Irony and Insanity in Apocalypse Now
This is end of sanity. As Francis Ford Coppola suggests in Apocalypse Now, sanity is not the manner that would have settled the Vietnam conflict. Rather, through the character of Walt Kurtz, Coppola illustrates the means by which the U.S. Army could have decided the end of the war. Walter Kurtz is a psychopath. Walter Kurtz achieves success in Vietnam. Here lies the irony that Coppola brilliantly conveys. Thousands of troops arrived weekly in Vietnam without the proper arsenal of faculties that one needs to execute the actions essential to success in Vietnam. The boys are not insane enough to win. However, Kurtz, through his psychopathic tendencies, achieve success repeatedly in jungle combat. He was "winning the war his own way."
In order to diagnose an individual with psychopathic deviance, or psychopathy, the individual must display behaviors that reveal four personality characteristics. Psychopaths are impulsive, manipulative, anti-social and pathagnomic (Hare and Shalling 5). The anti-social trait does not signify introversion. Rather, it refers to anti-social behaviors. Pathagnomy indicates the lack of a conscience. An individual who has no conscience can not discern between right and wrong.
Psychopaths display antisocial behavior and impulsiveness (Hare and Schalling 17). Antisocial behavior is determined as activities "not appropriate to the accepted functioning of one's social relationships with one's surroundings" (Hare and Schalling 37). Kurtz performs antisocial behaviors impulsively. Those evaluating Kurtz's behavior due to their social appropriateness are his superiors. General Corman determines that his actions are not acceptable in the circumst...
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...uding antisocial behavior, manipulativeness, lack of conscience and impulsiveness, provide the most efficient manner in which to dominate and eliminate any opposition. Such initiative offers soldiers a means to survive and the U.S. government victory. The process, as Coppola explicates, is futile. Young boys become confused, frenzied, mad. Young boys are reinforced in a depraved manner. They receive rewards for their psychopathic deviancy with successful campaigns against the opposition. Kurtz understands this process and attempts to use it to his advantage in achieving success.
Works Cited
Hare, R. and Schalling, D. Psychopathic Behaviour: Approaches to Research. New York: John Wiley and Sons. 1978.
The editors of the Boston Publishing Company. The Vietnam Experience: War in the Shadows. Boston: Boston Publishing Company. 1988.
Psychopathy has fascinated the public for years due to the gruesome and evil portrayal it has received in the media. Psychopathy is defined in the DSM-III as a personality disorder characterized by enduring antisocial behavior, diminished empathy and remorse, and disinhibited or bold behavior (Patrick, Christopher, Fowles, Krueger, Rober, 2009). Psychopathy represents a cluster of different dimensions of personality found amongst the general population to varying degrees (Patrick et al, 2009). The diagnostic definition is meant to be applied to adults, however psychopathology can occur in children. Controversy surrounds the topic of childhood mental illness because the brain is not fully developed until the age of 18; thus allowing the possibility that symptoms are the result of growing up and will change. The triarchic model, formulated by Christopher J. Patrick, is the most commonly used model in diagnosing adult and childhood psychopathy. This model suggests that different conceptions of psychopathy emphasize three observable characteristics to varying degrees; boldness, disinhibition and meanness (Patrick, et al, 2009). Boldness is the first observable characteristic and is comprised of low fear including stress-tolerance, toleration of unfamiliarity and danger, and high self-confidence and social assertiveness. Disinhibition; characterized by poor impulse control including problems with planning and foresight, lacking affect and urge control, demand for immediate gratification, and poor behavioral restraints. Meanness is defined as lacking empathy and close attachments with others, disdain of close attachments, use of cruelty to gain empowerment, exploitative tendencies, defiance of authority, and destructive excitement seek...
Anderson, D. (2002). The Columbia guide to the Vietnam War. New York: Columbia University Press.
The. The "Vietnam" - "The World." The Bloody Game: An Anthology of Modern War. Ed. Paul Fussell.
Simons, C. (2001). Antisocial personality disorder in serial killers: The thrill of the kill. The Justice Professional, 14(4), 345-356.
“This is true.” (O’Brien, 420) – with this simple statement which also represents a first, three-word introductory paragraph to Tim O’Brien’s short story, “How to Tell a True War Story”, the author reveals the main problem of what will follow. “Truth” – when looked up in a dictionary, we would probably find definitions similar to sincerity and honesty on the one hand, and correctness, accuracy or reality on the other hand. When looking at these definitions, one can make out two groups of meaning: While sincerity and honesty are very subjective, correctness or accuracy are supposed to be objective by nature. One can be sincere and still not report the truth, due to the simple fact that one does not know any better. Accuracy, however, is supposed to represent facts, bits and pieces of information that paint a picture of an event, untouched by opinion or attitude.
Hillstrom, Kevin and Hillstrom, L.C. (1998). The Vietnam Experience: a Concise Encyclopedia of American Literature, Songs and Films. Wesport, CT: Greenwood Press, Inc.
The psychopath know the reasons behind acting a certain way and just don't think about the consequences. Even in the DSM-IV clear definitions of a psychopath doe not exist but the closes to diagnose is anti-social personality disorder. Dr. Hare instead developed the Psychopathy Checklist for people to diagnose psychopathy. The first part of the Psychopathy Checklist looks at the emotional and interpersonal traits of the disorder(Hare, 1993). Some of the emotional qualities that the clinician would look for is as followed: glib/superficial, egocentric/grandiose and lack of empathy.
...res of the psychopaths and gives the reader various examples of these individuals playing out these characteristics in everyday life. A widely used checklist is provided so the reader can get a wide spanning view of what is accounted for when scoring a psychopath. This form of research is very important within the deceitfulness of this population; it allows the professional to ignore their words and examine their actions. Hare made it clear that it is not uncommon for there to be an emotional and verbal disconnect from their actions. With virtually no emotional functioning psychopaths feel no remorse for the offenses that they commit and it is very important that we work towards using the opportunities we have to study and assist these populations; not only for them but for ourselves.
What is a psychopath? What type of person can be characterized by this and how do they come to be? But first before we can answer these questions we must first know what a psychopath is. Psychopaths are people suffering from chronic mental disorder with abnormal or violent social behaviors; clinically it is a person who has a lack of what we would consider a conscience. Psychopaths are seen to suffer from a lack of empathy because of psychological, genetic and environmental factors. Scientists have many theories concerning psychopaths. Scientist do not have a definite clear cut answer on what is the cause for psychopathy but they have many ideas; nature and the nurture of the person. Nature is the genes that the person carries. The nurture of the person when they were a child is simply means how they were treated when they were growing up and/or how they were raised. Some scientists even consider it a possibility that it could be a mixture of the two.
Some of the criteria that a sociopath is required to meet are the outright display of more than three symptoms of antisocial personality
It is Vietnam” (Francis Coppola, Cannes, 1979) to explain to the reporters that film is produced with utter difficulties, but critically acclaimed. Apocalypse Now is a pure work of art and a masterpiece and feels like the dream is turning into reality. Apocalypse Now is not about the war in Vietnam, but it revolves around the psychology of a person in a war-like situation. The special appearance of Coppola shouting at the extras that don’t look at the camera is a very unique scene that is not seen in TV movies and he sounded the voice just like him. The deleted scene in the Apocalypse Now Redux involves the disrespectful relationship with Willard’s PBR crew, increasing the feeling that scenes in the movie were not timely captured.
Throughout Shakespeare’s play, Hamlet, the main character, Hamlet, must seek revenge for the murder of his father. Hamlet decides to portray an act of insanity, as part of his plan to murder Claudius. Throughout the play, Hamlet becomes more and more believable in his act, even convincing his mother that he is crazy. However, through his thoughts, and actions, the reader can see that he is in fact putting up an act, he is simply simulating insanity to help fulfil his fathers duty of revenge. Throughout the play, Hamlet shows that he understands real from fake, right from wrong and his enemies from his friends. Even in his madness, he retorts and is clever in his speech and has full understanding of what if going on around him. Most importantly, Hamlet does not think like that of a person who is mad. Hamlet decides to portray an act of insanity, as part of his plan to seek revenge for his fathers murder.
Shakespeare, William. The Three-Text Hamlet. Eds. Paul Bertram and Bernice Kliman. New York: AMS Press, 1991.
Tragedies in the Greek theater when compared to tragedies in the Renaissance theater varied in similarities and differences. Greek theater encouraged the use of religious figures while Renaissance theater was supposed to be strictly pagan in its ideologies. Theater was most dominantly used to depict the social and religious constraints of the time period. For example, Shakespeare’s Hamlet and Sophocles’ Oedipus Rex are both portrayals of deceit, murder, and revenge all of which lead to the demise of its leading characters. Hamlet is depicted as a young man who is seeking revenge for his fathers death. Oedipus is a king who means to free the people of Thebes from a disease that has been plaguing them. They share similarities in that each of their love interest are conduits of their pain and anguish, further pushing the protagonists over the precipice. The voice of reason that they share is Creon in Oedipus Rex and Horatio in Hamlet. Their tragic flaw is that they are both ultimately and utterly doomed and no amount of guidance will steer them away from what has been predestined by fate. They are ultimately doomed to be their own Achilles heel.
Crawford, Alexander W. Hamlet, an ideal prince, and other essays in Shakesperean interpretation: Hamlet; Merchant of Venice; Othello; King Lear. Boston R.G. Badger, 1916. Shakespeare Online. 20 Aug. 2009. < http://www.shakespeare-online.com/plays/hamlet/hamletmelancholy.html >.