HOD Quote:


This statement means that when things go bad, wild, or out of the ordinary, and we know that it is bad, we still may move towards it because others are part of it and you feel more comforatable in numbers. Many times people do not have the iniciative or feel comforatable acting this way, and it takes something drastic to give them a good reason to do it. This applies to Heart of Darkness in the sense that Kurtz was a good person, with high standing, with the ability to do anything we chose. His life up to the point of going into the congo consisted of good deeds and moral standing. Once he was given power, and a chance to rule unchecked, in the congo, he took the chance and used his skill. He was acting under "needing circumstances". He saw the harm that others brought on people there and figured it was ok because the "season of the pestilence" had come and he was mearly acting on that. He was so strong, yet he gave in, but he was strong enough in the end to admit and not cover up his actions. This also applies for dialogs of plato, where the the side against plato believed that this was what he was trying to spread to the youth, trying to get them hooked. In fact, he was doing good, but they believed he was trendsetting a disease of sorts, which is exactly what this quote implies.