Heart of darkness characters and short analysis

 

 

 

Heart of darkness characters and short analysis

 

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Heart of darkness characters and short analysis

 

HEART OF DARKNESS
by Josef Conrad (1899)

notes

Joseph Conrad was born as Jozef Teodor Konrad Korzeniowski on December 3rd, 1857 in the Ukraine, at that time under Russian dominion. He came from a well-to-do Polish Catholic family of the landed gentry, ardent patriots, especially his father, a patriotic idealist and a revolutionary, who bitterly resented the division of his native country between Germany, Austria and in particular Russia. For his conspiratorial activities he was exiled together with his sick wife and son to Russia, where his wife died when his son was only seven. Out of bondage, father and son shared the father’s gloomy world of forlorn hopes, and Jozef’s early childhood was a lonely one. In 1869 also his father died and he was taken under the protection of an uncle. In 1874 he left Poland for France to join the French Merchant Navy at Marseilles. Four years later he came into contact with England, and soon he decided to become an English seaman. In 1886 he became a British subject, and in 1888 he was given his first command. He sailed until 1894, then married and settled down in Kent in 1896, the year when he published his first novel, Almayer’s Folly. He had worked on this book in 1889, when he had also applied for a command on a river-steamer on the Congo, following an old boyhood dream of going to see the enormous blank space of the African interior. On his African expedition he came up against the real face of colonialism, with its greed and corruption, and the suffering it caused native populations. The expedition had a disastrous effect on his health, making him suffer for the rest of his life from gout and fever. He returned to England and started to write: the experience had matured his essentially adventurous spirit, and his career as a novelist had begun.
Structure and plot
First published as a three-part serial in Blackwood’s Magazine. In the first pages an anonymous first-person narrator introduces us to Marlow (another first-person narrator and the protagonist of the story: an example of frame-narrative), whose account of his experiences in the Belgian Congo, apparently dealing with the rescue of mysterious Mr Kurtz, takes up most of the book. There are frequent shifts between the outer and the inner narrative. The inner narrative is further complicated because events and information are anticipated or postponed, breaking the chronological sequence and deferring the climax (Marlow’s meeting with Kurtz has been anticipated through the points of view of various characters: the chief accountant, the manager etc.).
Literary influences
Flaubert, Maupassant (French realistic literature); H.James (psychological realism), E.A.Poe, Rider Haggard - “King Solomon’s Mines”(1885), “Allan Quatermain”(1887): a warning against the white man’s greed for money, admiration for African tribes.
Conrad knew and loved Shakespeare and Dickens (sense of drama).
Style
Tendency towards the disappearance of the narrator:

  • in the “Marlow” novels (“Heart of Darkness”, “Lord Jim”, “Chance”), Marlow is a sort of speaker for the author himself (perhaps too talkative and rhetorical; yet a guide who interprets events and characters, and is aware of his own changes - but, how reliable?).
  • shifting point of view: the consciousness of different characters reflects the action in a variety of interpretations which deny the possibility of a single truth.

In both ways Conrad anticipates the modern novel. Speech styles are adapted to the personalities of the characters, time shifts from present to past and future, the language borrows from the tradition of romance, the gothic, and psychological realism. It introduces a wealth of symbols: light and darkness, the jungle,  Inferno, black and white, ivory, the quest, the snake, the round knobs, the book “An Inquiry into Some Points of Seamanship”, the Inner Station, etc.). In the narrative the dialectical relationship between Good and Evil, which is typical of romance,  implies that their roles can be reversed, or, at least, confused. So we keep wondering about the real significance of light and darkness, white and black, surface and depth, civilization and (untamed) nature, truth and lie, enemy and ally.
Conrad seems to have loved language generally, and in particular verbal ambiguity: “I wish to put before you a general proposition: that a work of art is seldom limited to an exclusive meaning and not necessarily tending to a definite conclusion. And this for the reason that the nearer it approaches art, the more it acquires a symbolic character”.
Imagery and symbolism
Oblique style, retrospective narrative. Oppositions: black and white, light and darkness, nature and civilization, Marlow-Kurtz (the double), the Thames and the Congo (apparently civilization versus nature, actually both dark places of the earth). Symbols: the wilderness, the jungle, the ivory, the  women knitting  black wool, the episode of the French ship of war, the Accountant's starched  white shirt, the bit of white worsted tied round the native boy's neck, the drainage-pipes, the round knobs, the Belgian city is  "a whited sepulchre", both Marlow and Kurtz are compared to "Buddha", Kurtz is often referred to as "a voice". The adjectives are redundant, vague, gothic, "infernal", oneiric, smoky, unmodifiable, elusive, evasive, impressionistic. Latinate words, excessive repetition.

Themes

He started writing in an age which followed the decline of the Victorian novel.  He worked in relative isolation, since his was a difficult art, of a psychological, literary and technical complexity to which late nineteenth-century literary taste was not accustomed. The nineteenth-century novel reflected a safe and steady world, in which there was room for moral edification, and for the omniscient narrator to discuss his characters with the reader, and decide on their applicability to human nature in general. But with new philosophies, and a new way of seeing the world, the rambling Victorian novel had had to change to a more urgent fictional style: the authorial voice gave way to more direct and dramatic depiction of character and reality, all reality, not just the realism of the 19th century. Most important in this respect was the work of French Naturalists, especially Zola. Flaubert was also important, with his insistence on the novel being not just entertainment, but a highly-refined literary artefact. (Other influences: Henry James, Stevenson, Ford Madox Ford).
Conrad broke violently with the novel tradition in his themes. The 19th-century novel up to then had dealt mainly with man in society, living, even if often critically, in an intricate network of births, loves, marriages and deaths, gain or loss of wealth, reputation, but always in society, in the public world, as the ground on which individual moral and psychological problems were to be worked out. The minor novelists of the end of the century had described adventure and exotic places. With Hardy a new vision of the world had appeared, dominated by the shadow of Darwinism. Suddenly, man was conscious of another, huge dimension, which dwarfed him in all his small individual, social desires and expectancies. Conrad’s novels were in some respects similar to Hardy’s, in the lonely hero working out his salvation in an inscrutable world. It is in loneliness, in the wilderness, in the microcosm of the ship, away from the  crowd and organized society, that true morality, true choice, is to be found, and individual responsibility and self-control are learnt.  Society may afford shelter and give confidence, but it is artificial, illusory, a comforting deception. At the same time man’s deep instincts and desires threaten to destroy his control over himself. One of Conrad’s main themes is man’s struggle to keep hold of his integrity and decency, and his failure to do so both in the social world and in the wilderness. His vision of the problems of guilt, pride, self-deception, man’s inevitable isolation, and moral ambiguity, is pessimistic; for the late 19th-century literary world it was certainly “too dark”.
Conrad’s view of human nature was complex, and reflected ideas which were “in the air” at the end of the century concerning man’s inner psychological realities, the conscious and subconscious mind, the two souls of man, and so on (beginnings of psychoanalysis, Dostoevsky’s novels, Stevenson’s moral fables of the evil and primitive sides of man). Conrad delved deep into the human soul, and to describe the complex pattern of life he saw there he broke narrative, continually shifting points of view, creating an oblique style which would reflect the endless interweaving of cause and effect, for the sake of a new kind of realism, psychological realism.
The reader’s attitudes and reactions were conditioned psychologically as they had never been before. The indirect narration, the supreme example of which was Marlow, and the authorial voice, were mingled in a new impressionistic and symbolic method. Where writers had previously created their worlds in their novels and left them for their readers to observe and understand, Conrad suggests metaphorical applications for his worlds - they become hubs of irradiating meaning. As the narrator says of Marlow: “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”.
To the end of his days, Conrad experimented with the novel as no other novelist had done before. As for his pessimistic vision of man, there is evidence that his depressive nature feared it and tried to keep it at bay; but it is the vision that was to become the early twentieth-century vision of the hollowness of modern civilization which T. S .Eliot portrayed so potently, and the central Conradian stance of man calling into a darkness which was both deaf and dumb was to be the powerful central image of Existentialism.
Levels of interpretation

  • psychological, psychoanalytical, journey within the self, the double
  • anthropological, Darwinian, primitive ages, primeval nature
  • mythical, archetypal journey, romance, search for the Holy Grail, fight between Good and Evil, Inferno
  • moral, Victorian values, materialistic, work ethics, restraint, efficiency, duty, hypocrisy, conventionality of the idea of civilization, "the horror"
  • historical, western colonialism, imperialism, exploitation, cruelty

A modernist novel : in the way/style it is written, in depicting the modern idea of materialism and absence of values, in not giving a clear answer to the questions it poses (Marlow's "inconclusive" tales, that is, open ended), in the new approach of psychological introspection, in the idea of time, consciousness and of man's existential loneliness: "we live as we dream -- alone" (James, Stevenson, Dostoevsky). The relationship Marlow-Kurtz is ambiguous, as is ambiguous the final meaning which seems to condemn colonialism but not the values and beliefs that caused it.

 

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Heart of darkness characters and short analysis

Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad

Marlow’s Character
HOD tells the story of Marlow’s spiritual journey (voyage of discovery and self-discovery)
Marlow seems to be a manifestation of Conrad (1st part of novel is largely autobiographical)
Observes/judges – politeness covers up the harshness of his judgments

  • brick maker and manager both speak frankly to him because his mask of courtesy hides his contempt of them.

Man of modesty/courage
Is the moral grounding point of the novel/the only white man in the Congo that recognizes the evils of Colonialism in Africa).
The ugly truths he faces are truths that we all have to face

  • acknowledges his own heart of darkness/the call of the primitive in his own

nature.  Conrad proves this symbolically when Marlow confuses the pounding of the savage drum with the beating of his own heart.

The Manager

  • Villain of HOD
  • Stands for all the bureaucrats who calmly oversee the company’s mass enslavement of the Africans.
  • Hates Kurtz because he’s threatened by him (his position)
  • No moral sensibility
  • Common, with no special talents (is the manager because he does not get sick)
  • Opposite of his rival Kurtz

The Accountant

  • Poses a strict contrast to what Marlow first sees when he gets to Africa
  • Cares about job and appearance (dressed in white amid darkness)
  • Marlow admires him
  • Devotion to efficiency blinds him to the sufferings of both whites and blacks
  • Sick agent is brought into office, he complains that the groans distract him (not concerned with the fact that the man is dying).
  • Hates the Africans because they make “too much noise.”
  • *Conrad seems to suggest through this character that even at its best, the Company is inhumane – caring more about numbers, than people.  Quote p.22 (provides irony) How could transactions that lead to wholesale death be perfectly correct?

 

Narrator

Reports Marlow’s tale after having heard it previously
Has been affected by it
Imagery at beginning to the end of the novel proves it.  (beginning) – impressed by light on the Thames p.18, p20; thinks of nautical history in terms of light “bearers of a spark from the sacred fire;” and at the (end) imagination is full of darkness (last sentence of novel p.94)

Setting

  • Jungles of Africa
  • Tale told by narrator aboard a boat at the mouth of the Thames
  • Time of day (that tale is told) is significant – sunset (as tale turns gloomier, images of darkness get more pervasive); evening on boat grows darker gradually (when Marlow’s tale is done, it is late at night – listeners are enveloped in dark)
  • London = civilization - contrasts with Congo = wilderness
  • Thames (civilization) = light of civilization (light imagery of the beginning) VS Congo = heart (middle) of darkness, undiscovered wilderness
  • Marlow’s lie Light truth VS Dark truth – inherent in every soul
  • Black people typifying truth and reality (white souls) VS White man’s black souls

Theme/s
1) Isolation of characters = theme of solitude (removal of restraints/bring out man’s true nature)
2) Man’s heart of darkness - Darkness of symbolism + imagery = the opposite of progress and enlightenment.  Man’s heart of darkness symbolizes:

  • interior of the jungle
  • Inner Station – black slavery and white cruelty
  • Kurtz’ black heart
  • The inner heart of every human being

3) The brutality of Colonization: inhumanity of man to fellow man.
4) The tragedy of a brilliant and admired man, the Belgian trader Kurtz, who succumbs to this dark force. He is not unlike the hero of a Greek tragedy in that he is a supposedly noble human being who, through self-delusion and repression of his conscience, suffers a downfall. In the end, he understands but fails to subdue the evil within himself.  
5) Present an odyssey in which a traveler, Marlow, confronts the dangers of a foreboding wilderness and the people it holds in its grasp. In so doing, he also confronts his own inner self. Like the hero of Homer’s Odyssey, that ancient tale in which one man becomes every man in the journey through life, Marlow is a curious adventurer who presses on in the face of danger. His journey teaches him that the darkest and most perilous place in the world is not the jungle, but the heart of a human being who succumbs to his evil impulses.  

Sub-themes

  • Notion of work fending off (darkness) to stay “sane.” Work strengthens character and makes you less likely to lose your grip in difficult situations.  White characters are largely unattractive because they don’t do their work
  • Self Restraint (takes determination, but may save you from being grim consequences of thoughtless actions).  Examples:  a) Black helmsman on Marlow’s boat – inability to restrain himself leads to his death p. 66/61; b) Kurtz: subject of story – lack of restraint to be evil; c) cannibals restraint through starving – they do not attack their white persecutors p. 57.
  • Truth - Words cannot be trusted (can lie)/actions can be (cannot lie).  (Kurtz is a great orator) but actions can) develops in this section.  P.91-98. Truth has two sides -

good       -      evil
light     -         dark
white    -        black
*At end Marlow’s truth about Kurtz is contrasted with his Intended’s truth about Kurtz.  Marlow’s weapon of destruction for Kurtz’s intended is TRUTH – truth would fatally wound her – chooses a lie: proves he has changed (discovered a depth of compassion).

  • Illusions (necessary – especially for his women characters (like Marlow’s aunt “…how out of touch women are with the truth” p. 27, p.63. and delusions – truth and recognition of inner truth

      5) Marlow’s interest in Kurtz becomes an obsession
6) Theme of illusions and delusions p.91
7) “Tall” things in Kurtz’s Intended’s house symbolize the height and strength of her love
compared to Kurtz’s shallow and low character p 90.

Style
Tale is told so prose resembles a speaking voice: 

  • Pauses (dashes)
  • Hesitations
  • Repetitions
  • Digressions p.63-66
  • Difficulty in story telling in having audience understand p.42.

POV

  • First person
  • Actual speaking sailor tells story
  • Marlow’s tale is framed by the narration of a nameless narrator (who is an observer) –
  • ‘   ‘  indicates Marlow’s words told by narrator; no ‘   ‘ indicates narrator’s words – e.g. p.32.
  • Reasons: get the sensation of a crusty sailor telling a story/other ways of POV would not accomplish the idea that Marlow is working out the meaning of his tale as he goes along (we are part of the process).

Form and Structure
*Framework structure: unnamed character tells story – his growth (internally is major emphasis in the novel)
1) Structured as a journey of discovery both externally (in the jungle) and internally (in Marlow’s mind).  * The deeper he penetrates into the heart of the jungle, the deeper he delves within himself).
2) Time is Fractured: doesn’t tell tale beginning to end (skips around in relating events).  * Marlow tells us his thoughts as they occur to him.  (Conrad tries to find a form of writing which mirrored human thought).  There are forward/backward leaps; interruptions; and thoughts left dangling.  This is the same form and structure used by Faulkner.

Climax 
This occurs when Marlow finally reaches Kurtz, only to discover that the jungle has corrupted him physically, morally, and mentally. The jungle, of course, is as much the jungle within Kurtz–the tangling undergrowth of evil desires that seize control of his soul–as the jungle without.


Chapter One Notes

  • -Narrator exhibits optimism that was typical of Victorians (thinks British civilization is going to make the world better through science and technology).
    • Lawyer/accountant/director/narrator seem to  symbolize Victorian bourgeoisie whom Marlow’s tale addresses as a warning (believed enlightenment would overcome backwardness) and that light (enlightenment) would conquer the darkness of ignorance and superstition.
  • Image patterns of light/dark; white/black are established.  P.5 “one of the darkest places of the earth” (civilized land of “enlightenment” was once primitive wilderness
  • Africa map in shop window p. 9.  “Snake” – allusion/imagery/foreshadowing (snake charmed me p.22.)
  • Ominous atmosphere is created before Marlow even leaves for Africa – foreshadowing p.24-25/allusion of snake/Company’s offices are gloomy and strange (officials behave as if they have something to hide)/Doctor’s words and actions p.25-26.
  • In “outer” Africa
  • Unsettling impression is continued
  • Suggests that conquering the jungle is a task so tremendous that it is almost hopeless (sailors are dying at a pace of 3 per day; p. 29 contemptuousness of Belgian official suggests jungle is a strong opponent – not easily conquered); Marlow is appalled by everything he sees p.29 and 30 – work happening with lack of reason and progress, black slaves with iron collars, and men crawling away to die.
  • The trek to the Central Station

            Meets manager of Central Station
Meets brick maker p.28 (symbolizes the inefficiency of the place – has never
made any bricks)
Painting owned by brickmaker is symbolic p. 39.  Painting suggests that Kurtz knows and understands the true nature of the Company as well as his relation to it p.29.  “Blindfolded bearers of light destroy what they profess to enlighten”  (lighted torch: bearers of light is the light of enlightenment and amid darkness of ignorance Blindfolded? – Torch light on the face was sinister.

Symbolism

  • White
  • Black

White souls of the blacks contrasted with the black souls of the whites
White string of cotton around the starving black boy’s neck
White colors and cuffs worn by the accountant are phony
Women in Belgian company’s office knit with black wool

    • dark tragedy to follow

            Marlow’s predecessor dies because of a fight over 2 black hens
Heads on Kurtz’ fence are black
Background of Kurtz’ painting is black

  • Yellow:  Cowardice and corruption – marks the Congo area on the map in the Brussels office
  • Painting owned by the brick maker
  • Brick maker and pail with hole in it used to fight the fire and useless blasting of cliff:  - “progress’ of enlightenment, - inadequacy.

Chapter 2 & 3 Notes

Characters

Kurtz’s intended: lives under the delusion that Kurtz was generous, kind, noble (Marlow doesn’t enlighten her, says that Kurtz say s her name as he dies (lies), represents: 1) Victorian civilization (lost to Kurtz), woven partly in truth, partly in the lies we need to go on living, and 2) stereotypical view of women – like aunt – relegated to a world of “beautiful illusions.”

Kurtz’ Mistress:  the soul of the jungle – wild/gorgeous savage and superb – leader of Kurtz’ army – the most fearless of his followers: as Kurtz leaves she stretches her arms out to him – symbolizes the jungle that destroys Kurtz.

The Russian:  sailor who wandered the river for two years – was devoted to Kurtz: says Kurtz has “enlarged” his mind – colorful outfit which reminds Marlow of a harlequin (clown) – is innocent in his almost child-like awe of Kurtz.  His purpose is to (fill in plot details on Kurtz).  He contrasts his innocence with Kurtz’ evilness (one of the few “good” white men) – irony – he is a fool – he is “too dull to know he is being assaulted by the powers of darkness”

Kurtz:  Learn about Kurtz mainly through the thoughts and feelings of other characters.  His actual appearance is disappointing.  He is the focus of the novel: he is present in this respect by the effect he has on others (some characters – Intended/Russian are defined solely by their relationship to him).  Kurtz symbolizes a microcosm (a whole in a miniature) of the white man’s failure in Africa. Culture and civilization of Europe is evident in Kurtz – orator, writer, poet, musician, artist, politician, ivory procurer.  He is a universal genius, a hollow man without integrity or any sense of social responsibility.  Kurtz shows us the consequence of inadequate, self-knowledge (journeys to Africa eager to do good completely unaware of the dark side of his nature – the side that will respond to the call of the primitive).  Kurtz recognizes the evil of his actions “the horror – the horror” (his dying words).

 

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Heart of darkness characters and short analysis

   The Role of Women in Conrad’s Heart of Darkness:
                              The World of Beauty and Darkness

The story of the novella Heart of Darkness is based on Joseph Conrad’s own journey to the Congo in 1890, which ruined his health and left him completely demoralized. Conrad – just like his main character Marlow – struggles to come to terms with the horror of his experience by sharing his story with an audience. Marlow (or Conrad) is still puzzled and undecided when relating the details of his journey and the events he has witnessed. That is why Marlow’s tale is not explicit or obvious, but is full of elements of uncertainty. Critics have viewed his lack of precision as a positive characteristic for its power to evoke a dreamlike atmosphere in which the reader shares Marlow’s momentary inability to grasp what is happening. Marlow’s portrayal of places and people is also extremely vague: instead of giving us detailed delineations, he rather describes the feelings these evoke in him. Because of this vaporous quality many of the characters in the novel are vision-like – their existence outside Marlow’s mind can often be doubted. Among all the characters present in Marlow’s narration, women are probably the most mystified. 
Heart of Darkness is a story about a man, about manly adventure in which female figures seem to be playing quite an unessential role. The women in the novella, indeed, appear to be creations of Marlow’s or Kurtz’s imagination, and as such, their status as autonomous individuals is dubious. However, if we examine these figures more closely we will recognise their strength as symbols and their power in influencing Marlow’s fate. Even though there is no direct connection between the women, there is a powerful female network present in the novella, which frequently takes charge and assumes control of its events (Bode 20).
The female characters in Conrad’s work can be divided into two main groups: those who talk and those who remain speechless. The women whose voice can be heard (Marlow’s aunt, the Intended) are connected with the civilized world, while those who stay silent are some kind of symbols of the “enigma of the jungle” (M. Smith 193) (Kurtz’s mistress, the ladies at the Company’s Brussels office).
Marlow’s view of women can be heard right at the beginning of his narration. Commenting on one of his aunt’s remarks, Marlow exclaims: “It’s queer how out of touch with truth women are. They live in a world of their own, and there had never been anything like it, and never can be. It is too beautiful altogether…” (Conrad 40) According to feminist critic Joanna M. Smith, this opinion is very typical of the nineteenth century, when the ideology of separate male and female spheres was still ruling. Marlow’s comments on his aunt and his mockery of her intervention with the Company on his behalf reflect “the patriarchal ideology excluding women from the man’s sphere” (M. Smith 189). Marlow’s idea of the separate female space, which is limited in its possibilities, was contradicted by his aunt’s success. He tries to deal with the sense of shame and discomfort caused by this contradiction by mocking his aunt’s efforts. Although Marlow’s aunt undoubtedly belongs to the civilized world, she still seems to carry with her something of that dark, savage force which characterizes all the women in the novella, since it is her who gives the final push to set Marlow going on his journey into the unknown, into the very heart of darkness.
In the Company’s Brussels headquarters Marlow encounters two ladies, who are the door-keepers of the Company’s main office. Their physical appearance is described in great detail. They are both dressed in black, knitting black wool; one of them is slightly younger and thinner, while the other one is older, sitting in a chair, wearing “a starched white affair on her head.” The older lady reminds us of a witch, since she has a wart on her cheek, wears “silver-rimmed spectacles” (Conrad 38) and a cat is sitting in her lap. Nevertheless, this minute description does not really serve to prove the factual reality of their existence. Moreover, it only strengthens the surreal, dreamlike atmosphere of the story in which most of the characters can only be seen by Marlow alone. He attaches images from classical and Christian mythology to the knitters. The ladies appear to have some kind of a dark connection with afterlife; they seem to be some kind of guardians in the gate of hell, in the “door of Darkness” (Conrad 38). Marlow speaks about two young men, who are being “piloted over” (Conrad 38) from civilization into the wilderness by one of the ladies, she being the only thread connecting the two different worlds. These women are standing somewhere between the civilized world and the jungle, and they seem to possess a profound knowledge of both of these places. Their appearance – the dominance of the colour black, perhaps – and their ambience evoke the presentiment of something evil and threatening in Marlow. Even though there are only two of them, their knitting serves to link them with the three Fates of Roman and Greek mythology, who control human destiny by spinning and cutting the thread of life. The reason for the absence of a third lady might be that Marlow survives his journey to the Congo, so there is no need for the third Fate, whose duty would be to snip the thread. Other experts believe that there is a third Fate present in the novella and identify her with Kurtz’s black mistress (Bode 24). In my opinion however, it is Marlow’s aunt who can be regarded as the third Fate, since she is the only other female character in the story who is ‘spinning some kind of a yarn’ in order to influence Marlow’s future. After he gets back from his trip, suffering from a serious illness, it is his aunt who tries to “nurse up” (Conrad 99) his strength, thus the thread of his life is again being placed into her hands.
When Marlow arrives to the Company’s Outer Station in the Congo, he encounters an accountant who is wearing a surprisingly clean and well-ironed outfit. As this man explains the origin of his wonderful linen, it becomes clear that he has forced a native woman to become his laundress. According to Johanna M. Smith, the accountant makes use of imperialist and patriarchal oppression, which Marlow himself approves of (M. Smith 183). Although he makes fun of the man for looking like “a hairdresser’s dummy” (Conrad 45), he also expresses his admiration for the accountant’s accomplishment. Shortly after his arrival to the station, Marlow realises that he does not want to be part of the ‘great cause’ any longer and expresses his contempt for the subjugation of the natives, but the patriarchal oppression remains unseen by him because it seems natural. The laundress – being a symbol of the victimization of the natives – remains silent and invisible; unable to speak for herself.
Representing the savages and the jungle, there is another speechless character in the story, Kurtz’s native mistress, who appears after Kurtz has been taken on board of Marlow’s ship. Marlow’s fundamental fear of female power present throughout the whole novella seems to be justified by the African woman. She is “savage and superb, wild-eyed and magnificent” (Conrad 89). As Bode states in her article, she reflects the mysterious and impenetrable jungle with all its secret forces and also exercises control over it. She has the ability to change the face of the landscape itself: “Suddenly she opened her bared arms and (…) at the same time the swift shadows darted out on the earth, swept around on the river, gathering the steamer in a shadowy embrace” (Conrad 89). Kurtz’s longing to remain part of jungle life is very strongly linked to his longing for her. Her soul reflects the jungle, she herself is the wilderness and as such she has gained absolute control over Kurtz. She approaches the steamer as if the jungle itself closed in menacingly around the intruders. She is not allowed to board though: some other female force seems to stand in her way. The ship – loved, cherished, caressed by the sailors – is referred to in the English language as a ‘she’, a woman, protective of her passengers as a mother is of her children. Marlow’s steamer is also a female character with a symbolic voice: her horn scares the savages away, since to them it represents the unknown, the ‘fearful’ civilization. The African mistress does not dare enter this world, she remains on the shore, and thus this clash between the two worlds seems to be won by civilization.
The darkness of his jungle experience has accompanied Marlow home never to leave him anymore. The final scene with the Intended suggests most strongly that the effects of the jungle are still present. There are many details recalling the jungle in this scene: Marlow’s vision of Kurtz as he stands in the door of the Intended, his last words echoing in the room around them or the piano made of dark wood with its ivory keys. Moreover, the Intended herself has a shadow-like presence and her movements can easily be associated with those of the native girl: “she put out her arms, as if after a retreating figure, stretching them black and with clasped pale hands across the fading and narrow sheen of the window” (Conrad 104). The African woman and the Intended form some kind of a mysterious “sisterhood” (Bode 20); they complement each other, just like the black and white, the ebony and the ivory of the piano. Like the African mistress, the Intended also seems to have the power to bring on the darkness. Her effect on Marlow is very powerful; she assumes complete charge over him.  She is leading the conversation – he only says the words she wants to hear.
His visit to the Intended leaves Marlow totally disconcerted: he is unable to interpret this meeting correctly. He believes that the reason for his lying to the woman was his intention to protect her from disappointment. He does not realise that the darkness and the death-like atmosphere present in the Intended’s room was not brought in by him, but it was  originally there and was only strengthened by the appearance of the girl. The fact that she was still dressed in black, still in mourning after more than a year had passed since Kurtz’s death, suggests that suffering has become her natural state and that she will not part with it easily. By telling her the truth, Marlow could have demolished her idol and saved her from her misery. But the Intended does not want to be saved: Marlow is unable to fight against the pressure put on him by this woman who has a superb “capacity for fidelity, for belief, for suffering” (Conrad 102). He is forced to lie. In the Intended’s presence Marlow is overcome by the same feelings that have overwhelmed him in the jungle: “ I asked myself what I was doing there, with a sensation of panic in my heart as though I had blundered into a place of cruel and absurd mysteries not fit for a human being to behold” (Conrad 102-103). Marlow is incapable of grasping the essence of the Intended’s world and does not realise that this woman is not a fragile little creature in need of protection but someone possessing great, threatening force. The source of his fear can only partly be attributed to his past experience: the horror he feels was mainly evoked by the Intended’s dark power. Her affliction is her strength: by telling her the truth, Marlow could deprive her of it. He could enlighten the darkness of her heart.
For Marlow though, the world of women is “too beautiful altogether” (Conrad 40). He is unwilling and unable to change his view about them. Marlow is the one who cannot see the truth, he is the one blindfolded, the one who is “out of touch” (Conrad 40) with reality. He cannot comprehend that the world “too beautiful altogether” can also be a world “too dark altogether” (Conrad 105).

 

 

Works Cited
Bode, Rita. “‘They … Should Be Out of It’: The Women of Heart of Darkness.” Conradiana: A Journal of Joseph Conrad Studies 26 (January 1994) 20-34.
Conrad, Joseph. Heart of Darkness. London: Wordsworth Editions Limited, 1999.
Smith, Johanna M. “‘Too Beautiful Altogether’: Patriarchal Ideology in Heart of Darkness.” Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness. A Case Study in Contemporary Criticism. Ed. Ross C. Murfin. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1989. 179-195.

 

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Heart of darkness characters and short analysis

Heart of Darkness summary a la Shmoop (fyi:  it’s a bit cheeky, but it’s interesting...)

Part I

  • During a flood on the river Thames (that’s in England, by the way), the Nellie, a British ship, anchors near London and waits for the flood to recede. On board are four seamen – the unnamed narrator, a lawyer, an accountant, and Marlow. Notice how only one is named. That's important.
  • The environment and mood are serene, though there are constant references to an ominous gloom in the west. (Ominous gloom = darkness. Hmm…)
  • The narrator, pondering the river, thinks of its illustrious history – playing host to countless British heroes who went forth to bring trade and civilization to less fortunate nations.
  • The sun sets and Marlow begins talking. He starts with a seemingly unrelated hypothetical situation about an ancient Roman seaman first coming to Britain. He imagines this Roman encountering horror upon horror in this unfamiliar and savage land. He speaks of them conquering the "natives."
  • Then Marlow begins to recount his story as a "fresh-water sailor" and the three listeners resign themselves to hearing his tale.
  • (Begin use of historical present now.)
  • Welcome to Marlow’s story.
  • As a child, Marlow loves looking at maps. He dreams about exploring the blank spaces on maps, especially Africa, which (on his map) big shape somewhere south of Europe. The Congo River particularly fascinates Marlow like a snake hypnotizing a bird, which is a rather relevant image.
  • He is so fascinated that he applies to "the Company" – an ivory trade firm whose real name is probably not just "the Company" – and tries to appropriate a steamboat.
  • Marlow finally gets his chance when another commissioned captain, the Danish Fresleven, dies at the hands of the native Africans over an argument about two hens. When a native African accidentally kills Fresleven, both parties freak out. The English freak out because one of their own just got killed. The native Africans fear that they have killed a god – for that’s how they view white men – and last time they checked killing a god resulted in getting smote down and punished. Since no one in their right mind would take over for Fresleven, the opportunity is open for Marlow.
  • When Marlow goes to the office in Brussels, the city reminds him of white sepulchers (burial vaults).
  • There are also two women knitting at the door freaking him out a bit with their placidity. Not a good sign. Kind of ominous, actually, or possibly even dark, despite all the whiteness all over the place.
  • The actual signing goes surprisingly easily; the head of the Company speaks French (Marlow felt compelled to include this detail in his story) and simply has Marlow sign a document.
  • However, Marlow cannot shake off an inexplicable, ominous feeling about heading into the African continent where the guy that used to have his job was just murdered.
  • The two knitting women and the doctor who refuses to travel with the sailors only add to his queasy insides. Right before he leaves, Marlow gets the distinct feeling that he is an imposter on this dangerous journey.
  • A French steamer takes him to Africa. Marlow watches the passing shoreline in fascination. Along the way, he sees a group of black men rowing a boat and is struck by their naturalness and their intense energy.
  • In an instant of foreshadowing, Marlow sees these guys running across this little boat that’s shooting little cannonballs onto the empty shore. The people shooting the cannonballs think they are attacking native Africans on the shore, but, as often is the case with empty shores, there’s nobody there. Bizarre.
  • It takes thirty days to reach the Outer (coastal) station in the continent. When Marlow arrives there, he gets his first glimpses of black slaves. The healthy ones are chained together and set to physical work, trying to dynamite through a stubborn cliff to build a railroad. Many, however, are sick, starving, and slowly dying in a grove of trees.
  • Marlow, moved by one famished man at his feet, attempts to give him a biscuit, but the man dies right before his eyes. Marlow feels sorry for them.
  • The Company accountant is dressed in British finery. You know, starched collars and silk ties and all that jazz. It is quite a contrast to the sick and dying slaves.
  • For the ten days he is forced to stay at this station, Marlow hears rumors about the mysterious Mr. Kurtz from the accountant. We learn that Kurtz is a top agent working right in the heart of the continent and that he obtains more ivory than all the other posts combined (which makes us wonder if he's operating a shady business). Everyone agrees he is destined for great things within the Company.
  • At last, Marlow leaves with a caravan of sixty men for a two-hundred mile journey.
  • When they arrive at the Central Station, Marlow encounters another delay. The steamboat intended for him has sunk. Marlow suspects foul play.
  • Marlow begins repairs immediately, but is still delayed for three months.
  • Marlow meets the manager. The man is creepy (a common theme around these parts). By all accounts, he does a mediocre job at being a manager, and seems to have no talents. He babbles constantly in a way Marlow finds irritating. He has this vacant smile which makes Marlow feel like there’s nothing inside him, as if the manager is a hollowed-out man.
  • Nonetheless, Marlow gets some information about Kurtz from the manager. Apparently, Kurtz is ill in the Interior. He has designs on becoming a manager within the Company.
  • One night, a shed burns down. In the commotion, Marlow overhears some unknown agent talking about Kurtz. We also hear (out of context) the words "take advantage of this unfortunate accident." Suspicious much? The speaker turns out to be a brickmaker of a shady nature – one called the "manager’s spy" – who does not actually make any bricks.
  • This brickmaker pumps a clueless Marlow for information. Marlow plays along simply to see what he wants.  Eventually he learns that the brickmaker wants to get in with Marlow’s aunt’s connections, who recommended Marlow for the job.  Marlow realizes the brickmaker cannot know this information without having read some supposedly confidential mail. When accused of this, the spineless brickmaker backs down.
  • After he’s recovered, the brickmaker comes back and sucks up to Marlow, explaining everything. He wants to be assistant manager and Kurtz’s presence has messed it up. He wants Marlow and his connections to help him out.
  • Marlow allows the brickmaker to think that he actually has influence in Europe just to get more information about Kurtz. Slick.
  • While the brickmaker chatters on, Marlow stops listening and becomes fascinated by the eerily silent forest before him. He feels small against its vastness.
  • Marlow makes a HUGE deal out of telling his audience that he hates lies. Really, really hates lies. (You are definitely going to want to remember that.)
  • At this point, Marlow stops the narrative to the men aboard the Nellie to remark on how unreal and dreamlike it all felt at the time. He says the listeners are lucky because they can "see" more of the story than he could when he was experiencing it all. They can see him (Marlow), which was more than Marlow could see. Confusing? Yes, and also heavily ironic, since it has now fallen dark aboard the Nellie and the listeners cannot actually see Marlow, each other, or themselves. Marlow even questions whether they are awake.
  • So, of course, he does what all storytellers do when they think they are losing their audience: he gets back to the story. Resume historical present inside Marlow’s story.
  • Marlow spaces out while the brickmaker is talking to him. His sole goal in life is to repair the steamboat, which requires rivets, and get on his way.
  • When Marlow finally tells this to the brickmaker, the guy stops sucking up and changes the topic – something about a troublesome hippo that terrorizes the men at night.
  • After this, Marlow runs into the foreman sitting on the deck. They dance madly because they think rivets are coming in three weeks.
  • But it turns out no rivets are coming after all.
  • Instead of rivets, the Eldorado Exploring Expedition, a renegade raiding group, arrives. They are led by the manager’s uncle, who conspires with his nephew. Marlow loathes them both.

Part II

  • One lazy day, Marlow is napping out on deck when he hears the manager and his uncle talking about something faintly interesting. Make that extremely interesting: Kurtz. So Marlow eavesdrops.
  • The manager and his uncle are unhappy with Kurtz. He’s too influential with the powers that be. They think he’s stealing ivory. They oh-so-nicely hope the climate will kill him.
  • Apparently, Kurtz once came down the river to send the ivory to the Company but then decided to turn back. No one knows why.
  • All the Englishmen, and we the readers, think this is odd and confusing. Marlow, however, who has developed something of an obsession with this guy he's never met, thinks it is admirable.
  • The men keep jabbering until the uncle tells the manager not to worry, but instead to trust "this," which we assume involves a gesture to the surroundings since "this" means the scary African wilderness.
  • Marlow is so scared by "this" that he jumps out of his hiding place, which in turn scares the living bejeebus out of manager and uncle. To cover up their screams of fright, they pretend to ignore him and go back up to the station.
  • Soon afterward, the Eldorado Exploring Expedition leaves. Marlow learns later that all their donkeys die. This implies that the men died too. It also means they were killed by [gesture to surroundings] "this."
  • It takes two months of going upriver through the scary forest to reach Kurtz’s station. The trip is seriously scary. So much so that Marlow describes it as traveling back to the beginning of time, before the dawn of mankind. There are huge forests, aggressive animals, and an unnerving stillness in the air. Marlow feels tiny next to this immense wilderness. So small that he compares his steamboat to a beetle.
  • One of the listeners interrupts Marlow’s narratives. (This proves that they haven’t all fallen asleep, in case you were still wondering about that.) Everyone is entranced by Marlow’s story.
  • Back to the tale. They have cannibals on board. Yeah, people who eat one another. Except they don’t eat one another now, out of respect for their employers. Instead they eat rotten hippo meat.
  • By now, Marlow really has become obsessed with Kurtz. He considers his journey into the interior purely a trip to visit Kurtz.
  • The journey becomes so trippy that Marlow feels as if he’s in a dream. Again. He’s cut off from all understanding of the world around him and feels like he has no memories.
  • In fact, he finds himself identifying with the native Africans hiding out in the bush. He recognizes a "remote kinship." The only reason he doesn’t go ashore "for a howl and a dance" is because he’s a busy man. (Pay close attention to this passage in your book – it's extremely important.)
  • Marlow tells us all about the cannibal fireman on board. He is the kind of fireman that starts fires (in the boiler), not the kind that puts them out. The fireman has been told that if the water in the boiler ever disappears, the evil spirit inside will take revenge. That’s how they make him work.
  • Fifty miles before they arrive at the Inner Station, they run across a pile of firewood and a warning message: "Approach cautiously," which might be translated as "RUN AWAY NOW." But Marlow and Co. steam onward.
  • They find an abandoned hut with a book inside. It’s entitled "An Inquiry into some Points of Seamanship" and is full of sailor shop-talk. Even though Marlow doesn’t understand it, it comforts him. It gives him a touchstone to reality.
  • At sundown of the second day, they decide to stop and rest. The night is eerily still. At dawn, a thick fog falls and prevents everyone from seeing anything. The men anchor.
  • Naturally, trouble ensues. They hear a very loud and sad-sounding shouting somewhere in the mist. They’re freaked out.
  • The cannibals, however, are calm and alert. In fact, one wants to find whoever is shouting and eat them.
  • Marlow wonders why the cannibals, being cannibals and all, haven’t tried to eat one of the white pilgrims yet. We wonder, too. We’re also very nervous about this whole situation.
  • It takes two hours for the fog to lift. When it does, they continue.
  • As they’re crossing, they’re attacked. The cannibals anticipate this and dive for the deck a split second before the arrows fall.
  • The cannibal helmsman is the most freaked out. He abandons his position steering the boat, grabs a big gun, and shoots into the bush. A disgruntled Marlow is forced to do some energetic emergency steering.
  • In the meantime, the helmsman gets himself killed. By a spear. In the chest. He falls and a pool of blood oozes around Marlow’s shoes. Marlow, horrified, watches the man die at his feet.
  • Marlow blows the steam-whistle to scare off the attackers. It works (better than the gun, at least).
  • He ponders the dead helmsman and thinks that Kurtz must be dead too. The thought is profoundly depressing to him. He can’t get over how much he wanted to hear Kurtz speak. This is interesting. He didn’t want to meet Kurtz or shake his hand. Just wanted to hear his voice. We find out that Marlow is obsessed with voices. (So much so that we feel obligated to dog-ear all the pages in our text that have to do with voices. You also might want to take note of them in your book…)
  • At this point, Marlow breaks the narrative again, saying his listeners cannot possibly understand without being there. There’s also a lot of confusing mention of matters in his story that we haven’t gotten to yet – that he will, in fact, get to see Kurtz, that Kurtz is, in fact, little more than a voice, that there’s something to do with a girl and the phrase "My Intended." Either Marlow is a bad story teller or this is an intentional authorial use of "prolepsis," or giving away pieces of the ending before it’s time to do so. We’ll let you decide.
  • Marlow now skips ahead in his story and tells us about a report Kurtz wrote for the International Society for the Suppression of Savage Customs. It says that white men must approach the native Africans as though the white men are "supernatural beings" so that "we can exert a power for good practically unbounded." In other words, he says, make the Africans think of us as gods and they’ll do whatever we say.
  • Marlow is struck by the expressive power of the words. Kurtz, whatever his faults, is an incredible writer. But Kurtz sort of lost it at the end, and scrawled a handwritten "p.s." that said "Exterminate all the brutes!"
  • Back to Marlow’s story. Marlow throws the helmsman’s corpse overboard so that cannibals will not fight over his body.
  • They arrive at the Inner Station. There, they meet a boyish man (Kurtz’s disciple) dressed like a harlequin – his clothes are all colorful with different patches. He doesn’t get a name, either , so we just call him the harlequin.
  • He insists that the Africans who attacked Marlow and Co. didn’t mean any harm. (OK, so the poison arrows were what, a welcome ritual?) Marlow is struck by his rapid babbling. The harlequin justifies this by saying that one doesn’t talk with Kurtz; one only listens to him. So he’s making up for lost babbling by talking a million miles an hour with Marlow.
  • Marlow lets him smoke his pipe so that the tobacco calms him down. Good call. Only then do we learn about the man's history. The harlequin is a son of a Russian arch-priest who went looking for adventure on the English ships. He’s been in the interior for two years, which is about three years longer than a normal person can handle.
  • Marlow discovers that the little abandoned hut was the harlequin’s. So Marlow returns the sailor’s book. He discovers that the "cipher" language he couldn’t read before is Russian.
  • At this point, the harlequin confesses why the native Africans attacked. The truth is shocking: they don’t want Kurtz to leave.

Part III

  • We learn of the harlequin’s history with Kurtz; Kurtz keeps him around so he has someone to listen to him. But for the most part, Kurtz wanders alone among the Africans.
  • In his expeditions, Kurtz raids various villages for ivory. He even gets the native Africans – who adore him – to help raid the neighbors for things like ivory.
  • Kurtz is so obsessive about ivory that he even threatened to shoot the harlequin one day unless he handed over his own personal supply of ivory. The harlequin, being a clever (or possibly cowardly) man, gave it up.
  • We discover that the harlequin nursed Kurtz through two bouts of sickness and is rather proud of himself for doing so.
  • At this point, Marlow’s eyes are wandering over Kurtz’s compound. He makes a gruesome discovery. The "knobs" on the ends of the stakes he noticed from a distance are not ornamental. They’re skulls of dead Africans.
  • To Marlow, these skulls show that Kurtz "lacked restraint," a fault that Marlow seems to despise. In fact, he despises it so much that he’ll make reference to this "lack of restraint" at least two more times before the end of the book. So keep an eye out.
  • Marlow begins to reflect that Kurtz, whose reputation is larger than life, has violent, ruthless, "savage" qualities – and a "hollow core" – that even Kurtz himself may not realize consciously until the end of his life. In this light, Kurtz is an obsessed, lustful, maniacal imperialist who would stop at nothing for ivory and other treasures he found in the African land. Horrific cruelties against humanity were par for the course in his quest for material gain.
  • The harlequin sees Marlow’s disgust and tries to justify Kurtz’s actions by saying those skulls "were the heads of rebels." Marlow’s response is to inwardly scoff at the use of the word "rebel."
  • Suddenly, a party of native Africans arrives carrying Kurtz on a stretcher. At last, we get to see the man.
  • Marlow describes Kurtz as grotesquely thin and ghostly, like Death personified. Marlow calls him "that atrocious phantom." The man is obviously sick. The only substantial thing about him is his voice.
  • "Kurtz" means "short" in German, Marlow notes, but Kurtz isn’t remotely short. In fact, he’s rather tall.
  • Kurtz has heard of Marlow through some letters. He’s glad Marlow has come.
  • Before they engage in conversation, the manager appears. Marlow leaves the two alone in the tent to chat.
  • In the meantime, a group of native Africans has gathered outside. For the first time, we see a woman. Now, it could be that Marlow hasn’t seen a woman in several months, but he describes her as wild and gorgeous, a warrior woman, with brass trappings to boot. She looks at Marlow and his pilgrims on the steamer with incredible sadness. She never speaks, but gestures at the sky and then disappears into the wood.
  • The harlequin is unnerved by her. He wants to shoot her because he feels she’s too close to Kurtz. It’s implied that she is Kurtz’s lover. The plot thickens.
  • The manager and Kurtz argue. The manager loses. After leaving Kurtz, he confers with Marlow. The manager, obviously jealous of Kurtz, calls his method of collecting ivory "unsound." He wants to remove Kurtz from the interior (because he’s a threat).
  • Marlow, realizing how ridiculous the manager is, takes Kurtz’s side, saying he is Kurtz’s friend. He alienates the manager for good.
  • At this point, the harlequin gets spooked by the manager’s threats of hanging and decides to peace out. Before he does, he reveals that Kurtz ordered the earlier attack on Marlow’s steamer. Which, we think, is the third explanation we’ve heard for the poison arrows, so we really don't trust this guy now.
  • Despite the mistrust, Marlow very helpfully provides him with a few spare items (shoes, cartridges, etc.) before the harlequin leaves. Marlow again remarks on the remarkability of the man. (Pun intended.)
  • Hours later, Marlow wakes up around midnight and goes to check on Kurtz who, in a dramatic and suspenseful moment, is not there.
  • Marlow becomes really scared.
  • Instead of raising the alarm, Marlow goes after Kurtz himself. After all, he figures, the sick man is probably crawling through the jungle and can’t have gone that far.
  • Marlow’s confidence is validated; he does indeed find Kurtz.
  • Kurtz tells Marlow to hide himself. He is very bitter about his fight with the manager. He had dreams of greatness. Now they’ve been all smashed to pieces.
  • Marlow is drawn in by the hypnotic spell of night while he ignores Kurtz. He watches some native Africans dancing and confuses the drums with his own heartbeat.
  • Finally, after threatening to kill Kurtz if he calls out to the Africans, Marlow takes the man in his arms like a child and brings him back out of the jungle.
  • The next day, they all leave aboard the steamer. A group of Africans gathers on the shore.
  • Suddenly the warrior woman breaks through and shouts to the departing steamer. This riles up the native Africans and the pilgrims. The pilgrims want to shoot. They almost do except Marlow prevents disaster by blowing the steam-whistle and scaring everyone away. Everyone except the woman who, unlike the men, is unperturbed by the whistle.
  • Kurtz seems to understand what is going on, but does not tell.
  • Kurtz is on the edge of death. He has mood swings and raves incomprehensibly.
  • The pilgrims have turned against Marlow because he sides with Kurtz.
  • The steamboat breaks down and they have to lay up for a few days to fix it. During this time, Kurtz loses his sight, saying that he lies in the dark when he is actually in sunlight.
  • In his dying moments, Marlow sees a change comes over Kurtz’s face, a mask of despair. His last words are the most famous of the book: "The horror! The horror!" Marlow may have been referring to this moment in an earlier passage in the book, when Marlow says "Whether [Kurtz] knew of this deficiency [lacking restraint in gratification of his lusts] I can't say. I think the knowledge came to him at last – only at the very last."
  • When news hits that Kurtz has died, everyone rushes to see the dead body. Marlow, on the other hand, seems to have no desire to stop eating dinner. This almost causes his men to mutiny against him. But they don’t.
  • The next day, the men bury Kurtz. Marlow becomes ill himself, but survives and makes it back to Europe safely.
  • Back in England, Marlow finds that he cannot identify with normal folk anymore. They are petty and extremely irritating.
  • Marlow tries to figure out what to do with Kurtz’s papers, which the late Kurtz entrusted to him. The Company is jonesing to see those papers, thinking that they may say something along the lines of "all of the ivory on the entire world is buried at X" followed by a map with a large red X. Marlow refuses to give them the papers, saying they are personal and none of their business. He holds firm his stance, even when the Company threatens legal action.
  • A man visits Marlow, claiming to be Kurtz’s cousin. He leaves with some worthless private letters. We’re suspicious.
  • Marlow decides to return the rest of the papers to Kurtz’s "Intended," which is nineteenth century British for a fiancée.
  • When he calls upon her, we discover she is a beautiful woman with a distinctive golden hair. Despite the fact that she is wearing all black, Marlow associates her with light as opposed to Kurtz’s darkness.
  • Her adoration for Kurtz is obvious and exaggerated. She claims no man could know Kurtz or hear him speak without then loving him.
  • It becomes increasingly apparent that she has no idea who Kurtz really was.
  • This woman (who, by the way, is also nameless), begs for Marlow to repeat Kurtz’s last words to her.
  • Marlow deliberately lies. (At this point you might consider flipping to Chapter One and finding that bit about lying.) Anyway, his lie is that Kurtz’s last words were her name.
  • She gobbles it up, claiming she "knew it."
  • Marlow justifies his lie by claiming "it would have been too dark" to tell her the truth.
  • Aboard the Nellie, Marlow wraps things up. He’s done. The Director remarks that the tide has come and this stirs our unnamed narrator who was telling us about Marlow who was telling us about Kurtz. He looks off at the horizon and seems to see the "heart of an immense darkness." On that note, we end.

 

 

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