A Comparison Of Kurtz In Heart Of Darkness And Apocalypse Now

The book Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad and the movie Apocalypse Now directed by Francis Coppola tell a similar story of a leader being given a mission of finding Kurtz. They each lead a group of men on this quest and ultimately succeed in their mission. But Marlow and Willard have different motivations, a different view of Kurtz, and different goals for the mission. Both Marlow and Willard have different motivations. Marlow’s motivation is to survive and to get money, while Willard’s motivation is to receive and complete missions he is given to by the U.S. Army. When the reader firsts hear a description about Marlow the narrator says that “The yarns of seamen have a direct simplicity … of moonshine” (6). Marlow’s story is different
Both of them find him interesting but Willard just sees him as another target while Marlow sees him as a friend. When Marlow first sees Kurtz he says, “As to me … ‘that scoundrel.” (32) The author uses mysterious diction to keep the readers from finding out what Kurtz looks like and to keep Kurtz seem for of a God-like figure. This causes Marlow to wonder what Kurtz maybe like which also makes him start to ask questions about him. Towards the end of the book, the reader sees how much Marlow admires Kurtz. He uses phrases like “I had never breathed an atmosphere so vile, and I turned mentally to Kurtz for relief - positively for relief” (61) and “My hour of favor was over; I found myself lumped along with Kurtz as a partisan of methods for which the time … of nightmares.” (61) All of these phrases makes Marlow sound like the jungle has officially taken his innocents and how Kurtz is one of the main reasons why. When Marlow catches up with Kurtz he says, “I came upon him … was still plenty of vigor in his voice.” (65) This is the first time in the book where the author uses words to describe Kurtz as weak and not God-like but still acts like he has his powerful voice. Throughout the quote, there is a lot of dark imagery for example “while at my back the fires loomed between the trees, and the murmur of many voices issued from the forest.” (65) This shows dark imagery because fire is looming between the trees and fire usually consumes the trees. In the movie, Willard sees Kurtz as another target but he says, “I was going to the worst place … straight into Kurtz.” Willard makes a simile and how the entire war is part of a circuit cable and it is all connects to Kurtz. This makes Willard sound like Kurtz is in control and it made to sound God-like. Towards the beginning of the movie Willard says, “It was no accident … then so is mine.” Willard feels a little connected to Kurtz and that he is comparing