Heart Of Darkness Rhetorical Analysis

Conrad's novel, Heart of Darkness, relies on the historical period of imperialism to illuminate its protagonist, Charlie Marlow, and his struggle with two opposite value systems. Marlow undergoes a catharsis during his trip to the Congo and learns of the effects of imperialism. I will analyze Marlow's change, which is caused by his exposure to the imperialistic nature of the historical period in which he lived. Marlow goes to the Congo River to report on Mr. Kurtz, a valuable officer, to their employer. When he sets sail, he does not know what to expect. When his journey is complete, his experiences have changed him forever.

“The Heart of Darkness’’ by Joseph Conrad embeds several linguistic techniques to establish significant event in Marlow's life to shape his perception and invite open mindedness that he's never experienced before.

“No man ever steps into the same river twice, for it's not the same river, and he’s not the same man” -Heraclitus. This quote accurately depicts the protagonist, Charles Marlow in the novella Heart of Darkness written by Joseph Conrad. Heart of Darkness is read from the narration of Marlow, an ivory transporter who travels down the Congo. Throughout his journey, Marlow develops an intense interest in the famous ivory trader Kurtz, who is portrayed as a powerful, sage, and evil man. The story is based on Marlows experiences with the encounters he's faced with and his ability to be fickle based in these encounterments. In Heart of Darkness, we see Conrad use the river to symbolize movement throughout the novella.

     Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad is a story about a man named Marlow and his Journey into the African Congo. By reading the novel and understanding all the imagery Conrad has inserted, we can get a better understanding of the

The protagonist Marlow believes that: “the mind of man is capable of anything-because everything is in it, all the past as well as all the future” (109). The basis of Heart of Darkness is Marlow's physical journey up the congo river to meet Kurtz. The main character Marlow goes through many physical and psycological changes from the beginning to the end of the story. In the beginning, Marlow is fairly innocent as he goes up the river, he gets closer and closer to Kurtz, and he moves closer and closer he learns more and more about the hearts of men and the darkness. When he eventually reaches Kurtz, Marlow's perception is obstructed and he physically and psychologically, does not know where he is.

The Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad is a frame narrative which creates a clear and organized structure. This structure helps emphasize upon the hypocrisy of imperialism in the novel and Marlow’s journey to discovering his true identity. The orderly and systematic nature of the structure corresponds with the Company in the novel and how it seems so structured on the outside while their mission is actually extremely chaotic underneath as displayed by Kurtz. The cyclical structure of the novel outlines Marlow’s journey in finding himself and his true identity. As the chaos of the journey is uncovered, Marlow delves deeper and deeper into uncertainty regarding the things going on around him in his life.

The scene disturbs Marlow a great deal and he hastens to reach the camp, where he is removed from this reality he finds unpleasant when he comes upon another man like himself, dressed in pure white, such that Marlow "took him for a sort of vision", and is temporarily rescued from the setting Conrad has created. Conrad continues to create a setting that is described as

In Joseph Conrad's novella Heart of Darkness, the narrator introduces the reader to the Nellie and Marlow, a seaman. Conrad uses this outside frame narration to lead into his main character, Marlow's, point of view. Marlow, finding himself with a new job in Brussels, goes on a journey into the outer and central sections of Africa, where he encounters the many horrors Africans have to go through. Marlow reflects on how the established hierarchy caused these inhumane conditions. Thus, the purpose of Marlow's narration is to focus slightly on developing the story, but the process of enlightening his audience's morals. Marlow does this through his usage of light and dark and that helps him that emphasize the difference between good and evil. Marlow's

The constant change in scenery throughout the Heart of Darkness contributes heavily to the meaning of the novel as a whole, for it allows the novel’s author, Joseph Conrad, to expand on the effects the physical journey of travelling through the Congo has on the inner mentailites of the characters- Marlow and Kurtz- in the novel. Conrad’s continuous comparisons between characters, their surroundings, and the plot, create the genuine progression of the novel, while the physical journey that is taken allows the characters to make their own discovery of humankind. As Kurtz’s destiny and the struggles he overcomes go on to deeply affect the two characters’ journey through the story’s plot, as everything in the Heart of Darkness is linked or comes back to Kurtz and all the wrongful actions he has committed in the Congo- as he was the perpetrator of all the darkness in the novel to begin with.

At the novels completion, Marlow has altered every belief he had formerly held. From a caterpillar at the commencement, cocooning while in the depths and darkness’ of Africa, and flying away from his previous convictions and assertions, Marlow evolves throughout the novel.

As a result of returning to England, Marlow is surrounded by civilised masses, who in his eye, cannot possible know “the things [he] knew”. This is suggestive of the notion that once an individual is subjected to the depths of the human psyche, and the effortless ability it takes for one to desert civilised conventions, they can no longer look at humanity in the same light. For the protagonist, this realisation is particularly eye opening, as he becomes contemptuous, a trait not too dissimilar to that of the “pilgrims,” who pushed him over the edge. However, it is his meeting with Kurtz’s Intended, which truly dissolves the foundation of his character. One of Marlow’s defining principles is his inability to “bear a lie”, however upon being asked to recount the ivory trader’s final words, he deserts the truth and says it was her name. This solidifies the idea of the Congo shifting his identity and traits as a being. Marlow’s decline of truth identity, allows for Conrad to further the idea, that even those not susceptible to the heart of darkness, can still be corroded by the trauma entailed in its horrific makeup. While not due to greed, the protagonist still follows the same doomed path as the hollow “pilgrims”, all due to his depraved drive into

Heart of Darkness gives us valuable insight into ourselves. In Heart of Darkness, Conrad uses the river Congo as an allegory that allows us to look deeply into the human psyche. Through the character of Marlow, we explore our own capacity for growth, understanding, and perspective. His exploration of the jungle is like each person’s exploration of themselves through the thick jungle of their learned judgments and assumptions. In part three, just after Kurtz dies, Marlow shares a newfound perspective, “Droll

It was the stillness of an implacable force brooding over an inscrutable intention”(106). Marlow is on a journey following the stories of a mysterious man, Kurtz. Kurtz is thought to be deep into the jungle, further than any other man has gone. As the reader will notice the deeper into the jungle one goes the deeper you go into your darkness. The darkness begins to grab hold of Marlow as it becomes a realization “There were moments when one’s past came back to one, as it will sometimes when you have not a moment to spare to yourself; but it came in the shape of an unrestful and noisy dream,”(106).

Conrad opens Heart of Darkness showing the narrator listening to Marlow as they wait for the tide to come back up on the Thames as the sun sets on the clear sky. By the time Marlow finishes his story, there are black clouds as the tide rises, suggesting rain to soon fall on the crewmates, representing how Marlow’s story shows how Marlow himself has changed in his story about living on the water. In the beginning of his story, Marlow was completely against lying, but after his time on the Congo River, Marlow eventually lies to Kurtz’s Intended in the end because the Intended represents civilization, and while it may seem as if Marlow is lying to spare her feelings, he actually lies because he cannot deal with the idea that civilization will fall even if it is based on evil

Marlow’s attempt at recreating his subjective past is met with unease on the part of the narrator and like a litmus paper he brings out the intellectual and emotional effect the author is seeking. When the effect has been so affirmed, the author proceeds to manipulate it. When, for example, we see Marlow’s desperation for having missed the chance to speak to Kurtz as absurd, Conrad makes the listeners sigh with the same reaction. Marlow reacts heatedly- “Why do you react in this beastly way, somebody? Absurd? … This is the worst of trying to tell… Here you all are, each moored with two good addresses, like a hulk with two anchors, a butcher round one corner, a policeman round another.” Pp 53 This chastisement by Conrad gets displaced from Marlow’s companions to the reader. Marlow is trying to prevent us from judging Kurtz and by doing so highlights his importance in the tale’s critical discourse.