The Green Mile - Characters & Cast

His primary motivation is to maintain order and provide a humane environment for the inmates' final days. This shifts to protecting John Coffey and desperately seeking a way to prove his innocence, and ultimately, to fulfilling John's own wish to die and escape the world's pain.

Initially a compassionate but weary death row supervisor who accepts the grim necessities of his job, Paul undergoes a profound crisis of faith. After witnessing John Coffey's miracles, he is forced to confront the horrifying reality that he must execute an innocent man sent from God. His arc is one of awakening to a deeper moral truth, but it ends in tragedy. He is 'cursed' with a supernaturally long life, forced to outlive his loved ones as penance for his role in killing a miracle.

John is motivated by an innate need to heal and alleviate suffering. He tells Paul he is "rightly tired of the pain" he feels from the world and sees his execution as a merciful end to his own torment.

John's character does not have a traditional arc of change; rather, he is a static force of pure goodness who reveals the true nature of those around him. He begins and ends as a gentle, empathetic soul burdened by his ability to feel the world's pain. His journey is one of suffering and sacrifice. He ultimately chooses death not out of guilt, but as a release from the agony of human cruelty he constantly endures.

Percy is motivated by a lust for power and a sadistic desire to inflict pain and fear. He is insecure and cowardly, bullying those weaker than him (like Delacroix) while cowering before those who are genuinely dangerous (like "Wild Bill").

Percy is a static character who embodies cruelty, arrogance, and cowardice. Protected by nepotism, he uses his position to torment inmates. His arc is not one of change but of comeuppance. He gets his wish to be on the front line of an execution, but his sadistic sabotage of Delacroix's death leads to his downfall. He is ultimately used as a vessel for divine justice, becoming catatonic after John Coffey transfers Melinda Moores' sickness into him, which causes him to kill the true murderer, "Wild Bill."

Brutus is motivated by loyalty to Paul and a commitment to doing their grim job with as much humanity as possible. He supports Paul's plan to help Melinda Moores and shares his anguish over John's fate.

Brutus is Paul's rock-solid deputy, a decent and imposing man who shares Paul's sense of morality. His arc mirrors Paul's. He starts as a professional doing a difficult job and is equally transformed by his encounters with John Coffey. Witnessing the miracle and participating in the execution of an innocent man breaks him, and he leaves the Mile with Paul, unable to continue in the profession.