Good and Evil Case

The differences between right and wrong or good and evil are sometimes a very fine line. Sometimes what is right or good for one person is wrong or evil for another person. Casablanca was released in 1942 as an American romantic drama film. The set is during World War II and is a series of battles between good versus evil morals, or as one character says, love and virtue. Two men are fighting for the love of one woman during times of conflict and despair.

Utilitarianism suggests that what is morally right or good is the happiness of the greater good. John Stuart Mill states that happiness is pleasure without pain and what is morally right is anything that promotes happiness. What is morally wrong is anything that produces the reverse of happiness. Immanuel Kant states that lying, no matter the reason, is morally wrong. Kant introduced the categorical imperative. Kant’s categorical imperative suggests that the only morally right action is done because it is the right thing to do (Sommers & Sommers, 2013).

Background

Casablanca was set in Africa during WWII when many refugees were fleeing to America. In the first scene, Rick Blaine, the protagonist who sticks his neck out for no one, is introduced as the American expatriate who owns Café Americian. He appears to be concerned only with self-interests. Blaine’s nightclub is in the path of those fleeing for safety and becomes the place for the Nazi resistance and enemy alike to do their business.

A regular at the Café, Ugarte, asks Rick to keep letters of transit safe until they are auctioned later that night. Before the auction begins, Ugarte is arrested by Captain Louis Renault, a corrupt policeman who provides accommodations for the Nazis. Renault, an opportunist, and Rick are on a friendly basis of sorts and work together out of self-interest. Rick insists that he has a neutral stance to the issues surrounding them.

Rick holds the letters that would save Ilsa and Lazlo, allowing them to escape the Nazis. Ilsa and Rick were lovers in Paris and decided to flee from Paris together until Ilsa learned her husband, Lazlo, was still alive. Ilsa decided to stay behind to find her husband and left Rick at the train station to escape alone and broken-hearted.

Character Selections and Scenarios: Kant and Mill

Rick talks Ilsa into running away with him as a way to insure that his plan will work to help her and Lazlo escape. According to Rachels and Rachels (2013), Kant believed that “lying under any circumstances is the obliteration of one’s dignity as a human being” (p. 130). Even though Rick lies to Ilsa, he thinks it is a necessary evil in order for his plan to work to help them escape. Another instance is when Rick changed the odds at the craps table to help a young couple. Sommers and Sommers (2013), states that “actions are right in proportion as they tend to promote happiness,