Despite the character’s similarities, Kurtz was described in a different context in Heart of Darkness and Apocalypse Now. In Heart of Darkness an image of Kurtz was created by the brickmaker which lasted for most of the book. He suggests that “The Chief of the Inner Station [...] He [Kurtz] is an emissary of pity, and science, and progress, and devil knows what else.” (p.22) In contrast, during Apocalypse Now, Kurtz resembled a character who was a West Point graduate who held an extremely high status in the Army. The movie describes Kurtz as a man who strayed from a ‘normal’ military career path. They bring this point across throughout the movie as they suggest his random enrollment in Airborne School. His enrollment at such a high age spurred red flags to the government causing them to question why he decided to switch to a new specialty so suddenly.
Following his graduation from Airborne School, we begin to see Kurtz reach a breaking point in which he begins to execute unethical practices. It is during this time where he strays from the Army and ‘disappears’ to establish a colony where he held ultimate power. Conrad describes Kurtz’s thirst and successful establishment of power when he writes “ ‘Kurtz got the tribe to follow him, did he?’ I [Marlow] suggested. He [a civilian] fidgeted a little. ‘They adored him,’ he said. [...] What can you expect?’ he burst out; ‘He came to them with thunder and lightning, you know - and they had never seen anything like it - and very terrible.” (p. 51) Kurtz had conquered a civilization by ‘showing’ the natives his interpretation of an efficient, European/Western colony. Because of the lack of knowledge that the natives had regarding policies for colonization and the true impact of America/Belgium on civilization, it was easier for Kurtz to misguide and take advantage of his new, uniformed citizens.
Kurtz not only manipulated the beliefs of the natives, but he successfully modified the beliefs of western-world civilians. In both Heart of Darkness and Apocalypse Now, there is a character that represents a European/Western citizen under the rule of Kurtz. Both of the civilians defend Kurtz. This is represented in Heart of Darkness in a conversation between the Civilian and Marlow. Conrad writes “‘He could be very terrible. You can’t judge Mr. Kurtz as you would an ordinary man. No, no, no! Now - just to give you an idea - I don’t mind telling you, he wanted to shoot me too, one day - but I don’t judge him.’ [...] ‘He declared he would shoot me unless I gave him the ivory and then cleared out of the country, because he could do so, and had a fancy for it, and there was nothing on earth to prevent him killing whom he jolly well pleased.’” (p. 51) The movie addressed Kurtz’s behavior when Captain Willard (character equivalent to Marlow) meets a US Civilian on Kurtz’s terrain. When Willard asks to speak to Kurtz, the man responds by saying “You don’t speak, you listen. [...] I’m a little man, he’s a great man.” Based on the information and the manner that the civilian was represented in both the book and the movie, we can conclude that both of the characters were protecting Kurtz’s behavior and reputation whether or not they morally accepted his actions.
Although the civilians attempted to inform Captain Willard and Marlow of Kurtz’s ‘justified’ actions, Willard and Marlow still wanted to explore the motives of his actions. Both Heart of Darkness and Apocalypse Now approach the same overall reasoning to Kurtz’s actions. In the book, Marlow says “In fact, the manager said afterwards that Mr. Kurtz’s methods had ruined the district. I have no opinion on that point, but I want you clearly to understand that there was nothing exactly profitable in these heads being there. They only showed that Mr. Kurtz lacked restraint in the gratification of his various lusts, that there was something wanting in him.” (p. 53) Kurtz was in the pursuit of an idea or a module to create a fantastic new mode of civilization, but the way that he attempted to create this civilization was extremely unethical to the rest of the world.
After his unethical strategies were recognized, Kurtz was further explored by Marlow/Willard and their upper ranks (Ivory trade company in HOD and the Army in Apocalypse Now). In Apocalypse Now, we begin to understand Kurtz’s motives in a conversation with Captain Willard when he says “The genius, the will, to do that (chop off kids arms in war), then I realized they were stronger than me. They had the strength, the will, to do that. You have to have men who have morals but act on their premortal instinct without judgement.” This statement signifies his opinion that it is right to injure or kill people who are different than us. After Captain Willard kills Kurtz, he finds a note written by Kurtz that says “Drop the bomb. Exterminate them all.” Once again, Kurtz is showing his ignorance and his disrespect of other cultures and of the people he has ruled. Even though Kurtz was a large part of the natives’ community, he did not show any emotion towards killing anybody that he ruled.
Kurtz’s lack of restraint signified that he was a hollow and insensitive person. Although he had intentions to build a great and successful civilization, his methods to achieve his goal were unethical. His presence and influence on both the Congo and Vietnam, were neither appreciated nor beneficial for the natives and the controlling parties.
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