Heart of the Matter - How does Major Henry Scobie's private passion conflict with his moral obligation

Major Henry Scobie is a highly principled police officer who has been overlooked for promotion to the Commissioner ship of a war-torn West African state. His wife, Louise, is utterly disappointed in the fact of his being passed over for commissioner, because she hoped to gain status in the social structure of the city as the wife of the District Commissioner. As a moral obligation and responsibility to make Louise happy, he sends her off …

…love of God, he leads himself to his final damnation -- death. His death was carefully planned out, a suicide, and one of the greatest sins in Catholicism. He could not distinguish between his love and responsibility -- his "private passion" and his "moral obligation," and his strong beliefs in his wrong doings lead to his downfall, in a period when he could have had success as the new District Commissioner of his West-African state.