Will Kane: Heroic or Stubborn?

Is a hero someone who acts out of character and does something courageous, or is a hero someone who responds to the call of duty and does what he has to do, time and time again, despite any obstacles in his way? Luckily, when debating the heroic status of Will Kane, the protagonist of High Noon, we need not decide the definition of a hero or whether will fits into one of those two definitions. This is because Will Kane is a combination of the two.

It is clearly shown that Will is devoted to his job, protecting his town of Hadleyville. Although he is no longer the Marshal he still feels his responsibility to the town and to himself. Will could have easily run away and leave the town to deal with Frank Miller however they saw fit. However, Will had worked so hard to turn the town around and transform it from a place where women couldn’t walk the streets in broad daylight into a peaceful and prosperous town. He couldn’t just hide at the first sign of trouble. When Amy wonders why Will has to return, she fails to realize that her new husband has never run from anything in his life. Amy begs Will, “Don't try to be a hero! You don't have to be a hero, not for me!” The fact is that Will isn’t trying to be a hero. He’s justTechnically, Will “emerges” as a hero when he and his town are faced with a potentially destructive situation involving an infamously destructive man (Frank Miller). However, we know that Will and his heroic traits were shown and existed before the time that is presented in the film. It is stated more than once that Will was a type of savior for Hadleyville, that he made the streets walkable and the lives of the people livable. No other character in the film responds in the way that Will responds. For that mater, no one acts like Will does. That’s why in the end he’s left alone on the lonely streets. However, Katy Jurado’s character, Helen Ramirez, has a heroic air about her. She speaks about loyalty when she says to Amy, “If Kane was my man, I'd never leave him like this. I'd get a gun. I'd fight.” Her sentiments are heroic but her actions do not necessarily show heroism. When I saw High Noon I couldn’t help but picture Roger O. Thronhill (Cary Grant), from North by Northwest, when I saw Will Kane (Gary Cooper). Both characters are forced into loneliness and solitude by others. No one seems to understand them or their cause. Despite all this, they both triumph through adversity and achieve the “impossible task” whether it’s killing the four bad guys in High Noon or evading death and killing the criminals in North by Northwest. And after it all both Will and Roger come out with the girl by their side. doing what he feels is right and there is nothing more heroic than that.

On another note, this instance, when Will turns the stagecoach around, reveals his naivety, stubbornness, and courage, three of the strongest qualities of a hero. Those three traits that Will, as a hero, possesses exemplify his strength as a heroic character but they also define his weakness in terms of the other layers that make up Will Kane. For example, when Will and Amy are wed, Will is willing to give up his role as a man of law and order for her, but he changes his mind and has to return to fulfill his “duty”. His stubbornness helps him save the town but at the same time it puts his new marriage and even his own life at risk.