Heart of Darkness Giant RRS
Title: Heart of Darkness
Publication Date: 1899
Author: Joseph Conrad
Nationality: Polish/British
Birthday/Death: December 3, 1857-August 3, 1924
Distinguishing Traits: Joseph Conrad is best known for his adventures on the sea, which he writes about and
describes the true benevolence of man. His love for the sea was brought up when he was to serve sixteen
years in the British navy. He captures the setting of the Congo because he himself was in the Congo for four
months. The novel, Heart of Darkness has pieces of Conrad’s voyage and personal experience from his travel
on the Congo. Marlow travels into the Outer Station where he firsts sees the inhumane acts of the natives.
Setting: Brussels: Though a short appearance in the beginning and ends of the novel, the city of Brussels,
Belgium is one of the only glimpses of European civility through Marlow’s eyes. It greatly contrasts with the
wildly colorful jungle as Marlow sees Brussels to be “a city that always makes me think of a whited sepulchre”
(45). The image of the clean swept and majestic tomb comments on the people of the city. To live in a city that
is a tomb can infer the figurative deadness of it’s inhabitants. Belgium, once apart of the highly tolerant
Netherlands, is a melting pot of Europe and can symbolize the many countries in total. To compare the melting
pot of nations to a white tomb shows both the innocence of ignorance because the inability to do anything
while dead and the fatality of living without the truth.
Africa/Congo: Africa contrasts from the rest of Europe with the amount of vividness and life Marlow sees the
land. Many times Marlow references the land or earth to be alive and acting upon its own will. Compared to the
mentions of Europe, the Congo comparatively has more life, more color. The first image of Africa is an
explosion of colour on “a large shining map, marked with all the colours of the rainbow. There was vast
amounts of red... a lot of blue, a little green, smears or orange, ...a purple patch... [and] I was going into the
yellow. Dead in the centre. And the river was there - fascinating - deadly - like a snake” (45). In contrast to the
“whited sepulchre” of what is Brussels, Africa is painted with all this color and liveliness. The river is related to
the snake, an animal, as if it were alive and charming Marlow.
Brief Plot Synopsis:
Exposition: The novel begins with Marlow on the Nellie telling his story of his adventure to the Congo to the
other seamen. His story begins with him needing a job, so he asks his aunt for a job. She gets him the job as a
riverboat captain with the Company, a Belgian concern organized to trade in the Congo. As he travels towards
Africa, Marlow witnesses widespread inefficiency and brutality in the Company’s stations. He sees that the
inhabitants suffer from overwork and ill treatment at the hands of the Company’s agents.
Rising Action: Marlow finally arrives at the Central Station, run by the general manager. He finds that his
steamship has been sunk and spends several months waiting for parts to repair it. There, he hears about Kurtz
who is s rumored to be ill, making the delays in repairing the ship all the more costly. Marlow and his crew
come across a hut with stacked firewood. Shortly after the steamer has taken on the firewood, it is surrounded
by a dense fog. When the fog clears, the ship is attacked by an unseen band of natives, who fire arrows from
the safety of the forest.
Climax: Not long after, Marlow and his companions arrive at Kurtz’s Inner Station, expecting to find him dead.
The Russian claims that Kurtz has enlarged his mind and cannot be subjected to the same moral judgments as
normal people. Apparently, Kurtz has established himself as a god with the natives and has gone on brutal
raids in the surrounding territory in search of ivory. The pilgrims bring Kurtz out of the station-house on a
stretcher, and a large group of native warriors pours out of the forest and surrounds them. Kurtz speaks to
them, and the natives disappear into the woods.
Falling Action: A beautiful native woman, apparently Kurtz’s mistress, appears on the shore and stares out at
the ship. The Russian reveals to Marlow, after swearing him to secrecy, that Kurtz had ordered the attack on
the steamer to make them believe he was dead in order that they might turn back and leave him to his plans.
Kurtz disappears in the night, and Marlow goes out in search of him, finding him crawling on all fours toward
the native camp. Marlow stops him and convinces him to return to the ship. Marlow listens to Kurtz talk while
he pilots the ship, and Kurtz entrusts Marlow with a packet of personal documents, including an eloquent
pamphlet on civilizing the savages which ends with a scrawled message that says, “Exterminate all the brutes!”
The steamer breaks down, and they have to stop for repairs. Kurtz dies, uttering his last words, “The horror!
The horror!” in the presence of the confused Marlow.
Resolution: Marlow falls ill soon after and barely survives. Eventually he returns to Europe and goes to see
Kurtz’s Intended (his fiancé). She is still in mourning, even though it has been over a year since Kurtz’s death,
and she praises him as a paragon of virtue and achievement. She asks what his last words were, but Marlow
cannot bring himself to shatter her illusions with the truth. Instead, he tells her that Kurtz’s last word was her
name. Then, the story goes back to Marlow telling this adventurous story to the other seamen on the Nellie.
Characters:
Charlie Marlow: Marlow, the narrator of the story within the story, is the one to embark on this dual journey,
both to the heart of the Congo and to the heart of darkness. A European, Marlow is immediately distinguished
from the others in that “he was the only man off us who still ‘followed the sea.’ The worst that could be said of
him was that he did not represent his class. He was a seaman, but a wanderer, too, while most seamen lead, if
one may say so express it, a sedentary life. Their minds are of the stay-at-home order, and their home is
always with the - the ship; and so their country - the sea... But Marlow was not typical (if his propensity to spin
yarns be expected), and to him the meaning of an episode was not inside like a kernel but outside, enveloping
the tale which brought it out only as a glow brings out a haze” (40). Marlow is not like the others who are only
identified by their work, their positions, because of his clear opposite to that of his character. He is open to the
views of the world and it is this that makes him able to go on this moral journey. He, like Kurtz, has this
remarkable quality for people. Marlow becomes quite jealous of Kurtz because of Marlow’s now inability to rise
in the company with a god-like figure called Kurtz to be constantly compared to. This jealousy drives Marlow to
constantly push on further to meet this Kurtz. He becomes constantly barraged with other’s remarks of Kurtz
which he then develops preconceptions about Kurtz. But when finally caught up with the god, Kurtz is dying
and nothing like Marlow envisions him to be. Kurtz’s voice is still enticing but the depths of darkness he has
sunk to astounds Marlow. It is then he begins to see the parallels between him and Kurtz and grow
appreciation and awe for the man, “This is the reason why I affrim that Kurtz was a remarkable man. He had
some things to say. He said it. Since I had peeped over the edge myself. I understand better the meaning of
his stare, that could not see the flame of the candle, but was wide enough to embrace the whole universe,
piercing enough to penetrate all the hearts that beat in the darkness” (116). They both undergo the same
psychological journey and no one else can relate to Marlow as Kurtz will. Seeing Kurtz saves Marlow from the
doom that might occur to Marlow, himself.
Mr. Kurtz: Kurtz is talked about throughout the whole novel, but we do not meet him until part 3. He is the
“Chief of Inner Station,” a prodigy, the emissary of pity and science and progress, and devil knows what else,”
(41). Kurtz has many admirers in the Congo but many of the people who are from where he lives, the pilgrims,
think of him as mad and need to save him from what has over taken him in the Congo. Mr. Kurtz works for the
company, and he is the largest ivory collector that they have, but they grew concerned with him when he
ceased sending ivory. The whole purpose of Marlow’s trip is to go to the Inner Station to find and rescue Kurtz.
Kurtz often “wandered alone, in depths of the forest,” (94). Kurtz leaves it seems, the people from his old life
who have loved him and looked up to him, such as his Intended and the trader. He speaks of things as if they
are his own, his iveroy, his intended, his river, his forest, which causes Marlow to question what sort of
madness he belongs to instead of what belongs to him.
The Intended: According to Marlow, “She came forward, all in black, with a pale head,” (126). Kurtz fiance, who
had been mourning him a year after his death, was as devastated as Marlow could tell by her facial
expressions. She says about Kurtz, “it is impossible to know him and not admire him,” so obviously she really
respected and loved Kurtz. She represents the women in the novel that Marlow sees as so fragile, so delicate
and unable to hear the truth since he lies to her about Kurtz’s last words.
The Chief Accountant: From this character, Marlow first hears of Kurtz and starts his obsession with him.
Marlow, “shook hands with this miracle” (65) because of the accountant’s outfit being of all white and flawless.
The fact that they are in The Congo and he is wearing all white shows that he is rich and does many things for
The Company. He plays an important role because he introduces Kurtz to Marlow. He explains to him that he
will meet Kurtz on this journey. He describes Kurtz to be a fine man, setting the high expectation to Marlow.
The Russian: The loyal disciple of Kurtz, the Russian is the only person in the Inner station that has helped
with the arrival of Marlow. Unwanted by Kurtz on several occasions, made known by his shooting attempts, the
Russian constantly returns to nurse Kurtz in his times of sickness. He too blindly praises Kurtz for his
accomplishments without know the entirety of his actions in the jungle. He looks up to Kurtz as a messiah
figure preaching his teachings to Marlow. The Russian may not serve much of a game changing character as
much of the symbol he represents. Wandering the jungle without much of a settlement, “He looked like a
harlequin. His clothes had been made of some stuff that was brown holland probably, but it was covered with
patches all over, with bright patches, blue, red, and yellow -patches on the back, patches on the front, patches
on elbows, on knees; coloured binding around his jacket scarlet edging at the bottom of his trousers; and the
sunshine made him look extremely gay and wonderfully neat withal” (95). The clothing he wears parallels the
colorful patchwork of the African map. He has no affiliation, as Russia hold no claims in Africa, and he travels
from territory to territory. He represents Africa and it’s invasion. As Kurtz entrances him and the natives,
Europe does to all of Africa by running it over.
The Mistress: Kurtz’s mistress is a native in The Congo, and is introduced after Kurtz enters on a stretcher.
She is described as wearing, “the value of several elephants tusks upon her. She was savage and superb,
wild-eyed and magnificent; there was something ominous and stately in her deliberate progress” (127). The
conclusion of why she looks and dresses rich is because Kurtz provides for her. Like Kurtz, her character is
ambiguous because she does not have dialogue in the novel. Marlow does not like the mistress because of her
attitude towards him when coming into the house. He describes her as being too much for him, hinting that he
is discriminating her because of her high standards of living.
Symbols
The River: The river is a huge presence in the novel. It physically is the journey Marlow treks as well as the
representation of Marlow’s psychological turmoil and internal unraveling. Marlow sees the “ mighty big river…”
as “an immense snake uncoiled, with its head in the sea, its body at rest curving afar over a vast country, and
its tail lost in the depths of the land” (43). Marlow is figuratively swallowed up by this snake of a river into the
depths of it’s bowels like Marlow enters the depths of his soul to reach his heart, and physically reach Kurtz.
There is much duality in the physical and mental journeys; when the company enters a fog, so does Marlow’s
view on the savages enter a fog.
The Painting: The painting Kurtz leaves at the Central Station is a symbol of the injustice being taken place at
the Congo by Europeans towards the natives. It is an image of a “woman, draped and blindfolded, carrying a
lighted torch” (74). Although she is holding a lighted torch, she is still unable to see due to the blindfold. Her
vision is corrupted by the “sinister” (75) light. The woman in the painting is a representation of all the merciless
Europeans in the Congo; their visions are distorted by their own interpretations. Their actions are futile and
purposeless due to the blindfold of ignorance.
The symbol of the skulls around Kurtz’s home, shows that Kurtz has high authority over the natives. The fact
that, “those heads on the stakes, if their faces had not been turned to the house. Only one, the first I had made
out, was facing my way” (123). The direction that the skulls face is towards Kurtz’s home, but one is different
and faces towards Marlow. The significance of the heads facing Kurtz is to justify that Kurtz is of high power
and that the natives know not to try any jokes on Kurtz. The skulls are actual dead people, and them still facing
Kurtz is as if they are still worshiping and honoring him. The one skull that faces Marlow shows that although
you cannot see Kurtz and all the other skulls are facing him, he is always watching the natives. The stakes are
a symbol of authority for Kurtz, giving Marlow more hints about Kurtz.
Motifs
Futility: The motif of futility shows the arrogance of the Europeans; they do not hesitate to treat the natives as
slaves because they think it is their right to control them. When getting a physical checkup, the doctor asks
Marlow, “with certain eagerness… whether [he] would let him measure [his] head” (46). This actions shows
futility because measuring the voyager’s head to see if there is change after the trip is pointless, considering
his chances of returning are slim. Marlow is astonished by the general manager when he sees him wear, “high
starched collar, white cuffs, a light alpaca jacket, snowy trousers, a clear necktie, and varnished boots” (54).
The idea that the general manager finds the need to wear an elaborate all- white outfit in jungle is amusing;
since, the chances of the outfit getting dirty are high. The futile actions committed by the Europeans make
readers question their mindset. It furthers the author’s purpose to expose the stupidity of the Europeans and
their pointless actions.
Work: The recurring motif of work, or lack there of, reveals the futility of imperialism in Africa. The intention of
referencing unimportant characters by their job position is to show the lack of work they actually are doing. The
brickmaker Marlow meets at the central station truly confuses him because "there wasn't a fragment of a brick
anywhere in the station, and he had been there more than a year—waiting. It seems he could not make bricks
without something … Anyway, it could not be found there and as it was not likely to be sent from Europe, it did
not appear clear to me what he was waiting for" (60). The lack of progress challenges the supposed work that
was being done in Africa.
The reoccurring subject of darkness signifies the overall theme that people are surrounded and blinded by their
own personal darkness. The dark is seen literal in the setting, but also analytical in the subject of Kurtz and
Marlow’s personal struggle with darkness. Marlow’s darkness with Kurtz is the fact that he never meets him
until the third part of the novel, which even then he does not conclude Kurtz’s ambiguity. The novel itself is
searching for the “Heart of Darkness” which is inside the Congo, and every setting has it’s own personal
darkness. Along with the setting, the characters have their personal darkness. As Kurtz falls into his death, he
exclaims, “The horror! The horror!” (139) which can be concluded is his own darkness he suffered throughout
his life. Analyzed, Kurtz own personal darkness cannot be discovered and the only hint of his darkness is in his
final words before his death. The motif of darkness is important to the novel because it leads to the theme of
ambiguity; that everyone is in their own personal darkness and does not want to reveal what it is.
Allusion:
Eldorado Expedition: The allusion to the Eldorado Expedition emphasizes the futile activities of the Europeans.
The Eldorado Expedition “went into the patient wilderness, that closed upon it as the sea closes over a diver”
(73). Although Marlow contrasts the two expeditions, they are similar in that they both are in search of things
that do not exist. The Eldorado Expedition was an expedition in search of the the City of Gold. Both expedition
have economic reasons behind them and both do not come out successful, but in two different aspects. The
Eldorado Expedition does not come out the City of Gold, but Marlow’s expedition does not uncover happy
events.
Archetypes: The archetype of Marlow’s journey is typical because he is sent there to find something and ends
up discovering the unseen of the Congo. He realizes that the Congo is a horrid place because of the
continuous futility and the unanswered questions about the mysterious Kurtz. During his journey, he reaches a
low point where he finally meets Kurtz, but is still left with the question of Kurtz and what he is capable of. At
the end of his journey, Marlow experiences the death of Kurtz and is still questioning his life because of his
final words, “The horror! The horror!” (139). Marlow’s journey is archetypal because he goes on a quest to find
Kurtz and goes through horrid events to meet his conclusion. During the travel, he reaches the saddening end,
Kurtz death, which when he comes back home to England, it is still burdening him.
Themes: Imperialism- The Europeans arrive at the Congo with hopes of obtaining ivory. They take over the
land and claim superiority over the natives. They push the natives into working for them under dreadful
conditions. Their assumed dominance shows how the Europeans had little respect for the people of the land.
They proclaim themselves as the rulers of the Congo without hesitation. This exposure of the Europeans
furthered Conrad’s argument about their ruthlessness and wronged actions.
The theme of ambiguity is a result of Kurtz not being introduced until the third part of the novel. Because of
this, Marlow doubts Kurtz and his capability in The Company. Marlow goes into his journey not knowing what is
going to happen, but as he travels he notices the horrific factors of the Congo. Although ambiguity is a theme,
the true ambiguity is Kurtz himself because Marlow knows nothing about Kurtz. Once he is introduced, Marlow
seeks, “A voice! A voice!” (127) of Kurtz, leading him to his final result about Kurtz. Although, the doubt still
remains once Kurtz dies and Marlow is left with asking himself what the horror Kurtz was talking about.
Good versus Evil is another theme in the novel, because Marlow goes into his quest with good intentions, but
notices that the natives are evil in their actions. As his journey continues, he questions whether people’s
intentions are good or are they evil. The natives, “attack, for several obvious reasons” (101), but the main
reason is because they do not want Kurtz to leave the Congo. They do this out of good intentions because of
the fact that Kurtz provides and helps them with many things while there. Marlow is also told of Kurtz’s bad
repetition, but sees when in the Inner Station, that he is truly of good intentions as well.
Memorable Quotes
“In and out of rivers, streams of death in life, whose banks were rotting into mud, whose waters, thickened into
slime, invaded the contorted mangroves, that seemed to writhe at us in the extremity of an impotent despair…It
was like a weary pilgrimage amongst hints for nightmares” (51).
“They were dying slowly- it was very clear. They were not enemies, they were not criminals, they were nothing
earthly now,- nothing but black shadows of disease and starvation, lying confusedly in the greenish gloom”
(53).
“It is impossible to convey life-sensation of any given epoch of one’s existence- that which makes its truth, its
meaning- its subtle and penetrating essence. It is impossible. We live as we dream- alone” (65).
“The reaches opened before us and closed behind, as if the forest had stepped leisurely across the water to
bar the way for our return. We penetrated deeper and deeper into the heart of darkness” (75).
“‘The horror! The horror!’”(139).
“…cried Kurtz’s last disciple” (124).
Distinctive Characteristics of Work:
Heart of Darkness is a framed narrative, with Charles Marlow as the main narrator. The point of view is stream
of consciousness. Conrad traveled to the Congo and witnessed all that Marlow had on his visit. Instead of
writing an essay, Conrad publishes the three part Novella with the character of Charlie Marlow to narrate the
story. Through Marlow, Conrad illuminates the activities, or lack thereof, in the Congo without bias, allowing
readers to make their own conclusions. Marlow and Kurtz are the only two characters that have names;
everyone else, however, is referred to by their job positions. A times, Conrad breaks the fourth wall to insert his
opinions. This novel is purposely ambiguous for the readers to interpret themselves.