William Hundert (Kevin Kline), a professor at the exclusive Saint Benedict’s Academy for Boys, believes in teaching his students about living a principled life. He also wants them to learn his beloved classical literature. A new student, Sedgewick Bell (Emile Hirsch), challenges Hundert’s principled ways. Bell’s behavior during the seventy-third annual Mr. Julius Caesar Contest causes Hundert to suspect that Bell leads a less-than-principled life, a suspicion confirmed years later during a reenactment of the competition.

Ethics and Ethical Behavior: An Assessment of Sedgewick Bell

Mr. Hundert is the honored guest of his former student Sedgewick Bell (Joel Gretsch) at Bell’s estate. Depaak Mehta (Rahul Khanna), Bell, and Louis Masoudi (Patrick Dempsey) compete in a reenactment of the Julius Caesar competition. Bell wins the competition, but Hundert notices that Bell is wearing an earpiece. Earlier in the film, Hundert had suspected that young Bell wore an earpiece during the competition, but Headmaster Woodbridge (Edward Herrmann) urged him to ignore his suspicion.

This scene appears near the end of the film after the competition reenactment. Bell announced his candidacy for the U.S. Senate just before he talks to Hundert in the bathroom. In his announcement, he carefully described his commitment to specific values he would pursue if elected.

QUESTIONS 

1.    Does William Hundert describe a specific type of life that one should lead? If so, what are its elements?
2.    Does Sedgewick Bell lead that type of life? At what level of cognitive moral development do you perceive Sedgewick Bell? Support your response with specific moments in the film scene.
3.    What consequences or effects do you predict for Sedgewick Bell because of the way he chooses to live his life?