Foil

Character Role Analysis

Willard and Kurtz

Willard and Kurtz occasionally batter around zingers.

WILLARD: They told me that you had gone totally insane, and that your methods were unsound.

KURTZ: Are my methods unsound?

WILLARD: I don't see any method at all, sir.

At first, Kurtz is a classic foil; he's everything that Willard is not. Willard has the full authority of the generals behind him, whereas Kurtz is a rogue. Willard obeys orders and Kurtz pays no attention to them. Kurtz lives with savages and Willard lives in the civilized world.

Their final confrontation blurs those lines. The more we learn about Kurtz, the more we recognize the savagery in Willard. However, Willard doesn't give into the temptation of running his own private jungle domain. We don't know what he'll do when he goes back, but he does go back.