The Heart Of The Matter

Its plot, its psychological and spiritual depth, even its political intrigues turn around two basic moral questions: Is it possible to make others happy? Is suicide ever the right choice?

The Heart of the Matter

Before he reaches the climactic decision of his own moral crisis, Scobie struggles to make his poetry-loving and deeply unhappy wife, Louise, happy. Fed up with the ghastly climate, the remoteness, and, in her case, friendlessness of village life in Sierra Leone, Louise lets her husband know the full depth of her misery. And Henry Scobie is not a man who can bear the thought that he has caused another to suffer.

When he is passed over for the job of Commissioner of Police, Louise feels humiliated in the eyes of the other British officers and their wives, and her unhappiness is brought to a fever pitch. She decides she must leave, and Henry makes a fateful promise to send her to South Africa, even though he lacks the funds to do so. Thus begins a series of decisions and bargains that push Scobie into a terrifyingly unfamiliar moral terrain.

The Heart of the Matter (song)

And once Louise is gone, Scobie begins an affair with the recently widowed Helen and soon finds himself responsible for the happiness of two people, rather than just of one. When Louise returns, hoping to restore their strained marriage, she suggests that they receive communion together, which requires a full confession, and the cage door swings shut on Scobie and his deceptions.

Only one way of escape presents itself to Scobie, and he believes that eternal damnation awaits him if he chooses it. But he convinces himself that by sacrificing his own life, he can spare both Helen and Louise further misery at his expense. And it is here that the crucial question of the novel is asked most poignantly: Henry Scobie provides one answer but the novel itself leaves the question open for its readers to ponder.

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Graham Greene was born on October 2, , in Berkhamstead, England. He attended the Berkhamstead School where his father was headmaster and where, as a consequence, Greene was teased mercilessly by his classmates. At fifteen, he suffered a mental crisis, and after several questionable suicide attempts, ran away from home. In response, his parents sent him to a London psychoanalyst, Kenneth Richmond, who encouraged Greene to write and introduced him to a literary circle that included the poet Walter de la Mare.

The Heart of the Matter - Wikipedia

Greene went on to Oxford, where he studied modern history and served as editor of The Oxford Outlook. During this period, Greene briefly joined the Communist Party and published a book of poetry, Babbling April. After graduating in , while working as sub-editor for The Nottingham Journal , Greene met his future wife, Vivien Daryrell-Browning, when she wrote to correct some errors concerning Catholicism in his writing. He became a Catholic in , the same year he was appointed sub-editor for The Times in London, and married Vivien a year later.

When his first novel, The Man Within , was published in Greene resigned from the paper to write full time. After struggling to reach a larger audience with his next two books, he achieved great success with Stamboul Train , which was published as Orient Express in the United States. Greene was impressively prolific during the s, publishing thirteen books—including, Brighton Rock and The Power and the Glory , which won the Hawthornden Prize. He also traveled extensively to Liberia and Mexico and established himself as a renowned film critic for The Spectator.

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In the last years of his life, Greene lived in Vevey, Switzerland, with his long-time companion Yvonne Cloetta. He died there on April 3, Fiction Classics Literary Fiction print. How do the climate, the war, and the indigenous people of this remote colonial outpost affect Scobie, Louise, Helen, and Wilson? Lesley Storm adapted by , Ian Dalrymple script. What is Emily Mortimer Watching? The 45 Best Films About Love.

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Learn more More Like This. Hour of Glory Green for Danger Life at the Top The Winslow Boy The Happiest Days of Your Life Odd Man Out The Captive Heart Woman in a Dressing Gown Whistle Down the Wind Edit Cast Complete credited cast: Harry Scobie Elizabeth Allan Louise Scobie Maria Schell Helen Rolt Denholm Elliott Yusef as Gerard Oury George Coulouris Portuguese Captain Michael Hordern Mono Western Electric Recording. Edit Did You Know?

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Trivia The film was entered into the Cannes Film Festival. Crazy Credits Opening credits prologue: Add the first question. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No Report this.