An Analysis Of "Heart Of Darkness"
Joseph Conrad, in his long-short story, "Heart of Darkness," tells the tale
of two mens' realization of the hidden, dark, evil side of themselves. Marlow,
the "second" narrator of the framed narrative, embarked upon a spiritual
adventure on which he witnessed firsthand the wicked potential in everyone. On
his journey into the dark, forbidden Congo, the "heart of darkness," so to speak,
Marlow encountered Kurtz, a "remarkable man" and "universal genius," who had
made himself a god in the eyes of the natives over whom he had an imperceptible
power. These two men were, in a sense, images of each other: Marlow was what
Kurtz may have been, and Kurtz was what Marlow may have become.
...
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went out to darkest Africa. Yet, as
lately as Roman times, London's own river led, like the Congo, into a barbarous
hinterland where the Romans went to make their profits. Soon darkness fell over
London, while the ships that bore "civilization" to remote parts appeared out of
the dark, carrying darkness with them, different only in kind to the darkness
they encounter.
These thoughts and feelings were merely part of the tale, for Conrad had a
more personal story to tell, about a single man who went so far from
civilization that its restraints no longer mattered to him. Exposed to the
unfamiliar emotional and physical demands of the African wilderness, free to do
exactly as he chose, Kurtz plunged into horrible orgies of which human sacrifice
and cannibalism seemed to have formed a part. These excesses taught him and
Marlow what human nature was actually like: "The horror!" Kurtz gasped before
he died. Marlow's own journey from Belgium to the Congo and thence up the ...
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and untold numbers of
natives were beaten and slaughtered brutally or casually. This view of evil was
part of Marlow's conception; a utilitarian object like copper or iron would have
had its own reason for being. Kurtz's evil propensities (he collected natives'
heads, he sought the "evil" ivory) made him so contemptuous of individual lives;
for evil and life have traditionally clashed. Beauty for the few was gained
with the blood of the many.
Where evil ruled, it was a form of power. The evil took on magical
significance, becoming a kind of totem and treasure. Perhaps consciously aware
of this, like the evil he had become, Kurtz gained his power, indeed his
identity and being, ...
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An Analysis Of "Heart Of Darkness". (2005, April 19). Retrieved April 27, 2024, from http://www.essayworld.com/essays/An-Analysis-Of-Heart-Of-Darkness/25635
"An Analysis Of "Heart Of Darkness"." Essayworld.com. Essayworld.com, 19 Apr. 2005. Web. 27 Apr. 2024. <http://www.essayworld.com/essays/An-Analysis-Of-Heart-Of-Darkness/25635>
"An Analysis Of "Heart Of Darkness"." Essayworld.com. April 19, 2005. Accessed April 27, 2024. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/An-Analysis-Of-Heart-Of-Darkness/25635.
"An Analysis Of "Heart Of Darkness"." Essayworld.com. April 19, 2005. Accessed April 27, 2024. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/An-Analysis-Of-Heart-Of-Darkness/25635.
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