Moral corruption is a notable and recurrent theme of gangster films. The protagonist usually has an initial innocence, or ignorance of the means and ways of the life of crime. He gets involved with this world out of necessity due to financial problems, or comes from a social or ethnic background, where crime is an easier and more profitable way of living than legitimate business. In the beginning of his involvement the hero is reluctant to use violence and hesitant to manipulate people, as evidenced in The Godfather and Goodfellas. But as his ties with the world of crime strengthen and he gets caught up in it, he becomes disillusioned with the usefulness of morality, and starts to see his own survival and domination as more important than morality in the conventional sense. The rise to power comes to be the most crucial goal, and moral principles are an obstacle to it. The more powerful the hero becomes, the more rapid is the decline of his ethics. This engrossment in power is demoralizing and causes the hero to dissociate from healthier aspects of life, such as his …show more content…
The first one is his emotional and psychological failure: by the end of the fifteenth episode of the fifth season he is alone, isolated, alienated and rejected by his wife and children who are now appalled by his actions. He is wanted by the police and he is hiding in a mountain cabin in New Hampshire. All his great schemes and plans have failed, his so much desired money is in the hands of Uncle Jack’s neo-Nazi gang, his brother-in-law is dead because of him, and his cancer has reappeared. He is in a state of inaction, waiting for his death to come. His motivation to act again and bring a conclusion to his unfinished deeds, comes through the reappearance of Elliot and Gretchen who talk in a derogatory way about him on a TV show. They put his hurt ego again in motion and instead of surrendering to the police he decides to go back to