ABSTRACT

In the films, the author examines the spheres of interpersonal life are private, comprised of romantic partnership, family, and friends. With Michael Caton-Jones's film Rob Roy, the author found virtue and vice displayed in the contexts of a tightly knit community and the wider politico economic fabric of the state. The character of Rob Roy, in particular, embodies a constellation of moral virtues that reflect standards of reciprocity, promise keeping, and truthfulness. The film's portrayal of Rob Roy's character suggests that adhering to moral standards of speech is as necessary for a moral self as it is for a moral community. The linguistic virtues are important to an individual's overall moral character because his relationship to himself is mediated by how he speaks with other people. The three villains in Rob Roy are incapable of moral community because they are without respect for requirements of reciprocity, promise keeping, or truthfulness in the use of language.