- Characters Marlow and Kurtz and their importance in the novel
Charlie Marlow is a thirty-two years
old man who has "followed the sea." Marlow is in many ways a
traditional hero. He is tough, honest, an independent thinker and a capable
man. Marlow's story of his voyage up the Congo River constitutes almost
Conrad’s entire novel. He is the pilot of the steamboat sent to set Kurtz free.
At the same time Marlow is shocked by what he sees concerning what the European
traders have done to the natives.
Kurtz is an ivory trader for the Company. Kurtz
works out of the Inner Station and he is remarkably effective at acquiring
ivory. A well-educated European, he is described as a "universal
genius" and begins his works in the Congo as part of a virtuous mission.
However, while in the jungle, he sets himself up as a god to the natives. By
the time Marlow reaches him, he is emaciated and dying.
- Narrator peculiarities
Heart of Darkness begins on
board of a small ship on the Thames River, in London, called the Nellie. After
describing the river and its slow-flow traffic, the unnamed narrator offers
short descriptions of London's history to his companions, the Director of
Companies (their Captain), a lawyer, an accountant, and the novel's protagonist
Marlow. As the sun sets, the four men become contemplative; eventually, Marlow
breaks the silence by beginning his tale about his voyage to the Congo. The
other men remain silent while Marlow collects his ideas, after which he begins
the story properly.
The remainder of the novel becomes, with a few
exceptions, the narrator's report of what Marlow tells him and the others on
board of the Nellie. Conrad's novel is therefore a frame story or a
story-within-a-story, fact that makes it peculiar.
- Africa and Africans in the novel
As Marlow makes known the story of
his travels up the Congo River, in that manner, making the setting - the Congo
- and more generally, Africa, he describes his African crew as “big powerful
men, with not much capacity to weigh the consequences”, (p. 105).
In Heart of Darkness, Marlow
consistently portrays females as weak, deluded, or threatening, in the case,
the statuesque African woman. Africans, in general, were seen as primitive,
savage and primordial. Savagery and primitiveness are obvious enough images in
the novel. To cite Marlow: “black natives, black people, black men”
(p.
11); “neither enemies nor criminals but black shadows of disease and sadness,
bunches of bones under black skin” (p. 13).
‘We entered deeper and deeper into the heart of
darkness’ up to ‘the noise and activities of these wild creatures’ (p. 30)
- Kurtz last words: “The horror! The horror!” (Penguin edition, p.100)
Kurtz, as an example of the European colonialism, his words “The horror! The horror!” may reflect the real picture of the Europeans in Africa. Although, he ‘admitted’ that the real darkness was in the whites' minds. At the end of the story maybe he realized this contradiction knowing that something very bad was waiting for him after his natural life. Maybe he was having a glimpse of hell.
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