Criticism And Moralism In Joseph Conrad's Heart Of Darkness

Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness takes place in the late 19th century at the height of colonialism in Europe and tells the tale of an experienced sailor named Marlow, who is hired as a riverboat captain for a Belgian company in the Congo and is responsible for collecting ivory and transporting it back to Europe. The contemporary film adaptation of the novel, Apocalypse Now (1979), directed by Francis Ford Coppola, is set during the peak of the United States’ involvement in the Vietnam War in 1970. Captain Willard, played by Martin Sheen, goes on a journey upriver to find and assassinate Colonel Kurtz, played by Marlon Brando, with “extreme prejudice”. Louis K. Greiff, in “Conrad’s Ethics and the Margins of Apocalypse Now,” claims that Coppola

He claims that in the movie, “it is now Kurtz who appears as the solid and dedicated one” whereas “Captain Willard emerges as fragmented and corrupt in professional terms,” which lies in direct contrast from their characters in the novel (486). I agree with that statement, however, while Kurtz and Willard are switched in the film in terms of professionalism, I believe that they are in the same places regarding morals. Professionally, it’s never clear exactly that Willard does for a living and neither Kurtz nor the audience understand if he is a soldier being stationed in Vietnam, if he works for the CIA, or if he is an assassin. In Apocalypse Now, there is a scene in which Kurtz asks Willard if he is an assassin, to which he responds that he is merely a soldier. Still unable to grasp the professional emptiness, Kurtz tells him that “[he’s] neither. [He’s] an errand boy sent by grocery clerks to collect a bill,” perhaps signifying that there is really no difference between a soldier and an assassin – even though Willard has been both, the only difference that lies between them is in the

This alone shows the authority and power that Kurtz holds over Willard. When Kurtz drops the head of one of Willard’s crew in his lap, this show of force makes clear that Kurtz is capable of doing almost anything without boundaries. Eventually, Kurtz understands what Willard’s mission is and actually wants him to carry it out, hence nurses him back to health. Willard later gives nod to this theory when he says that “If I was still alive it was only because he wanted it that way.” Colonel Kurtz wanted “someone to take the pain away,” which is why he showed very little resistance when Willard kills