Hight noon paper

Introduction to Christian Ethics 218
Paper 1: High Noon Movie: “A guide for moral living”
Natalia Menegozzi

In the movie High Noon, Will Kane, the Marshall of the town Hadleyville, New Mexico, get married with Amy, a young pacifist women. She was hoping that after getting married, Will would leave his job to work in a quieter and less violent place. The day they were getting married andleaving town, the town found out that Frank Miller, a criminal Will sent to prison and subject to death penalty, was out of prison. Frank was coming back to town and wanted to kill Will. Most people in town advice Will to leave town and not to confront Frank. Kane is now in the middle of probably the most important decision of his life: should he escape and spare the rest of his life with hisfamily in a quiet place (as he promised) or should he confront Frank and finalize with his duties. In this paper, I will analyze Kane’s behavior, his reaction at the end of the movie, and the behavior of his wife and other town members. I conclude suggesting that Kant’s ethical theory the one that fits the best with Kane’s behavior.
Starting with the behavior of Kane, in the past, he cleaned thetown from criminals, corruption, and make from Hadleyville a peaceful time where families can live in pace. While traveling to his honeymoon, he realized that he should come back and take care of his duties first: as town Marshall he must defend the town from criminals. As he came back to town, he went door by door asking everyone for help to confront Miller. But almost all town citizens refused tohelp but only for a drunken old men and one of his closest friends. According to Kantianism, you trade humanity only as an end and never as a means only. This means that no matter the situation you are, you must always take care of others regardless of the end and not to take advantage of others for your own interest. Kane show us by coming back to town to defend from criminals, that he isresponsible and courageous person that leaves his personal interest aside to prioritize the town’s well being. His action is morally and ethically justified by Kant’s ethical theory.
At the beginning of the movie, Amy’s behavior is mainly driven by her own interest and not by the common god. When his husband tells her his was coming back to town to confront Miller and defend the town, Amy decided toabandon his and escape. For Amy, it’s more important to take care of her own satisfaction than to stay close to his husband in danger. With this action, we can cast Amy’s behavior within the ethical egoism theory that says that people that act out of self interest for their happiness.
Another example of ethical egoism is the behavior of the entire town when Kane asked for help and nobody wanted tohelp him confront Miller and risk their lives. Before Miller returned to town, everybody praised Kane as a hero. The town was thankful for having a peaceful and quiet town and that was due to Kane’s remarkable job. By the time the town had to step behind Kane and back him while confronting Miller, they decided to take an egoist decision and to think only about their happiness and nobody wanted torisk their lives.
A third example of ethical egoism is the case of Harvey, the official deputy. He only cares about being the next Town Marshall regardless of the cost. He tried to suborn Kane knowing that Kane was in a crucial moment in his life. As compensation for helping Kane, Harvey requested to be Marshall after Kane leaves town again. Kane refused Harvey bribe and again, putting the town’ssecurity in front of his personal interest, he decides to stay to confront Miller without compromising his future at any cost. Kane’s response to Harvey can again be linked to Kantianism that respects human being and humanity only as an end and never as a means only.
At the end of the movie, Kane’s wife Amy change her mind and decided to step out of the train, leave her egoism aside, and...