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Frederick Aiken's Character In The Conspirator

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The most constant happening in one’s life is change. People change their minds, their hearts, their careers with each passing season. However, it is one’s character that remains even after the changes in personality and personal progression and shines through. In Robert Redford’s 2010 film The Conspirator, Frederick Aiken (James McAvoy) protects a mother enduring a military trial due to her son’s actions. Aiken, a fair and honest Union soldier and lawyer, is forced against his will to defend Mary Surratt (Robin Wright) a southerner accused of conspiring to assassinate President Lincoln. Even though Aiken loathes the task given to him and the woman he is forced to defend, he tries his best to give Surratt the fair trial she deserves. Throughout …show more content…

This scene establishes the fundamental element behind Aiken that will remain important throughout the film; Aiken will not betray a cause or person worth fighting for. Aiken was a caption of the Union Army, and he is beyond loyal. Upon learning of his president’s assassination, Aiken is devastated; he is enraged. He, like the rest of the nation, is shaken to the core and confused. During this time of fear and confusion, Reverdy Johnson (Tom Wilkinson) spoke to Aiken about the Surratt trial. Aiken despised the woman Johnson spoke of; he believed her to be a traitor deserving of harsh punishment. After realizing that, as a southerner, he wouldn’t be taken seriously during the trial that Johnson handed the case over to the unprepared and infuriated Aiken. However, Frederick Aiken believed that Surratt was guilty and hated her with every fiber of his being, for in his mind, she was as atrocious as the assassin of Abraham …show more content…

Bitterly, he examined the evidence, and when put face-to-face with Surratt herself, Aiken was disgusted. The meeting between the two was one full of resentment, and Surratt went as far as telling Aiken that, “he was so blinded by hatred, he couldn’t even see the truth.” After hearing that statement, Aiken walked out of the prison cell. It was at some point throughout the process of going to court together and Surratt’s life relying on Aiken’s defense that Aiken began to see the injustice of the situation Mary Surratt was in. Perhaps it was the realization that Surratt is a fellow human being, or it was the sight of her daughter grieving over the situation her mother was placed in. Either way, Aiken opened his eyes to the foul play that put Mary Surratt behind bars, and he did everything in his power to stop that foul play from happening to her or anyone

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