Marlowe is a righteous person who joined the Military Police Brigade to "clean up" the system. He wanted to rise to the top of the organization so he could stop the pilfering of taxes and misappropriation of land. He made moral compromises to achieve his goal, confessing a willingness to act like'scum' in order to move up in rank. He initially held a belief that human beings were naturally benevolent and righteous, but soon realized that the system itself encouraged the corruption and selfishnes