At the beginning of this passage in which Conrad presents the death of Kurtz, the narrator, Marlow, tells of how Kurtz is close to death, alluded to by the handing over of personal documents due to his distrust of ‘ “This noxious fool”’, the manager. Following this, the meager Kurtz mutters incoherently as he ebbs towards his death, ‘“Live rightly, die, die…”’. The ellipsis here merely reinforces the mysticism that surrounds the novel and its characters, for the sentence remains incomplete and incomprehensible with no meaning. Presumably Kurtz would have continued to produce some proclamation or express some profound sentiment, but ‘there was nothing more’, and so the character of Kurtz remains somewhat intangible and incomplete just as his words have no explicit meaning, yet encapsulating a wealth of interpretation. We must appreciate that both, Marlow and we as the reader are searching for a meaning to these events and experiences through the articulation of ideas, however there are moments where the power of language is unable to convey certain notions. For example, on page 20, Marlow attempts to justify or explain colonization as noble, but due to the ‘idea only…and an unselfish belief in the idea’. However, he is unable to continue his explanation since he is unable to articulate the ‘idea’, therefore the language is interrupted by an ellipsis. This consequently brings into question whether the ‘idea’ even exists. Then as Marlow continues his journey/ narrative he discovers on page 55 that the colonization in Africa, ‘has no more moral purpose at the back of it, than there is in burglars breaking into a safe’, demonstrating the progression and development of understandings through the simple telling of the story. The effect is one of intrigue and a desire to extract meaning from the confusion.
Marlow is then ‘transfixed’ by Kurtz in his death state; this highlights the fact that Kurtz is presented like an idol or a drug that allures Marlow. The macabre union or juxtaposition of Kurtz's death against Marlow blowing ‘out the candle’ represents the death of an era of self -belief and moral subconscious, which Kurtz symbolises. This is because in Heart of Darkness Kurtz is the only being that is true to himself although his morals have become somewhat corrupted and with his death dies the ideals of self belief and unrestraint, which is what Marlow so admires. This is why after his death Marlow views the Western world as a ‘sepulchral city’ full of ‘silly and insignificant dreams’, stressing the insignificance of a society with restraint. It can also be seen as a victory for the darkness over Kurtz since he is left, consumed in the dark just as Marlow is now emerged in darkness as he tells his story aboard the Nelly. The juxtaposition serves to draw the attention of the reader and to make them ponder whether acting solely on our subconscious without any restraints is enough to keep humanity from a life of futility. It also has an aura of the religious because it induces an atmosphere that suggests the scared but it isn't actually an acknowledged part of religion.
At the point of his death Kurtz cries ‘ “The horror! The horror”’; even Marlow who feels that he is connected to Kurtz on a deep subconscious level cannot ascertain the reasons for this sudden outburst of emotion. Marlow's uncertainty is portrayed through the style of narration, which is littered with ambiguity, ‘buried something’. This is further highlighted by the longevity of Conrad's sentences, which are frequently broken up by punctuation marks, stopping the flow of the sentences. This emphasises the complexity of Marlow's situation and the fact that he sees signs but knows not how to interpret them. Marlow's confusion is also reflected in the strings of adjectives that contradict each other ‘sombre pride…ruthless power’, and through the use of question marks and rhetorical devices that breed suspicion ‘What else had been there?’. Marlow reacts nonchalantly describing insignificant details, ‘a…shower of small flies streamed upon the lamp, upon the cloth, upon our hands and faces’, possibly highlighting how such inconsequential details shield us from the truth and our own thoughts. The attitude towards women as portrayed in the novel also comes into question then, for men are as guilty as avoiding truth as women, and it is the men who keep the women from such truth and therefore the source of such illusion is men.
Finally as Kurtz’s death is announced in poor English the irony of its expression begins to deconstruct Kurtz’s status. It is evident that Kurtz is an important figure, and so it would have been expected that his death would have been proclaimed as grandly and eloquently as he was presented. However the four words, ‘Mistah Kurtz-he dead’, contradict his eloquence and as the writer Chinua Achebe says, ‘In this case the incomprehensible grunts that had thus far served them for speech suddenly proved inadequate for Conrad's purpose of letting the European glimpse the unspeakable craving’. This irony is achieved by the stripping away of Kurtz's ‘voice’ while the natives are given a language, which is understood as something other than ‘babble’. Kurtz who is usually dynamic and active has been reduced to idleness ‘lying here’. This is further accentuated by the fact that after ‘the voice has gone’, Kurtz is merely a disembodied figure.
http://www.chss.montclair.edu/english/furr/pursuits/achebehod.html
