Analysis of Heart of Darkness

In the novella Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad, the journey of a steamboat captain up the Congo is experienced by the reader. The phrase "Heart of Darkness" itself is mentioned many times in the novella, and many people have formed different opinions as to what the Heart of Darkness actually stands for. In reality, it stands for many things: it is a political statement exposing the evils of imperialism, an exploration of the evil in the human heart, and an example of what can happen if one gives in to temptation. The themes, structure and language of the novella intertwine to form an unconventional multi-layered story.

Although Marlow's trip to the Congo lends itself to many interpretations, there are many themes that run through the novella Heart of Darkness. There are however three main and significant ones. These are the theme of colonialism, man's journey into self and restraint. Heart of Darkness is on one layer an inquiry into the nature of colonialism and a dehumanization of it. At the same time, it questions the value of white civilization an the desirability of its transplantation to so-called primitive countries. As Marlow indirectly suggests by referring to the conquest of Britain by the Romans, colonialism has existed since the earliest times of human history. One of the merits of Conrad's novella is to present colonialism not as a political or economic venture only, but as a consequence of the individual's lust for power and possessiveness and even as an epitome of man's capacity for evil. From the very beginning, Conrad presents several approaches to colonialism. The anonymous narrator sees it only as a glorious adventure, at once an expression of England's greatness and means to add to it. He is unaware that be calling English conquerors "hunters for gold or pursuers of fame" p.7 he associates them with the Roman invaders who "grabbed what they could for the sake of what was to be got" p.10 and with all the characters in Marlow's tale who take part in the colonialist enterprise for selfish purposes. Nor does he realize that by pointing to the symbols of that enterprise "the sword" and "the torch" p.7, he is actually referring to brutal force and to the negation of native culture by the so-called light of civilization.

Marlow brings a certain duality to the idea of imperialism, while he subscribes to the notion of his aunt that they are emissaries of 'the light', as he goes up the river he notes 'a touch of insanity' about the man-of-war firing blindly into the bush. Eventually, the manager becomes no more than 'a common trader', and the desire of the Eldorado Exploring Expedition is to "tear treasure out of the bowels of the land... with no more moral purpose... than burglars breaking into a safe."

The journey up the river is also known as a journey of self discovery for Marlow, and also of discovery of other people, as he makes moral judgments of the events that he sees. This gives him a deeper understanding of the true nature of the human heart, the 'fascination of the abomination', and he is even irritated by the complacency of the other citizens he sees, since they have not experienced the true nature of the capacity for evil, "they could not possibly know the things I know." In the setting of the jungle, it seems to Marlow and the reader that the whites are more evil than the black natives, Marlow calls the cannibals "Fine fellows... in their place.", but he sees the colonialists as quite evil: they use the adjective of 'criminals' to justify chaining and collaring the slaves, and 'enemies' to explain firing blindly into the scrub where Marlow is assured a native camp is hidden somewhere. Although Marlow's mission is limited to rescue Kurtz, there is a sense in which his trip to the Congo is a recreation of the colonialist expedition, which enables him to understand its nature.

Heart of Darkness doesn't deal exclusively with colonialism; it also recreates a man's journey into self, which is a recurring theme in the novel. Conrad reconciles Marlow's experience, that is, his confrontation with the reality of colonialism and an introspective voyage leading to spiritual change. Conrad's symbolic language evokes a journey into the self. However, Conrad does not present two separate issues, a public one (colonialism) and a private one (knowledge of the self). The two are indivisible, and Marlow's story implies that the kind of world men make for themselves largely results from the character of individual behavior. For example, Kurtz will- to - power lies at the core of colonialism. During Marlow's mission to find Kurtz, he is also trying to find himself. He, like Kurtz had good intentions upon entering the Congo. Conrad tries to show the reader that Marlow is what Kurtz had been, and Kurtz is what Marlow could become. Every human has a little of Marlow and Kurtz in them. Marlow says about himself, "I was getting savage," meaning that he was becoming more like Kurtz. Along the trip into the wilderness, they discover their true selves through contact with savage natives. As Marlow journeys up the Congo, he feels he is traveling back through time. He sees the unsettled wilderness and can feel the darkness of its solitude. "Marlow comes across simpler cannibalistic cultures along the banks. The deeper into the jungle he goes, the more regressive the inhabitants seem." Kurtz had lived in the Congo, and was separated from his own culture for quite some time. He had once been considered an honorable man, but the jungle changed him greatly.
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Here isolated from the rest of his own society, Kurtz discovered the evil side and became corrupted by his power and isolation. Marlow realizes that only very near the time of death, does a person grasp the big picture. He describes Kurtz's last moments "as though a veil had been rent." Kurtz's last "supreme moment of complete knowledge," showed him how horrible the human soul really can be. Marlow can only guess as to what Kurtz saw that caused him to exclaim "The horror! The horror," but later adds that "Since I peeped over the edge myself, I ...

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