well, it is possible that Julien acted rashly, believing that it was the only way to retain petty notions of honor. He thus took furious vengeance on Mme. de Rênal as if defending his integrity in a dual. Julien has reacted to insult this way many times before. After the crime is committed, however, Julien has truly lost the chance of ever rising up in society the way that he dreamed of. All of Julien's life was dedicated to his ambition; even his romances are manifestations of a Napoleonic ideal that can no longer be realized. What else does he have to live for? Julien thus resigns himself to death.
             In his jail cell, directly following the crime, Julien feels no remorse, "Why should I feel any? I was atrociously wronged; I committed murder, I deserve death, but that is all there is to it."(472) He feels content; he tells himself, "I have nothing left to do on earth." (472) He welcomes death.
             When Julien finds out that Mme. de Rênal w...