Marlow's Metamorphosis

Nearly 2,500 years ago, Siddhartha Gautama renounced worldly pleasures, became a monk, and wandered into the outside world to understand human nature (Lopez). He set out to seek the end to human suffering, and through his journey, the Buddha became enlightened. Later in his life, he taught his new understanding to others. Similarly, in Joseph Conrad’s novella Heart of Darkness, the Englishman Marlow journeys into Africa leaving behind “civilization.” As he narrates his experience to an audience sailing the Thames, Marlow teaches his new understanding through analysis of his observations. Thus, Marlow can be viewed as a Buddha figure who broadens his perspective on the world and reaches enlightenment by learning the full truth of human nature after discovering the darkness present in everyone.

On a superficial level, in the frame of the novella, Conrad suggests

Initially, Marlow is proud of all the land the English have colonized, marveling at “‘a large shining map, marked with all the colors of a rainbow’” (Conrad 7). He is childishly eager to join the “‘biggest thing in the town’” (Conrad 7) to participate in the colonization effort for the “greater good.” Once Marlow sails into Africa, he broadens his perspective through diverse experiences, and begins to see the true horrors of colonialism. He is especially disgusted by the Eldorado Exploring Expedition, a corrupt group of whites that is “‘reckless without hardihood, greedy without audacity, and cruel without courage’” (Conrad 27). They just greedily rape the land for their self-interest without any consideration for the rest of the world (Conrad 27). Uncovering the corruption of the whites, Marlow goes beyond the traditional notion of whites as superior to the natives. He begins to see the truth that an element of “savagery” is present in everybody, just as the Buddha believed suffering is a universal fact of