The most infamous villains are those who understand the evil they are committing but pay no attention to it. In Heart of Darkness, however, the major villain, Kurtz, is not one of these characters. More than anything, he is portrayed as helpless in the face of a greater force that compels him to act in depraved ways. He does not choose to act wickedly, but he must do so nonetheless. He cannot prevail against the deep nature within him and against the nature around him. In the jungle, there is only the law of nature. Kurtz's villainous role stems from the dark and evil knowledge of freedom he gains in the jungle and the subsequent destruction of all boundaries previously imposed by society. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay The narrator tells the reader that Kurtz is going to the Congo with the best of intentions. His wish was to help civilize those whom Europeans considered savages. Although he undoubtedly possessed a racist attitude, he also sincerely wanted to help the natives of the Congo. He was renowned in Europe for his efforts on behalf of Africans, and the narrator initially described him as a true humanitarian. The manager tells Marlow: "He is an emissary of pity, science and progress... [He is the guide] of the cause entrusted to us by Europe... superior intelligence, broad sympathies and a single objective. Kurtz had left Europe and its comforting confines for the sake of another people. Near the end of the story, Marlow himself says, "The original Kurtz had...his sympathies...in the right place." [M]ost appropriate...the International Society for the Suppression of Savage Customs had entrusted him with...its future directions. Kurtz had taken on the “white man's burden” and only wanted to advance and expand civilization – not to be lost forever in a land that could not be tamed. Once in the jungle, however, Kurtz changes. Freed from the shackles of European society and Western civilization, Kurtz becomes familiar with the dark truths hidden in the wilderness. There is no longer any appropriate model of behavior to which he must conform – only his personal impulses and desires. Marlow says: "[Kurtz] had taken a high place among the devils of the country - I mean that literally. You can't understand. How could you? - with a solid sidewalk under your feet, surrounded by kind neighbors... walking delicately between the butcher and the policeman, in the holy terror of scandal, the gallows and lunatic asylums - how can you imagine what peculiar region of the early ages a man's free feet can penetrate into him as of solitude - of total solitude without a policeman - in the path of silence - a total silence, where no voice of warning... can be heard whispered by public opinion Without anything to balance these impulses, his actions reflect? that its raging and untamed freedom Describing the effect that the jungle has on Kurtz, Marlow says: “The desert had patted [Kurtz] on the head, and behold, it was like... an ivory ball; had caressed him, and lo! - he had withered, she had taken him, kissed him, entered his veins, consumed his flesh and sealed his soul to hers by... some diabolical initiation. Kurtz's sense of morality had been shaped by his society and, once freed from that society, he had been broken and shaken. The wildness of the jungle and the knowledge of such unbridled freedom overwhelms Kurtz, transforming him into an entirely different being. Upon his arrival, Kurtz's behavior is :.