The Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad Essay

    Literature is never interpreted in exactly the same way by two different readers. A prime example of a work of literature that is very ambiguous is Joseph Conrad's, "Heart of Darkness". The Ambiguities that exist in this book are Marlow's relationship to colonialism, Marlow's changing feelings toward Kurtz, and Marlow's lie to the Intended at the end of the story.

At the beginning of Marlow’s journey his aggressively states he hate of liars and hypocrites, yet at the end Marlow lies to Mr. Kurtz fiancé, “But I couldn’t. I could not tell her. It would have been too dark- too dark altogether… (Page 72).” The journey changed this aspect of Marlow’s personality. As Marlow faces the horrors of the Congo River he learns that some lies are necessary to spare others. In How To Read Literature Like a Professor, the author Thomas C. Foster states, “Okay so here’s the general rule: whether it’s Italy or Greece or Africa or Malaysia or Vietnam, when writers send characters south, its so they can run amok… if we’re being generous, that they can run amok because they are having direct, raw encounters with the subconscious (Foster, 179).” As Marlow travels down the Congo River he continues to here about Mr. Kurtz and he begins to relate himself to Kurtz. As Marlow’s journey continues he begins to realize that Kurtz is crazy. As marlow begins to realize that As that happens Marlow begins to connect himself to Mr. Kurtz but as he continues to relate to Kurtz he begins to realize hat Kurtz is not the man Marlow believed him to be. This realization of how Mr. Kurtz is subconsciously hurts Marlow because Marlow saw himself and Kurtz as kindred spirits and no that Marlow sees that Kurtz is a horrible person

Marlow has been an explorer and a dreamer his entire life; he says that he would “look for hours at South America, or Africa, or Australia, and lose myself in all the glories of exploration” (Conrad 8). These vocations are fostered in modern 1890 Europe. This European mindset leaves the reader with little surprise that Marlow soon idolises Mr. Kurtz to be something of a legendary figure who exemplifies the proper conduct and attitude of an European adventurer in the ivory trade. Marlow becomes entranced by the many descriptions of Mr.

Marlow’s false perspective on kurtz is demonstrated in the following quote: “Nevertheless I think Mr. Kurtz is a remarkable man,’ I said with emphasis. He started, dropped in me a cold heavy glance, said very quietly, ‘he was,’ and turned his back on me.(Pg.57)”. This shows that Marlow's perspective on kurtz is not true because the manager, who has better knowledge of kurtz, secretly disagrees with him. When kurtz got to africa, things dramatically went rogue. Kurtz and his philanthropic notions demonstrated in his initial report: “Each station should be like a beacon on the road towards better things, a center for trade of course, but also for humanizing, improving, instructing.(Pg.29)”is abandoned after getting to africa.

     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 mysteriousness of the title is the first indicator of the mysteriousness of Marlow's journey into Africa. Seemingly no one--Marlow, Kurtz, the reader--is quite certain if any conclusions he draws over the course of the story are completely accurate.

Marlow can feel himself begin to slip away from values he once held dear. At one point, he becomes quick-tempered with the people in the tribe and begins to lie to his coworkers. Marlow admits, “You know I hate, detest, and can’t bear a lie…[However], I became in an instant as much of a pretence as the rest of the bewitched pilgrims.” (40-41).

Inherent inside every human soul is a savage evil side that remains repressed by society. Often this evil side breaks out during times of isolation from our culture, and whenever one culture confronts another. History is loaded with examples of atrocities that have occurred when one culture comes into contact with another. Whenever fundamentally different cultures meet, there is often a fear of contamination and loss of self that leads us to discover more about our true selves, often causing perceived madness by those who have yet to discover their own self.  Joseph Conrad’s book, The Heart of Darkness is a story about Man’s journey into his self, the discoveries to be made there and about

His European-influenced judgements of many of the things he sees – such as the valley of death, where Marlow stands “horror-struck” (Conrad 84), and the pilgrims’ “little fun” with the Winchesters as the boat departs Kurtz’s Inner Station – are not shared by anyone around him (151). His active super-ego allows Marlow to impose European moral codes over himself in and his perceptions of Africa. Others, all of whom lack such a faculty, lost when they entered Africa what civilization they possessed in Europe. Throughout his time in Africa, Marlow is able to adhere to the demands of his super-ego, and this affects his friends’ perception of him when he returns to England. They are only human, while Marlow seems to have transcended his humanity: he “[sits] apart” from them, “indistinct and silent,” like “a meditating Buddha” (164). His account of the time before his departure for Africa indicates that he too was simply human at that time; he became Buddha-like sometime in the course of his travels. The point of his ascention from humanity is clear when another method of interpretation is applied.

Through Marlow’s eyes the readers see his process of realizing the evils in life observing them through a lens of dark and light, resulting in vulnerability epiphanies, and enlightenment. Marlow’s process is done through unreliable narration, however, and not deceitful narration. Marlow's a bit of both. Marlow writes, “You know I hate, detest, and can't bear a lie. A seemingly honest statement reveals that but Marlow and the truth have a complicated relationship. PG 6 QUOTE Also, The two narrators merge to think about the questionable actions of colonization. But Marlow was not typical (if his propensity to spin yarns be excepted), and to him the meaning of an episode was not inside like a kernel but outside, enveloping the tale which brought it out only as a glow brings out a haze, in the likeness of one of these misty halos that sometimes are made visible by the spectral illumination of moonshine (6). If we go back to the quote, "tranquil waterway leading to the uttermost ends of the earth flowed somber under an overcast sky—seemed to lead into the heart of an immense darkness" (96).” Marlow’s narrating technique is soon reflected by the outside frame narrator as well. The outside narrator, supposedly unbiased illustrates the darkness of Africa similarly to the way Marlow illustrates it. At first, there was little awareness about darkness from both of our main narrators that

Marlow is a reflection of the meeting of oneself within an archetype. His personal reflections of himself demonstrate what archetype he represents. He exemplifies the archetype of a traveler attempting to recognize his own inner workings (similar to the ambitions of Freud, Jung, and Conrad alike).

Heart of Darkness was written by Joseph Conrad in 1902. Before it was published it appeared in a 3-part series in Blackwood’s magazine. The story tells of a detailed incident when Marlow who takes over the assignment of the captain of a ferry-boat travels into the darkness. He was employed by the Belgian Trading company. Marlow is employed to transport ivory downriver; however while doing his job, he comes across a person called Kurtz to whom he has to give the ivories after he have collected them. Kurtz is a very reputed man throughout the region and is known by everyone. The novella starts as the main character Marlow at the Thames River in the evening with several other people and starts telling the story about how he entered into the

This is expressed at both the start and the end of the novel. The “light” of Marlow, and his subsequent psychological awareness and evolution, is contrasted by Kurtz, who, as many have expressed, may represent the “dark” half of Marlow.

The description shows the bleakness of the Congo compared to the outside world, is one of the first representations of the civilized (or outside) world contrasted to the Congo. The uncivilized/civilized comparison and the descriptions of darkness heighten when Conrad increases the contrast by moving Marlow into an oasis of civilization, the Main Station, a port outpost on the coast of Africa, owned and commanded by white Europeans, but kept alive by the slave work of black natives. Upon setting foot on shore,

The two major themes of Heart of Darkness are the conflict between “reality” and “darkness,” and the idea of restraint and whether or not it is necessary. Conrad’s passage describing the restraint of the hungry cannibals exemplifies both themes:  It describes how reality shapes human behavior, and contrasts the characters of Kurtz and Marlow.  “Reality,” as it is used here, is defined as “that which is civilized.”