The Changing Personality of Kurtz in Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness

Kurtz's behavior in Africa. The Russian tells Marlow how he has nursed Kurtz back to health. Kurtz, however, has grown overcome with an obsession for ivory. The Russian tells us, "He [Kurtz] declared he would shoot me unless I gave him the ivory ...because he could do so, and had a fancy for it, there was nothing on earth to prevent him from killing who he jolly well pleased." (p.72) Kurtz realizes that he has the power to kill who he wants to and take what he wants to and will do so since there is no one to overlook him and tell him not to. We learn that Kurtz has resorted to brutal raids of the country in search of ivory because of his hunger for it. Kurtz even planned an attack on Marlow's steamer so that Marlow and his crew would think he was dead. He did this so he would be able to carry out his plans for obtaining more ivory.

       Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness explores the intellectual, emotional and moral growth of characters throughout the novella. This character growth has been a recurring theme in literature, with the poet William Blake, among many others, exploring theories of the movement between innocence to experience. Although Conrad does not strictly address character growth in this manner, characters that do and do not undergo psychological growth are portrayed quite differently. Those who undergo these psychological changes are portrayed favorably, that is Marlow, the frame narrator, and Kurtz. These characters throughout the novel undergo significant change, for some it is gradual

At the beginning of the journey, Kurtz was a good man who believed in bringing civilization to Africa. You see some of Kurtz’s good intentions in a lot of his writings. When Marlow was reading them, he said, "’…He began with the argument that we whites, from the point of development we had arrived at, ‘must necessarily appear to them (savages) in the

From his first mention in the novel--“[Mr. Kurtz] is a very remarkable person”--it is made clear to readers that Kurtz is no ordinary member of the Company. Before narrator Marlow actually encounters this man, he is described as “exceptional”, “of the greatest importance to the Company”, and a “universal genius”. Readers learn that Kurtz came to Africa “equipped with moral ideas” and has brought in an unprecedented amount of ivory, which is the primary goal of the Company. Overall, Kurtz is a prodigy, expected to move up the Company hierarchy quickly, and becomes a sort of obsession for Marlow. Despite this, higher-ups in the Company seem to fear, and

Kurtz’s lack of restraint and hunger for ivory consumes not only his soul but drains all of his physical existence. Upon seeing him, Marlow states, “I could see the cage of his ribs all astir, the bones of his arm waving (126)”. Conrad focuses on the physical features of Kurtz to display the madness that has consumed him. However, though Kurtz’s body is deteriorating, Kurtz’s mind continues to thrive. Conrad shows this in Marlow’s shock of witnessing a flame of passion that remains in Kurtz’s eyes as he converses without signs of exhaustion (126). Conrad continues to describe Kurtz as a shadow composed of tranquility and satisfaction. Conrad’s incorporation of this detail signifies the evil and greed that consumes Kurtz and is reflected through his physique. However, the power of Kurtz’s presence is personified through the action of his words. As the strength in his voice captures Marlow’s attention, it merely reflects his influence upon his followers. The power reflected through his voice displayed his confidence as well as his position as a leader for the natives. Hi demeanor displays an air of arrogance that makes others feel less equal to him. Those who follow him fear him, but also continue to respect him.

In Heart of Darkness, Kurtz is depicted as an upstanding European who has been transformed by his time in the jungle- being away from the society he was used to that could have prevented him from becoming such a tyrant. I have experienced being in a situation where I was very different from the people around me. It forced me to figure out their interests so I was able to join in on their conversations. By the end of the day, I no longer felt alone. So that experience taught me that I am going to come across diversity in life, but I need to be open and accepting of it. If I had chosen to just be shy, I wouldn’t have learned this lesson. I didn’t find myself being pulled toward base, cruel instincts as Kurtz, but I think that’s because Kurtz had no one to control him. If a person gains that much power, it may lead to the transformation that Kurtz experienced. –pg. 144 “But his soul was mad. Being alone in the wilderness, it had looked within itself, and, by heavens! I tell you, it had gone mad.”

What makes Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness more than the run of the mill adventure tale, is its moral complexity. By the end of the novel, we find a protagonist who has immense appreciation for a man who lacks honest redemption, the mysterious Mr. Kurtz. It is the literal vivaciousness and unyielding spirit of this man, his pure intentionality, which Marlow finds so entrancing and which leaves the reader with larger questions regarding the human capacity. Therefore, Heart of Darkness is profoundly different given its character complexity and ambiguous narrative technique which ultimately deliver home a message of the complex motivations and capabilities of mankind.

The final thing Kurtz had an affect on was the other characters development; specifically Marlow’s. Marlow spent his journey on the Congo listening to so many stories about Kurtz that he becomes obsessed with meeting him. At one point in the story, Marlow finds out there is a possibility that Kurtz is dead and he admits that, “For the moment that was the dominant thought. There was a sense of extreme disappointment, as though I had found out I had been striving after something altogether without a substance” (41). When Marlow finally meets Kurtz he is a little disappointed. He finds out that Kurtz actually isn’t as amazing as he expected. Marlow is thrown a back but doesn’t give up complete hope. When Kurtz dies, and says his final words, Marlow realizes that

The standard in the Victorian era was the men were far away, while the women were morally supportive, but oblivious to the reality of the man’s work, although they economically benefitted from it. This proves the way power corrupts because Kurtz abused the opportunities given after falling from the edge of moral standards, even after his Intended attempts to show him the way. In 1902, when Conrad wrote the book, it was common to base culture off of superiority, therefore it was seen that Kurtz was in the Congo for the redemption of natives. In the text, Joseph Conrad gives much respect to the native tribes, Mr. Kurtz, however, has none. “Exterminate all brutes!” (Conrad 50) he says, claiming that if he cannot change the natives, they should be thrown out. He, and many people like him, introduced new cultures to societies that did not want it. The corruption of the spirituality found in some cultures is thus caused by the hunger for power from interference from separate societies.

     The film also depicts the character of Kurtz in a very different light. Conrad builds up the appearance of Kurtz so much that his first scene is intentionally anti-climactic. He is discovered to be an ailing, elderly gentlemen, malnourished and on the verge of death. Marlow himself is simultaneously impressed with and disappointed by Kurtz. He enjoys listening to the old man’s philosophies, but he is let down by Kurtz’s lack of realistic thinking. He has clearly lost his mind, and with it, some of his credibility and mysticism.

Marlow tells us about the Ivory that Kurtz kept as his own, and that he had no restraint, and was  " a tree swayed by the wind” (Conrad, 209). Marlow mentions the human heads displayed on posts that “showed that Mr. Kurtz lacked restraint in the gratification of his various lusts” (Conrad, 220). Conrad also tells us "his... nerves went wrong, and caused him to preside at certain midnight dances ending with unspeakable rights, which... were offered up to him” (Conrad, 208), meaning that Kurtz went insane and allowed himself to be worshipped as a god. It appears that while Kurtz had been isolated from his culture, he had become corrupted by this violent native culture, and allowed his evil side to control him.

Spending so much time in the savage jungle dehumanized Kurtz. He lost sight of the thin line between goodness and corruption, as did many others before him. Kurtz ended up raiding the country on his frequent ivory expeditions. He had a tendency to become cruel, once even threatening to kill his friend, the Russian. This makes the reader

This is evidenced by his participation in untold rituals and other such events. After finding out that a native attack on their ship was in order to keep Kurtz there Marlow requests to speak with Kurtz. His harlequin assistant simply replies, “You do not talk with that man- you listen to him” (Conrad 53). The natives obviously do not want Kurtz to leave. The natives do not look up to most of the white men in this manner, especially not Mr. Marlow.

 Marlow's journey leads him in an urgent search for Kurtz, the one man who can provide him with the truth about himself. Like Marlow, Kurtz came to the Congo in hopes to bring "light" and civilization to a backwards society. He is a highly-educated, refined gentlemen; yet, in the end, the brutal nature of the Congo forces him to resort to the life of a murderer and pilferer. The name Kurtz itself has symbolic meaning. "The physical shortness in Kurtz implies a shortness of character and spirit" (Heart of Darkness: A systematic evaluation). Marlow and Kurtz both symbolize the two conditions of human nature. "Kurtz represents what man could become if left to his own intrinsic devices outside protective society. Marlow represents a pure untainted civilized soul who has not been drawn to savagery by a dark, alienated jungle." (Heart of Darkness: A systematic evaluation). When the two come face to face, each man sees a reflection of what he might have become in the other. In Kurtz, Marlow sees the potential

Kurtz's whole orientation in the Congo was based on the quest for ever-increasing quantities of ivory. In this lay the weakness of Kurtz, for he wanted something, unlike his Russian companion. Kurtz's intelligence, his ideas, and his plans, were captive to his status as ivory gatherer. Kurtz's rejection of the validity of the 'unsound method' was not the problem. The problem with Kurtz, which Marlow does not realize, is not that Kurtz went native, but that he did not go native enough. In other words, Kurtz did not abandon the ivory-fetish. Kurtz's link with colonialism is therefore his undoing, even in the individual decay he undergoes.