Question: Why doesn't Howie try to escape when being carried up to the wicker man?
Question: If they needed a virgin for the ritual why does Britt try to seduce him? She could have spoiled everything.
Answer: He was a devout man of faith. They had to test his virtue, to tempt him to break the ten commandments or the seven deadly sins.
Question: At the finale of The Wicker Man Howie/Edward Woodward is placed in a wooden cage high above the ground. The cage is set alight. When the cage began to burn and disintegrate, wouldn't he have fallen out of it onto the ground? As the cage burns, the wood must become brittle, so why can't he just force his way out? (Yes, he is surrounded by the islanders, but if anybody was being burnt alive, and they could get out of the flames, wouldn't the self-preservation instinct kick in?).
Answer: He would likely die from the heat or smoke inhalation long before the wood would deteriorate enough for him to fall out. The film also makes a point to show that Howie has given up trying to fight the villagers and has accepted his fate, so even if he could have forced his way out he no longer had the will to do so.
Answer: What's the use? He's surrounded, he can't fight everyone and there's nowhere for him to run.
BaconIsMyBFF
He is also a fundamentally religious man and he believes that he is going to die and go to heaven.