Marlow finds out how Kurtz had been instructed by the International Society for the Suppression of Savage Customs to write a seventeen pages report before his nerves “went wrong.” In one section, Kurtz had written “Exterminate all the brutes.” Confused by the contradicting images of Kurtz, Marlow thinks that ” His power to charm had influenced the natives, still Marlow is not sure if it was worth the helmsman’s death to reach
This shows that Kurtz was no longer the man who he was known for. Kurtz developed such a great sense of madness that his last words before dying were, “The horror, the horror” (Conrad 2009). Kurtz fell into such a deep state of madness which lead him to manipulate the Africans into thinking he was a God. He had a native African mistress, and he did not once think about his fiancé throughout the passage or death. This is an example of beyond the pale because Kurtz completely acts out of his social norm and loses touch with who he
It also becomes quite evident that Kurtz had lost his humanity, “Everything belonged to him—but that was a trifle. The thing was to know what he belonged to, how many powers of darkness claimed him for their own. That was the reflection that made you creepy all over... He had taken a high seat amongst the devils of the land...” Kurtz dies on the journey back his last words being, “The Horror! The Horror!”.
While there, Marlow hears about a legendary ivory collector known as Kurtz, who has gone mad with power and is controlling the natives. In “Heart of Darkness,” Conrad shows the definite racism against the natives that develops in the Belgian Congo through the harsh treatment of the natives, the word choice used, and the effects of Imperialism.
Is it in fact the geographical surroundings causing him to go mad? With the already dreadful diction, Marlow leads into the psychotic side of Kurtz, by stating, “The wooded Islands; you lost your way on that river...you thought yourself bewitched and cut off for ever from everything you had known once-’”somewhere”. Conrad is providing proof of his “lost ways” due to the geographical surroundings. Showing more in depth that the environmental factors play an important role in the ideology of Mr. Kurtz emotions. Conrad’s diction provides a view of colonialism, proving the impact the surroundings and culture had on Mr. Kurtz, in a discreet manner.
turned to the house” (102). The heads on the stakes reveal the true barbarism that exists in the absence of civilized society. However, Marlow’s reaction to the heads and how he “was not so shocked as you may think” (102), conveys how he himself has become somewhat savage, as even the brutish display of the heads do not faze him. Therefore, in the pursuit of his id and meeting Kurtz, Marlow will do anything to meet him and uphold Kurtz’s reputation, even ignoring Kurtz’s clearly evil and immoral actions. Similarly, this evil can be observed in how the natives worship Kurtz as a sort of god.
Exhausted from this wild and absurd journey to the Congo, Marlow sails back to Europe, where he gives Kurtz's papers to a company associate, a journalist, Kurtz's cousin, and Kurtz's Intended (fiancée). Similar to Wuthering Heights, Heart of Darkness implements a frame structure to amplify Marlow's tale. The majority of the novella revolves around Marlow's narration of his journey, with the narrator listening intently to Marlow. However, although the outside story seems to be secondary to the interior story, Conrad dismisses the reader's claim by stating “the meaning of an episode was not inside like a kernel but outside”, suggesting that the narrator's reaction is just as important as Marlow's story. (6) Interestingly, Conrad's immersion with one character's physical and psychological experience in the Congo represents the social phenomenon of European Imperialism as a whole.
The character Marlow that is seen in the novella Heart of Darkness and Lord Jim is similar to one another as Conrad has created the character Marlow to be the narrator of the story and a ship 's captain. As Marlow in heart of darkness says, "All Europe contributed to the making of Kurtz, and by and by I learned that most appropriately the International Society for the Suppression of Savage Customs had entrusted him with the making of a report for its future guidance." (p.49) Marlow therefore takes interest in meeting the character called Kurtz in the novella heart of darkness. Similarly on the other hand Marlow in the novel Lord Jim first encounters the protagonist of the novel called Jim at the inquiry where Jim loses his certification. Feeling that Jim is one of them he takes an interest in him but Marlow 's struggle to tell and to understand the life story of Jim initially so he starts helping him find employment as a water clerk and as a trading post manager for Stein and then suddenly relating together Jim 's story and continuing it through various retellings.
Everyone in the world has their own way to fight off the evil and the darkness in their minds, but sometimes it can be difficult. Marlow, and ordinary sailor, goes on a fascinating yet dark adventure, as a newly hired river boat captain to find the legendary Belgium Trading company that is located up the congo river. When describing the events and the sites along the Congo River, Joseph Conrad wrote “The Heart of Darkness” in a first person view with Marlow as the main character. In this novella, the large, unknown landscape of the unexplored lands of Africa represents the darkness and corruption in people 's lifes, that everyone struggles to overcome, especially Marlow. The protagonist in this novella would be Marlow.
We are told that Marlow and his companions 'penetrated deeper and deeper into the heart of darkness'” Marlow says, “We were wanderers on a prehistoric earth, on a earth that wore the aspect of an unknown planet. We could have fancied ourselves the first of men taking possession of an accursed inheritance, to be subdued at the cost of profound anguish and of excessive