The commanding officer never finds hard evidence to believe that they are the enemy yet he assumes the worst as a result he finds them guilty of helping the enemy. His crew believes that the Northman is innocent. In the boarding officers report he states, "the cargo of the ship was of a harmless and useful character. She was bound to an English port. Papers and everything in perfect order. Nothing suspicious to be detected" (Conrad 10). The only convincing evidence that he does discover supports his crews opinion that they are not the enemy, such as the logbook and "suspicions as the one which had entered his head are not defended easily" (Conrad 10). At the end of "The Tale" the commanding officer states, "They all went down; and I don't know whether I have done stern retribution or murder I don't know. I shall never know" (Conrad 17). The commanding officer is not able to defend his suspicions to support his moral decision, and he will never know if it was the right choice to send those men in the wrong direction.
James Joyce in a "Painful Case" illustrates a moral lesson when the main character Duffy feels he is at fault for a former friends death. Duffy is portrayed as a very isolated man whose life seems monotonous and lonely, although he does not view it this way. He eats at the same pub every night, "he had neither companions nor friends, church nor creed" (Joyce 127). Finally Duffy meets a companion who is as lonely as he when he "finds himself sitting beside two ladies in the Rotunda" (Joyce 127). Duffy and the women were both lonely and enjoyed each other's company; it made each of them feel as though they had a purpose. Duffy explores a new and intimidating situation when "her companionship was like a warm soil about an exotic" (Joyce 129). When he breaks off the friendship with this woman because she touches his hand he actually decides her fate. Duffy says, "every bond is a bond of sorrow" (Joyce 130).