Heart of Darkness: Presidential Speech Montage, the Death of Kurtz

I think Joseph Conrad, in Hear of Darkness, attempts to portray that humanity has two major aspects: the society, and the civilization. By civilization, I mean the niceties and formalities of everyday middle-upper-class life. By society, I mean the true nature of the society that underlies these niceties and rituals.

Conrad portrays this in his novel by demonstrating that if we remove the man from civilization - by placing him in the Congo - we can remove the civilization from the man. Thus, we are left with the man, and the reflection of the society that has shaped him.
Because the President of the United States, in my opinion, is such a symbol of the 'civilization' of the Western world, I found it an interesting concept to recreate Kurtz's death scene from clips of presidential speeches, in order to highlight this message Conrad develops in his book.


The text has been altered slightly from the novel, due to lack of sources for video:

Anything that approached the change that came over his face I have

never seen before, and hope never to see again. I wasn't touched. I was enthralled.

It was as though a curtain had been rent.

I saw on that face the expression of quiet pride, of ruthless power,
of timid terror--of an intense and hopeless despair. Did he live his life again

in every aspect of desire, temptation, and surrender during that supreme

moment of complete knowledge? He cried in a whisper at some image, at

some vision,--he cried out twice, a cry that was no more than a breath--



'The horror! The horror!'

Primary source:
http://millercenter.org/scripps/archive/speeches

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• Obama
• Heart of Darkness
• Kurtz
• Joseph Conrad
• Speech
• President

[PhilosophyLeckie3]

Outstanding video!....its depressing that it has been here since 09 and has only had 217 views, what can one say but..The Horror........................­..the horror.

The eyes are not here,

There are no eyes here

In this hollow valley

[a0schweitzer]

@PhilosophyLeckie3 Thank you!