1.

The newly enlightened Buddha Marlow continues to explain the true nature of colonisation and
the violence that it brings. He argues that it is the idea of colonisation that redeems their actions
and makes them seem noble.

A Journey towards Self-discovery in Joseph Conrad’s The

Heart of Darkness
1. “recent criticism has insisted on the story’s being about Marlow, rather than Kurtz, regarding it
as a journey into Marlow’s consciousness”
2. “a kind of frame-narrator’s grave, quiet, brooding voice which starts with the interior resonance
of story, using the first person, to move free where he wishes in time, and therefore free to
foreshadow his conclusion
3. As he delves deeper into the heart of darkness, both literally and metaphorically, Marlow
confronts realities that he was not fully prepared to face.
4. Very importantly, he measures the narrative to a dream, which may be responsible for the kind
of discursive distortion that affects the story itself.
5. “We are made aware of Kurtz’s symbolic role through the recurrent dream-imagery, which
locates him as a phantom in Marlow’s dream”
6. Marlow’s encounter with Kurtz reveals the stark contrast between the façade of European
civilization and the harsh realities hidden beneath Kurtz initially portrayed as an idealistic agent
of European imperialism.
7. Marlow’s journey turns a journey into the psyche of Kurtz and finds self-expression of Marlow’s
own uncurious state. In this regard, Cox C. B. also points out, “the novel can be interpreted, in a
Freudian manner, as a journey into the wilderness of sex, a fantasy shaped by Conrad’s own
divided impulses” (41), since Kurtz reflects Marlow’s self-shadow, the secret sharer, and the
voyage of discovery is a night journey in the unconscious state, his inner self.
8. Kurtz and Marlow, in The Heart of Darkness, are such characters who symbolize the two
categories of human beings.
9. Kurtz goes to Congo with this mission of their country and race, but the lust and greed of
building and expanding the British Empire generates in him a similar lust for collecting ivory for
himself. This lust results in the loss of the integrity of his personality in his own eyes and
ultimately he dies, Marlow goes to Congo with the same intention or the ideal mission of this
country but what he finds there is the brutal exploitation of the natives by the whites operating
the business of ivory there. Kurtz is physically dead but his agonized soul has possessed Marlow,
who comes back home with a fractured conscience. It gives him a lesson that lust is the greatest
enemy in life.
10. He feels that everything around him is unreal, yet he thinks that something is real, which could
be like a dream.
 11. Heart of Darkness is the subconscious of Kurtz and Marlow. Kurtz realizes the futility of this
short life just before his death. Kurtz was the symbol of a cultured and civilized race, but he
moved to the stage of savage greed and lustful life. He realized that all that he has been living
appears meaningless and horrible: "No, it is impossible; it is impossible to convey the life-
sensation of any epoch of one's existence, that which makes its truth, its meaning is subtle and
penetrating essence is impossible. We live as we dream-alone”
12. His voyage into the heart of darkness when he was often very close to death, resulted in inner
illumination, a better and fuller understanding of life and its mystery, and the result was a great
Heart of Darkness.
13. For Marlow, the journey up the Congo River is a voyage of self-exploration and self-realization,
which gives deep insight into the dark recess of the human mind.
14. Emotional reality is higher than factual reality and Heart of Darkness has this emotional reality.
15. They attack the steamer, but it is their defense in reality.
16. Marlow insists that these are the moments of complete knowledge. James Guetti comments
that, “he asserts that the horror has to do not only with Kurtz unspeakable history, but also with
the world at large wide enough to embrace the whole universe, piercing to penetrate all the
hearts that beat in the darkness”
17. With the burial of Kuntz's dead body, something belonging to Marlow is also buried. He ponders
man's destiny, his destiny, and life. He is shorn of man’s illusion of a false ideal and is face-to-
face with stark realities.
18. Marlow had full knowledge of Kurtz's spiritual crisis at the time of his death. The Buddha
posture of Marlow is symbolic of his desire for self-knowledge. It symbolizes the inner
illumination and insight that he gains through his Congo voyage.
19. Marlow is aware of his wounded self and his injured sensibilities. Naturally, he has no
intellectual or emotional defense. He is unable to chart out any plan for his life. But it is sheer
irony that he has still to go on with his duties by fulfilling one of the ironic necessities of human
existence.
20. “There is nobody, not a hut, there is only death, the death of many men, the death of ethical
behavior, the death of goodness and civility, the death, crucially, of our authority as selves”
21. In the eyes of the natives, he is the messiah of progress, though to his colleagues, he is an agent
of exploitation.

Moral Corruption in Conrad’s Heart of Darkness: “The

Horror! The Horror!”
1. Morality is a major theme in Joseph Conrad's novella Heart of Darkness. Marlow discovers for
himself how easy it is to lose one's humanity in the absence of a structured society of
civilization.

1.1 Moral Corruption due to Greed in Heart of Darkness

1. In this novella, morality is abandoned in large part due to greed. In this tale, ivory represents
greed and evil.
2. He felt as though all his greed had overcome him “my intended, my ivory, my station, my river,
my everything belonged to him.” (Conrad, 1999).
3. Ivory rules the characters in the book’s actions; “You would think they were praying to it” It was
believed by Conrad, “behavior is effectively structured and censored by the policing mechanisms
of civilization.”
4. Heart of Darkness's portrayal of imperialism, however, places more emphasis on what it does to
Europeans than it does to the people it colonizes, "perverting the West's vision of itself as the
bearer of light and civilization."(Brown, 2000). Imperialism ruins Europeans by detaching them
from civilization and their values, leading them into violent, irrational behavior. Exploratory life
like "cold, fog, tempests, disease, exile, and death- death skulking in the air, in the water, in the
jungle" poses several risks.(Conrad, 1999). If the colonialist becomes overcome by darkness, as
Kurtz did, it is because of close contact with the wild, lawless nature, which awakens a quality
that was before dormant and hidden deep within him. Being cut off from the rest of humanity
has caused him to lose both the physical and spiritual aspects of what it means to be a human,
leaving him "empty at the heart."(Conrad, 1999) Conrad says: “There is no morality, no
knowledge, and no hope; there is only the consciousness of ourselves which drives us about a
world that whether seen in a convex or a concave mirror is always but a vain and fleeting
appearance” (Lackey, 2005).

5. Imperialism responsible for Moral degeneration

1. Imperialism and colonialism have a connection to one another. Colonialism led to imperialism,
which is the ultimate form of colonialism that may be attained through the imposition of
economic, social, and political reliance that guarantees both the labor force and the market for
European industry and goods. Even without any direct governmental authority, it is possible.
This imperial process is unaffected by political changes. It is founded on financial exploitation.
2. He disregards his duty and turns into a ruthless white lord who exploits the abundant resources
by importing elephant tusks and subjugates the natives. He ultimately completely disregards his
former objective, becomes dangerously ill, and passes away while traveling back to Europe. The
novel is intimately related to "the waste and horror, of Europe's mission in the dark globe,"
according to Edward Said.(Said, 1994).
3. He has influences from all of Europe because he has a combination of French, English, and
German ancestry. He is a symbol of the flaws in European culture, specifically the lack of
"discipline" in its quest for worldly wealth. His is a prime illustration of the moral degradation of
a highly educated and idealistic Westerner who easily gives in to the temptations of political
authority and wealth attained by exploitation of the poor and subservient indigenous.