Earlier this week my law firm had a Continuing Legal Education and Ethics class taught by James E. Moliterno, a professor of law at William & Mary. Prof. Moliterno used an interesting hypothetical to start off our discussion and to segue into our "Ethics in Negotiation" discussion - the purpose for the CLE. The resulting discussion of the hypothetical* was so interesting that I asked Professor Moliterno if I could share it here on my blog for discussion.
The Sad Saga of Nicole and Stephan:
NICOLE and STEPHAN are very much in love. They want to be married and stay together for all of their lives. Unfortunately, they are separated by a deep, swift flowing river, in which there are alligators, and neither is a good swimmer.
Nicole sees ROBERT standing next to his boat on her side of the river. She goes to Robert and asks him to take her across the river so that she can be with Stephan. Robert replies that he will do so only if she sleeps with him. Desiring to remain faithful to Stephan, Nicole refuses.
Looking around, she sees Stephan's friend EARNEST nearby, and goes to ask him for help to get to Stephan. She tells Earnest the situation, but he turns and walks away saying that he is too busy to become involved.
Still wanting to get across the river to be with Stephan, Nicole returns to Robert and pleads with him to take her across the river, but he stands firm. Finally Nicole relents and sleeps with Robert, who then takes her safely across the river to Stephan.
Nicole then relates the story to Stephan. When Stephan learns what has happened, he tells Nicole that she has prostituted herself, and he wants nothing more to do with her; and he walks away.
Nicole is brokenhearted. As she is walking home reflecting on her experience, she meets her friend DONALD. He asks her what is wrong, and she tells him the whole story. Donald is incensed. He finds Stephan and beats him up.
THE END.
The Characters:
Nicole
Stephan
Robert
Earnest
Donald
Now here's what I'd like all of you to do: Take a few minutes and rank each of the 5 characters from the "best" to the "worst," with 1 being the best and 5 being the worst. Do this before you look at the comments. Tell me your rankings in the comments and why you made the decisions you did. Were any of the rankings more difficult for you? Why?
Discuss.
This should be entertaining! Yes, I'm a geek.
*The Sad Saga of Nicole and Stephan was originally written by Anina Klein, MSW, with editorial support from Alan M. Lerner.
Recent Comments
Brillig said (about 1 year ago)
Haha, okay. I'll give you my line-up. 1=Ernest. While it wasn't kind of him to sit out, he at least didn't make matters worse. 2=Donald. Violence isn't the way to solve an issue like this (or, perhaps, any issue) but his intentions were good. 3=Stephan. Heartless and unforgiving. Still, it's his call. He has ever right to break up with her, though in doing so he comes out as a big fat jerk. 4=Nicole. Yuck, woman! She sold herself. She DID prostitute herself. Sex is NEVER the only solution. Plus, she enabled the pig. She let him do that to her, and now he'll continue to treat others that way. She should have put her foot down and come up with something else. Sex is NEVER the only solution. 5=Robert. Total pig. Took advantage of a woman's desperation. He had the power to make everything right here, instead he ruined it all. He is the ultimate bad-guy.
annettelyon said (about 1 year ago)
Tough one. Instead of ranking them, here's a question: why didn't Nicole learn how to use the boat herself--or get her own boat? Why didn't Stephen do more to get her over or get himself to her side? There had to be another way. I see this a lot with people--it's either A or B, and they don't stop to think there might be C, D, E, F and even G as options, too. Fun game.
Gunfighter said (about 1 year ago)
1. Donald: Kicking a little ass in defense of the virtue of a woman is noble... at least it is in my world. 2. Nicole: She wanted to be with her love so badly, she would compromise herself to do it... not wise, but there you are. 3. Earnest... there is only neutral self-interest here. 4. Robert: What a pice of crap, to demand that sort of price... he deserved the beating that he got from Donald. 5. Stephen. I shouldn't have to explain that.
VDogBlog said (about 1 year ago)
I'm ranking: 1. Stephen, 2. Earnest, 3. Nicole, 4. Donald, 5. Robert. 1. He didn't compromise his values. 2. Refused to get involved; neither neg/pos. 3. Compromised her values. 4. Anger/violence is bad, heh. 5. Evil mind wanting to corrupt another.
CableGirl said (about 1 year ago)
Ok, I'm gong to go with Donald, Nicole, Ernest, Richard and lastly Stephen. Here are my reasons: Donald is only trying to help out a friend. He is not acting selfishly or for any gain. Nicole did all that she could to get to and be with the one thing that mattered to her most. Ernest is a neutral in my mind. He neither deserves condemnation for not involving himself nor praise for helping. Richard, while slimy, had no tied to either Nicole or Stephen and therefore should have no sense of loyalty to either. He was acting in his own best interest, but again, I reiterate the slimy bit. Stephen I think comes out looking the worst here. He loves a woman, obviously not unconditionally, and says he wants to spend the rest of his life with her but the moment things go awry he backs out. Great head scratcher. I'm curious to see what other people have to say. BTW, Brillig, that's a cop out. Not everyone knows how you would rank them. Speak up. Don't be coy. ;)
Lawyer Mama said (about 1 year ago)
Here's how I ranked them: Earnest Donald Nicole Stephan Robert I'll come back later to tell you why!
Brillig said (about 1 year ago)
Gack. I read this one at your blog and obsessed over it ever since! So glad you posted it here. You already know how I would rank them. I'm dying to see what everyone else says.
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Lawyer Mama said (about 1 year ago)