Heart Of Darkness Essay, Research Paper

Title: Heart of Darkness

Author: Joseph Conrad

Setting: The storyteller, Charlie Marlow, sits on the deck of the Nellie recanting his journey to the Congo and his perception and encounter with Kurtz and Kurtz’s intended.

Plot: The telling of a remarkable horror tale to the inner darkness of man, Kurtz/Marlow, and the center of the earth, the Congo. Charlie Marlow gives the accounts of the double journey to the passengers on the deck of the Nellie as she is held still by the tides.

Key Characters

Charlie Marlow

“Deviant” [narrator (Conrad) to the reader 1] We are given a visual picture of a ship, the Nellie, going out to sea on the Thames. The narrator describes the Director of Companies, like a pilot; the lawyer, by his possessions; an accountant, by his action of bringing out dominoes. But when the narrator describes Marlow he distinguishes him with a name and a physical description. The narrator seems to idolize this man, Marlow. Just the same way Marlow idolizes Kurtz. Marlow is physical posture symbolizes Buddha. Marlow is different from the rest of the passengers. Quote: ‘He had sunken cheeks, a yellow complexion, a straight back, an ascetic aspect, and, with his arms dropped, the palms of hands outwards, resembled an idol.’

“Architect” [narrator (Conrad) to the reader 3] The reader has been told of the Nellie going down the Thames to the center of the earth, but the ship has stalled or held back by the tides. This makes the passengers prisoners of the tale that is about to unfold from Marlow’s lips. This compares with Rime of the Ancient Mariner, in that the mariner mesmerized the wedding guest with his inner journey on the outer seas. Charlie Marlow is inspired by the darkness of the surrounding ships of war to recant his journey to the Congo. The narrator says that most seamen have simply stories, but not Marlow. Marlow’s tales are like the way a Russian nesting doll works, open the doll and there is another doll inside. The meaning and the characters are in the surrounding layers of the intended destination, Kurtz and the Congo. This gives us the structure of Marlow’s story telling-his legacy. Quote: ‘But Marlow was not typical (if his propensity to spin yarns be expected), and to him the meaning of an episode was not inside like a kernel but outside, enveloping the tale?’

“Visionary” [Marlow to passengers of the Nellie 3] The narrator is telling of the past travelers of the Thames ‘the dark “interlopers” of Eastern trade, and the commissioned “generals” of East India fleets’. Fortune seekers and conquerors of times before are related to the ivory trading and powering over the natives of the Congo. The sun is setting the reference of the coming of a dark tainted journey. Speaking of the Thames, Marlow calls it only one of the dark places. He is giving an introduction to his tale of the Congo. The vision of the Thames as one of the dark places is that in the end the dark shadow of Kurtz still follows him even to Kurtz’s intended’s place through the lie of Kurtz’s last words, her name. Quote: ‘”And this also,” said Marlow suddenly, “has been one of the dark places of the earth.”‘

“Loner” [narrator to reader 3] Marlow has just spoken about the Thames-one of the places of darkness. Just as the ancient mariner was destined to take his fateful journey alone so is Marlow. Marlow journeys into himself and wanders the sea unlike the other seamen who have land bound homes. Quote: ‘He was the only man of us who still “followed the sea.”‘

“Rebel” [narrator to the reader 4] Marlow is telling the passengers to comprehend the journey of a young Rome conquer garbed in only a toga pushing inland to the savagery of the center. Parallel to Marlow’s journey to the Congo armed with only his good moral intentions of bettering the natives. Marlow is preaching to the passengers, but is in a meditative position. His English dress and Buddha demeanor conflict in a rebellious state of contrast with their perspective norms. Quote: ‘he had the pose of a Buddha preaching in European clothes and without a lotus flower’

“Avant-garde” [Marlow to the passengers of the Nellie 6] Marlow since his youth wanted to explore the uncharted land of the Congo. When younger the map had nothing on it, but now there was the snake of the river that had charmed him. Conrad is paralleled with Marlow in his dream to be a seaman. Marlow had at first tried to secure a job on a ship to the Congo on his own but was unsuccessful. He had always done things on his own power and merit. Now, for the first time in his life he had to recruit the women to influence a certain trading society to get the job he so desperately wanted. He calls upon his aunt who does his bidding. Quote: ‘I, Charlie Marlow, set the women to work-to get a job.’

“Conformist” [Marlow to the passengers of the Nellie 23] Marlow is at the central station. The brickmaker is giving him some insight into Kurtz. The brickmaker, who doesn’t make bricks, is inadvertently telling Marlow that the manager is trying to rid himself of Kurtz by neglecting him. The manager fears that Kurtz’s would steal his job, because of Kurtz’s gifted talent of acquiring ivory. Marlow only has an ideal of Kurtz, like a sort of religion set around the image. Marlow has been engulfed by the worship of Kurtz that he would lie for him. Quote: ‘I would not have gone so far as to fight for Kurtz, but I went for him near enough to a lie.’

“Judge” [Marlow to passengers on the Nellie 23] Marlow doesn’t actually lie to the brickmaker he just lets him believe what he wants in regards to the influence that brought Marlow there to save Kurtz. Marlow judges a lie to be appalling. Ironically, at the end of the novel Marlow lies to Kurtz’s intended to spare her feelings and he believes Kurtz to have wanted it that way. Marlow is judging the lie and his future actions. Quote: ‘you know I hate, detest, and can’t bear a lie, not because I am straighter than the rest of us, but simply because it appalls me.’

“Critic” [Marlow to the passengers of the Nellie 46] Marlow’s helmsman has died in the attack on the steamer. Marlow feels that if the helmsman hadn’t opened the shutter and panicked by shooting out at the bush he would still be alive. Marlow compares the helmsman with Kurtz in the way he was unable to fight off the engulfing darkness of greed. The helmsman showed none of the restraint in the situation that he had shown in his control of cannibal hungry. Quote: ‘He had no restraint, no restraint-just like Kurtz.’

“Caregiver” [Marlow to the passengers of the Nellie 46] Marlow is describing Kurtz after the death of the helmsman. Marlow can’t express that Kurtz is worth the blood spilled on his shoes. Marlow humanizes the helmsman, who is a native, when he says that they had a bond. He took care of the helmsman by guarding his back while the helmsman steered for him. Marlow gives the helmsman an English dignity with a seaman type burial to prevent the ravaging of his body for food. Quote: ‘He steered for me-I had to look after him.’

“Director” [Marlow to passengers of the Nellie 47] The helmsman’s death has sparked talk among the cannibals of eating his remains. Marlow feels that by keeping the body it will only lower the restraint of the crew. He takes control of the situation by throwing the body over the side of the boat. He is thought to be heartless in this act, but truly he is preserving the dignity of the helmsman and the control of the ship’s crew. The volatile situation of fighting for the remains is neutralized as it is enveloped in the river. Quote: ‘He had been a very second-rate helmsman while alive, but now he was dead he might have become a first-class temptation, and possibly cause startling trouble.’

“Jester” [Marlow to red-haired pilgrim 47] The red-haired pilgrim said that they must have made a slaughter in the bush. Basically all the man did was shoot aimlessly at the tops of the trees. The man is boosting and Marlow makes a joke of the man’s ignorant pride. The only thing they accomplished was to make a smoke screen over the river. Quote: ‘You made a glorious lot of smoke, anyhow.’

“Dreamer” [Marlow to the passengers of the Nellie 51] Marlow has made if to Kurtz’s camp, and has met the Russian who’s encampment he found earlier. At the campsite Marlow believes the man to be English because he mistakes the Russian alphabet for cipher. There was also a warning write to be careful from this point on. Marlow is listening to the Russian describing Kurtz, when the jungle draws him away from the current reality, the story and that moment in the story. The jungle is sucking him into the loneliness and darkness. Marlow is feeling a moment of weakness, which is why he is spiritually lifted out of that moment in time to the dark recesses of the jungle heart. Quote: ‘I looked around, and I don’t know why, but I assure you that never, never before did this land, this river, this jungle, the very arch of this blazing sky, appear to me so hopeless and so dark, so impenetrable to human thought, so pitiless to human weakness.’

“Fanatic” [Marlow to passengers of the Nellie 53] Marlow has discovered that the fence he thought encircled Kurtz’s camp is not a fence at all, but heads on stakes. This realization makes Marlow entranced with them. He is fixated on there appearance and goes into grave detail. Quote: ‘I returned deliberately to the first I had seen-’

Kurtz

“Deviant” [Brickmaker to Marlow 22] Marlow is speaking with the brickmaker of the central station. The brick maker has a painting of a woman draped and blindfolded carrying a lighted torch. Marlow inquires about the painting and is told Kurtz painted the somber picture. Marlow wants to know who Kurtz is. ‘Chief of the inner station’ replies the brickmaker. Marlow wants more so e is sarcastic with the man ‘you are the brickmaker’. The brickmaker must concede that Kurtz is and extraordinary man, not just a simple title, but a unique individual. Quote: ‘He is a prodigy.’

“Loner” [Kurtz writes 28] Marlow is laying on the deck of the steamer at the central station when he over hears bits and pieces of a conversation between the uncle and the manager. From what Marlow can decipher they are speaking of Kurtz. The uncle feels that if Kurtz is without companionship maybe the climate will kill him. The manager says he is alone, because he sent back his and assistant and a note. The note stated he would rather be without anyone then the incompetent people the central station seemed to be able to spare. Quote: ‘I had rather be alone than have the kind of men you can dispose of with me.’

“Architect” [Manager to uncle 29] Marlow is eavesdropping on the uncle and manager’s conniving and deceitful neglect of Kurtz. Kurtz’s ideals and goals for the Congo bothered the manager. The manager quotes Kurtz. Kurtz wanted to bring civilization to the uncivilized through the use of the stations. He didn’t have but a second thought of the economic profit when he first arrived in the Congo. This parallels with Marlow’s moral intention for the natives to have a better life with technology. The stations should be enlightenment for the natives to make them real people and better their living conditions. The stations were more like oppressors of the natives than caregivers. Kurtz wanted a legacy of good intentions personified through the stations. Quote: ‘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.’

“Avant-garde” [Marlow to passengers 43] After the steamer is attacked and the helmsman is dead, an epiphany comes to Marlow. He may never speak to Kurtz for surely he must be dead. Through all the descriptions of Kurtz an image is not what comes to Marlow, it is Kurtz voice. Marlow’s first impression of Kurtz is his voice. Kurtz voice is haunting and dominant in Marlow’s mind. The presentation of a voice by Kurtz gives him the first control over Marlow’s inner self. Quote: ‘The man presented himself as a voice.’

“Fanatic” [Marlow to passengers 44] Marlow thinks Kurtz is dead. He tells the passengers he would later find out he was wrong. Marlow though he has not yet met the man, Kurtz, has his thoughts over powered by Kurtz’s voice declaring his greed and possession of everything. Kurtz’s is so intent on having ivory that he steals, barters, and connives to get the precious yellow white gold. Kurtz’s voice in Marlow’s head gives him the impression of the two-year-old mine syndrome. You have it, it’s mine. I see it, it’s mine. It’s mine, mine, and mine. Quote: ‘My Intended, my ivory, my station, my river, my-’

“Visionary” [Russian to Marlow 50] Marlow has reached the inner station where he finds the Russian, who is extremely devoted to Kurtz. It is no accident that Marlow meets this man here because Kurtz had planned it in order to have an audience for his final curtain. The Russian is talking about when he and Kurtz are camping in the forest and Kurtz talks about everything to him. Kurtz acquaints the Russian with his wisdom of life. Kurtz invokes visions of greatness in everyone including himself. Quote: ‘He made me see things-things.’

“Survivor” [Marlow to passengers 51] Marlow assumes that the Russian had been with Kurtz since their first encounter in the encampment if the forest. This was not so Kurtz it seems that their relationship had been interrupted by events and Kurtz’s maddening mind. Kurtz had been in the heart of this jungle for many months without necessary supplies and provisions. We learned this in the beginning. Kurtz had suffered though two illnesses and was helped by the Russian during these times. Through all the dangers that occurred to get to this land of ivory wealth Kurtz had managed to continue going nothing seemed to stop him. Quote: ‘He had, as he informed me proudly, managed to nurse Kurtz through two illnesses.’

“Conniver” [Marlow to passengers 51] Marlow is speaking of the Russian and the profound influence that Kurtz has had on this man. This was curious to Marlow because this man had the pleasure of talking to Kurtz and Marlow had not, yet Marlow was profoundly effected internally by the voice image of Kurtz. Quote: ‘The man filled his life, occupied his thoughts, swayed his emotions.’

“Oppressor” [Russian to Marlow 51] The Russian is telling Marlow of the time Kurtz had wanted to shoot him for his ivory. Kurtz had an obsession with ivory and he wanted the Russian to fear him so he threatened him with bodily harm. Early in the novel we hear the brickmaker make the comment he feared nothing not any man either. He was referring to Kurtz also. The natives feared Kurtz because they say him as a god coming in with his thunder and lighting. Quote: ‘He declared he would shoot me unless I gave him the ivory and then cleared out of the country,’

“Conformist” [Russian to Marlow 52] The Russian said that Kurtz had suffered too much and he would beg him to leave. Kurtz would agree to go but then would take off on another ivory raid. Kurtz had conformed to the greed of the area and his own fanatic quest for all the ivory and possessions to be had from this country. Kurtz had forgot his initial reason for coming to the Congo to improve the natives. Kurtz had conformed to the native way of life by allowing them to worship him as a god. He had given in to the darkness of hedonism. Quote: ‘And he would say yes, and then would remain; go off on another ivory hunt; disappear for weeks; forget himself amongst these people-’

“Director” [Russian to Marlow 54] There are men carrying Kurtz out on a stretcher toward the steamer and the natives become incited to make a commotion. Something bad is going to happen if Kurtz doesn’t take control of the situation. The natives feel Kurtz doesn’t want to leave with Marlow and his crew because Kurtz had ordered the attack on the steamer. Kurtz’s words will bring order back to the procession. Quote: ‘now, if he does not say the right thing to them we are all done for.’

“Rebel” [Marlow to passengers 61] Marlow has woken up to find Kurtz has left the boat. Marlow knows he can catch him because Kurtz is on all fours. The drumbeats and chants of enchantment have drawn Kurtz to the surrounding encampments; they are taking control of his darkened soul. It is rebellious of a sick man to leave the safety of hope and crawl to evil. Kurtz’s soul is a rebel also because it has become by far and away out of the norms of morality. Quote: ‘this alone had beguiled his unlawful soul beyond the bounds of permitted aspirations.’

“Martyr” [Marlow to passengers 64] Marlow is telling of Kurtz’s final words. Upon Kurtz’s face Marlow sees every facet of his character. The pride of the cause, the civilizing of the natives, Kurtz came to the Congo to accomplish. The immense control he reeled over the natives. The oppression of mankind as related with the ‘heads on stakes’, and the total loss of his soul to the uncivilized world of greed and domination. Kurtz made the ultimate sacrifice for the cause his inner most light and now he shall forever live in the heart of darkness. Quote: ‘The horror! The horror!’

Theme

The Heart of Darkness is more than a recantation of a journey to the inner jungle of the Congo; it is an intrinsic journey of the self and evil that lies dormant within all human souls. Unfortunately the evil can be expelled and used until it envelops the whole of our being. The evil of greed for the possession of ivory and power engulf Kurtz. He shows this with the quote ‘My Intended, my ivory, my station, my river, my-’. When Marlow’s helmsman dies he compares the helmsman with Kurtz in the way he was unable to fight off the engulfing darkness of greed. The helmsman dies in an attack on the steamer just miles away from Kurtz’s camp. The helmsman showed no restraint only terror by opening the shutter of the pilothouse to aimlessly shooting at the darkness of the bush. This remarkable horror tale to the inner darkness of man is engrossed and exploited by the physical journey to the Congo. The narrator says that most seamen have simply stories, but not Marlow. Marlow’s tales are like the way a Russian nesting doll works, open the doll and there is another doll inside. The meaning and the characters are in the surrounding layers of the intended destination, Kurtz and the Congo. The quote ‘to him the meaning of an episode was not inside like a kernel but outside, enveloping the tale?’ shows the point of the surrounding layers of the journey. The symbol of Marlow as Buddha gives insight to an inner journey through meditation. The journey has the ‘notion of being captured by the incredible’ the utmost epiphany of the ‘essence of dreams’. The deeper we travel into the novel and the Congo with Marlow the closer we come to our inner evil. When Marlow looks upon Kurtz’s dying face he sees every facet of the inner journey. The pride of the cause, the civilizing of the natives, Kurtz came to the Congo to accomplish. The immense control Kurtz reeled over the natives. The oppression of mankind as related with the ‘heads on stakes’, and the total loss of Kurtz’s soul to the uncivilized world of greed and domination. Kurtz made the ultimate sacrifice for the cause his inner most light and now he shall forever live in the heart of darkness. Kurtz horror is the ultimate evil the vision of the devil within his very life force. In the end of the novel the dark shadow of Kurtz and the Congo follow Marlow to Kurtz’s Intended, where Marlow goes against his morals and lies to her about Kurtz’s last words. Kurtz uttered ‘the horror the horror’, but Marlow tells the Intended it was her name that escaped in his final breath. The quote that incites this theme is ‘The vision seemed to enter the house with me?like the beating of a heart-the heart of conquering darkness.’ [68]