Ethics of care: Andy is the prime example of the definition of ethics of care. He defines ‘good’ as meeting the needs of others and preserving and enriching relationships (pg.38). In the beginning he helped Captain Hadley with the IRS tax papers from the 35 thousand he had inherited from his brothers’ death. After the other guards and the Warden realized how good Andy was with forms, Andy started doing everyone’s tax returns, and later helped the Warden with money laundering. In exchange for keeping the books Andy was also able to help his fellow inmates by writing a letter a week to the state and was eventually awarded an annual amount of 500 dollars for the prison library. The library was a big turning point for all the inmates, Andy enriched their lives by teaching and helping them to pass their GED. Even after Andy escaped, he left money for Red so that he too could escape to a deep blue ocean of lost memories with Andy.
Andy Dufresne is a whole hearted good person for all that he did for everyone at Shawshank State Prison. “On the outside I was an honest man, straight as an arrow, I had to come to prison to become a crook;” Andy stated that after the Warden refused to help him reopen his case from the new evidence in which Tommy informed him of. After the Warden made it clear he wasn’t going to help Andy and even went the extra mile in killing Tommy so all proof was gone, Andy made his own plans of corruption. With the surprise ending of not only Andy escaping but also taking 370 thousand dollars from the laundered money and the written letter of Shawshank’s corruption was checkmate for everyone involved.
Utilitarianism: The ethical system that claims that the greatest good is that which results in the greatest happiness for the greatest number (pg. 28). Tommy did the right thing by speaking up about the real murderer from Andy’s case, yet was shot because of the Wardens need for greed and selfishness to keep Andy and the money laundering going. Had Tommy and Andy both been able to reopen Andy's case, and get Andy out of prison it would have helped the greater good by saving on the tax payers dollar and also outing the Warden from all he had been doing to the community (although that did come later after Andy escaped and wrote his letters).
Egoism: The ethical system that defines the pursuit of self-interest as a moral good (pg.39). The Warden and Captain were only looking out for their best interest and everything always came down to money throughout the movie. Ex: before Captain throws Andy off the roof, the inside out program of 1959, the tax returns they allow Andy to do, etc. Even though some (other characters/prisoners) gained from the both of their egoism behavior the overall outcome for their actions was always with bad intentions for personal gain that they thought was morally right.
Bogs Diamond (leader of the “sisters”) and Elmo Blatch (murderer of Mrs. Dufresne and golf pro, Glenn Quentin) are other characters who acted out for personal gain/egoism behavior, their victim was Andy. Bogs and his crew enjoyed sexually assaulting Andy. Elmo killed and robbed from the higher society, and allowed the blame of Andy's wife and her lover to fall back on Andy.
Andy Dufresne is a whole hearted good person for all that he did for everyone at Shawshank State Prison. “On the outside I was an honest man, straight as an arrow, I had to come to prison to become a crook;” Andy stated that after the Warden refused to help him reopen his case from the new evidence in which Tommy informed him of. After the Warden made it clear he wasn’t going to help Andy and even went the extra mile in killing Tommy so all proof was gone, Andy made his own plans of corruption. With the surprise ending of not only Andy escaping but also taking 370 thousand dollars from the laundered money and the written letter of Shawshank’s corruption was checkmate for everyone involved.
Utilitarianism: The ethical system that claims that the greatest good is that which results in the greatest happiness for the greatest number (pg. 28). Tommy did the right thing by speaking up about the real murderer from Andy’s case, yet was shot because of the Wardens need for greed and selfishness to keep Andy and the money laundering going. Had Tommy and Andy both been able to reopen Andy's case, and get Andy out of prison it would have helped the greater good by saving on the tax payers dollar and also outing the Warden from all he had been doing to the community (although that did come later after Andy escaped and wrote his letters).
Egoism: The ethical system that defines the pursuit of self-interest as a moral good (pg.39). The Warden and Captain were only looking out for their best interest and everything always came down to money throughout the movie. Ex: before Captain throws Andy off the roof, the inside out program of 1959, the tax returns they allow Andy to do, etc. Even though some (other characters/prisoners) gained from the both of their egoism behavior the overall outcome for their actions was always with bad intentions for personal gain that they thought was morally right.
Bogs Diamond (leader of the “sisters”) and Elmo Blatch (murderer of Mrs. Dufresne and golf pro, Glenn Quentin) are other characters who acted out for personal gain/egoism behavior, their victim was Andy. Bogs and his crew enjoyed sexually assaulting Andy. Elmo killed and robbed from the higher society, and allowed the blame of Andy's wife and her lover to fall back on Andy.