Paper on Character, Dignity and Self Respect

This paper will illustrate and interpret the movie Glory and it will relate one or two characters of Aristotle: ethics based on personal virtue. Epictetus: ethics based on inner strength of the individual. Saint Augustine: ethics based on following a Divine Command. This paper will also address the characters I have selected from the movie that will represent Aristotelian ethics. It will address how they demonstrated a mean between excess and deficiency. It will demonstrate a change in habit or character and how they made a conscious change in decision to change. Lastly, it will illustrate the key ethical issues of character, dignity, and self- respect. The characters will be Mathew Broderick known as Col. Robert Gould Shaw, Cary Elwes playing Maj. Cabot Forbes, Morgan Freeman playing Sgt. Maj. John Rawlins, Denzel Washington playing Pvt. Trip and Andre Braugher playing Cpl. Thomas Searles.

Glory (1989) is about a Commander of the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, the first black regiments to be listed in the service of the United States. Commander Shaw felt that he was into something that he was not too sure about due to the fact that he had previously lost a lot of soldiers to battle. Now he was faced with survivors guilt

which will heal in time. Shaw will later become a mighty leader that will lead the black regiment to take on the battle in Fort Wagner.

Character

Aristotle believes character to be a disposition of the appetitive and emotional faculties, which leads its possessor to act and feel in particular ways.

Col. Robert Gould Shaw was a commander that stood up for the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry. These black men were slaves that wanted to fight for their freedom. Shaw heard of the United States Government planning to form this regiment of black soldiers . When he was first offered the Commander position he asked his best friend Major Cabot Forbes to go with him and he accepted.

Shaw and Forbes in this movie strongly connected with this group of men: the angry and resentful Private Trip (Denzel Washington); Private Jupiter Sharts (Jhine Kennedy); Corporal Thomas Searles (Andre Braugher), a very smart educated man that grew up with Shaw and worked for his dad. Sgt. Maj. John Rawlins (Morgan Freeman), a runaway slave who speaks with the voice of wisdom and reason.

Dignity

The quality of being worthy of esteem or respect, respect for oneself, one’s character, and one’s conduct.

The character that I felt that played this role would be Morgan Freeman who played Rawlings in the movie. Although Rawlings knew that being a slave wasn’t worth as much and he decided to help Shaw lead this troop to fight the battle on Fort Wagner.

Another