It seems best to first finish the example started with, so the next thing to do is determine whether Will played any role in the boys turning out the way they did. In order to see whether Will did indeed cause the boys to become the monsters that they did it is important to look at the reason the boys were engaging in the ritualistic dance in the first place. Ever since landing on the island the boys tried desperately to successfully hunt down and kill one of the pigs that were living on the island with them. After failing at it on their first attempt, their resolve to catch one only grew stronger, and as they continually tried to catch one of these pigs, the task slowly became an obsession of theirs that drove them to a point of crazed desire.
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By the time Marlow found Kurtz, Kurtz had become oppressive and violent. He had lost all regard for the natives. This can be seen when Marlow describes seeing the heads of natives on stakes around Kurtz’s house, and he points out that the heads provide no benefit. But now what remains to be explored is whether or not the reason Kurtz ended up doing such things is that he gave into his will and desires. If he did indeed act according to desire, it is first necessary to establish what it is that Kurtz desires. In Heart of Darkness, Kurtz has a couple of things for which he strives. The first is a desire for obtaining ivory as a means of gaining fortune, and the second is a desire for fame back in England. The fame was an especially big desire for Kurtz, and “his weary brain [was] haunted by shadowy images now – images of wealth and fame revolving obsequiously round his unextinguishable gift of noble and lofty expression” (Conrad 63). The majority of Kurtz’s thoughts were absorbed with the consideration of wealth and fame, and this wealth and fame would be a result of the paper he went to write which was titled “On Suppressing Savage Customs”. This paper was intended on finding a way to deal with the savages by making them less savage, but as Kurtz became more concerned with his fame and wealth, the savages, as …show more content…
It might seem at first to be an unavoidable occurrence at first seeing as everyone has a will and has desires, thus inevitably desire will overcome us all. But we see plenty of people who appear to live continuously virtuous lives in the world, so there must be some way to avoid becoming a monster such as Kurtz or the schoolboys. The two examples are of people who became vicious so they may not be entirely able to comment on the ability for people to avoid the transformation, but Schopenhauer does have something to say about it, and he does indeed say that there is a way to fight back against the will. Schopenhauer says that one is bound to the Will when they continuously give into it and thus when it leads towards vice they will follow, but “resignation, on the other hand, is like the inherited estate; it frees its owner from all care and anxiety for ever” (Schopenhauer 390). Schopenhauer points out that one must only strive to move away from the will and fight against it in order to avoid the issue. It is important to note that this fight against the will is not a fight in which one attempts to fight against and destroy their will and as a result
By the time Marlow found Kurtz, Kurtz had become oppressive and violent. He had lost all regard for the natives. This can be seen when Marlow describes seeing the heads of natives on stakes around Kurtz’s house, and he points out that the heads provide no benefit. But now what remains to be explored is whether or not the reason Kurtz ended up doing such things is that he gave into his will and desires. If he did indeed act according to desire, it is first necessary to establish what it is that Kurtz desires. In Heart of Darkness, Kurtz has a couple of things for which he strives. The first is a desire for obtaining ivory as a means of gaining fortune, and the second is a desire for fame back in England. The fame was an especially big desire for Kurtz, and “his weary brain [was] haunted by shadowy images now – images of wealth and fame revolving obsequiously round his unextinguishable gift of noble and lofty expression” (Conrad 63). The majority of Kurtz’s thoughts were absorbed with the consideration of wealth and fame, and this wealth and fame would be a result of the paper he went to write which was titled “On Suppressing Savage Customs”. This paper was intended on finding a way to deal with the savages by making them less savage, but as Kurtz became more concerned with his fame and wealth, the savages, as …show more content…
It might seem at first to be an unavoidable occurrence at first seeing as everyone has a will and has desires, thus inevitably desire will overcome us all. But we see plenty of people who appear to live continuously virtuous lives in the world, so there must be some way to avoid becoming a monster such as Kurtz or the schoolboys. The two examples are of people who became vicious so they may not be entirely able to comment on the ability for people to avoid the transformation, but Schopenhauer does have something to say about it, and he does indeed say that there is a way to fight back against the will. Schopenhauer says that one is bound to the Will when they continuously give into it and thus when it leads towards vice they will follow, but “resignation, on the other hand, is like the inherited estate; it frees its owner from all care and anxiety for ever” (Schopenhauer 390). Schopenhauer points out that one must only strive to move away from the will and fight against it in order to avoid the issue. It is important to note that this fight against the will is not a fight in which one attempts to fight against and destroy their will and as a result