Duplicate this page before you start, and write your answers into your own copy.
Last lesson three careful ways of reasoning gave three different answers at the door. Today you find out whether that makes ethics a matter of taste.
A jealous Baron leaves his castle, which stands on an island in a fast river, and warns his wife not to leave while he is away. She disobeys, has the drawbridge lowered, and spends the night with her lover on the mainland. When she comes back, a gateman blocks the bridge and says the Baron has ordered him to kill her if she tries to cross. She asks her lover for help and he refuses. A boatman will take her across, but only for a fee she cannot pay. A friend refuses to lend her the money, saying she brought this on herself. At dawn, out of options, she tries to cross the bridge and the gateman kills her.
The full story is in the file below.
05-the-drawbridge-exercise (1).pdf
✍️ Write here, on your own: rank the six characters from 1 (most responsible for the Baroness's death) to 6 (least responsible). Leave the class column empty for now.
| Character | My ranking | Class ranking |
|---|---|---|
| Baron | ||
| Baroness | ||
| Gateman | ||
| Boatman | ||
| Friend | ||
| Lover |
✍️ Write here: explain why you put your number 1 first and your number 6 last.
The class rankings are on the board. Copy the class's number 1 and number 6 into your table.
✍️ Write here, on your own: rank these from smallest to largest.
47, 3, 158, 22, 91
Every person in the room has just written the same answer. Nobody needed to discuss it, and if somebody had got it wrong, we could have shown them.
✍️ Now be the examiner. Imagine the drawbridge is an exam question: rank the six characters by responsibility for the Baroness's death, and justify your ranking. Write the mark scheme. What would a top answer have to do?