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University of Bucharest Review Vol. XII/2022, no. 2
Disaster Discourse: Representations of Catastrophe (II)
97
Eliana Ionoaia
“The dreams of men, the seed of commonwealths,
the germs of empires”.
The Impact of Colonialism in Joseph Conrad’s
Heart of Darkness
by the power of the written word,
to make you hear, to make you feel
If I succeed, you shall find there according
and, perhaps, also that glimpse of truth
Ludwig Wittgenstein
Abstract: Despite accusations of racism and of upholding colonialism, Heart of
Darkness reveals the problematic nature of the imperial enterprise. The
dichotomy between superior versus inferior, us versus them, self versus other,
embedded in colonial discourse, becomes challenging when considering that the
foray into the Dark Continent reveals more about the character of Europeans. The
outward journey of exploration of the still partially unknown Africa is mirrored
by an inward journey that reveals the degenerate nature of the European
identity. The geographical journey is doubled by an anthropological one,
towards our earliest origins, as well as a psychological one, towards the primitive
self.
Keywords: Heart of Darkness; colonialism; disaster; degeneration; self; alienation.
University of Bucharest; Romania.
University of Bucharest Review Vol. XII/2022, no. 2
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Joseph Conrad strove to make his readers see through his written words,
hoping to encourage them to glimpse and grasp the truth. Given that language
determines how we view reality, he employed the ironic mode in Heart of
Darkness, to reveal the problematic nature of colonial discourse. On the surface,
his novel is an adventure tale, influenced by the travel writings of his times.
Instead of its mere geographical or anthropological facets, what makes Heart of
Darkness remarkable is what it reveals about the degeneration of Europeans
heading into the uncharted territory of Africa. Conrad chose a title that
underscores the power as well as the ambiguity of language. Heart of Darkness
may suggest the heart of Africa (referring to the centre of the continent), but it
may also refer to the human heart, to a place of evil as well as a place of
corruption. It might be a heart corrupted by evil, but darkness also has
connotations such as madness or the unknown, which may also be applied to the
otherness for Kurtz who ultimately perishes there. Even the title requires further
elucidation due to the versatility of language.
Heart of Darkness is a story of revelation in terms of the moral and mental
corruption visited upon the Europeans heading into the depths of the African
Heart of Darkness
apocalypse arrived in old English via Old French and ecclesiastical Latin from
the Greek apokalupsis meaning to uncover / reveal, similarly to its use in the Bible,
narrative that
tries to pierce the darkness and clarify:
enough too. . . not very clear either. No, not very clear. And yet it seemed to
throw a kind of light’ (51). A narrative that sheds light, that penetrates darkness,
that clarifies and illuminates this is one definition of that mode of discourse
of criticism or interpretation. (Hillis Miller 207, my italics)
Joseph Conrad has his mouthpiece Marlow utter words aimed at this goal
of unveiling the reality of colonialism. But throughout the text and in the
University of Bucharest Review Vol. XII/2022, no. 2
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a certain extent. T
tells his story on board the Nellie, he is still trying to make sense of events, but as
he does that, he becomes a guide for his listeners and is shown to be a somewhat
cross-legged right aft, leaning against the mizzen-mast. He had sunken cheeks, a
yellow complexion, a straight back, an ascetic aspect, and with his arms dropped, the
palms of hands outwards, resembled an idol, the pose of a Buddha preaching in
3; 6, my italics) The mental anguish and moral
qualms posed by the imperial project are reflected through physical distress once
the subject starts seeing reality for what it is.
what we, the
readers, are meant to see is not related simply to external reality. Conrad sought
to make us see ourselves, as well as the world. At the very beginning of the
novella, Marlow sounds nostalgic when he talks about colonialism and empire:
onwealths, the germs of empires
(Conrad 5). However, throughout the text, the dreams of men are revealed to be
those of greed and of yearnings for power, while the jungle becomes a
claustrophobic, labyrinthine space that hinders rather than supports the
-class men went to
achieve
nightmarish. The seed of commonwealths becomes even more problematic, since
the colonists are revealed to live in isolation and to become alienated from
humanity in general and from
bridging the gap between the civilised Europeans and the barbaric Africans, but
since imperialism merely paid lip-service to that so-called noble cause, nothing of
the sort occurs. Finally, the germs of empires can be understood in two ways:
either as the fountainhead of empires, or as a microbe that infects others. Even if
the reference is to the starting point of an empire, it still leads to suffering and
oppression in the long run, whereas in the case of an infection, it might refer to
the corruption of those that start out as idealists, but who succumb to greed and a
desire for power.
Many of the interpretations generated by Heart of Darkness are rooted in
feminism, racism, postcolonialism and psychology. Conrad was denounced as a
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Showalter, while Edward Said criticized him for silencing the voices of those
oppressed by imperialism. Other critics have looked towards psychological
-discovery and Kurtz
merely used as props and that Conrad did not bother to flesh out the African
and he focused on describing them as uncivilized in order to contrast them to the
from Marlow, the narrator, unless it is as an accusation of creati cordon
sanitaire
mentality from the 1890s to the 1970s when he levels his accusation of racism at
Conrad. The focus of Heart of Darkness is on the European discourses of power
disintegration. Moreover, Conrad does not speak for colonial subjects and his
target audience was one made up of middle- and upper-
(Parry 1) Conrad could not afford to become alienated from his readers who were
either civil servants or involved with the imperial project in the colonies.
Furthermore, Conrad was writing a work of fiction rather than a sociological or
manages to reveal the worst transgressions of the hypocrisy and cruelty of
imperialism.
Racist stereotypes provide a justification for colonial oppression in Heart of
Darkness. The African characters are depicted as savages and Marlow does not
make any effort in comprehending their behaviour or customs, which are
regarded as utterly irrational. Marlow suggests that the only way to control the
natives is through the use of violence, therefore, any European colonist who goes
to Africa will have to resort to brutality. It seems as if the author indulges in a
justification of this violence, since the colonists engage in cruelty, they starve and
mutilate, they kill and they enslave. This self-serving behaviour is meant to
increase the yield of the natural resources of the Congo, which goes against the
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Belgian colonialism in the Congo does not glorify the violence, but shows it to be
the result of moral corruption and degradation. Similarly to other sources from
the 19th century, Conrad seems to suggest that Belgian imperialism is damnable,
but it needs to be distinguished from British imperialism, which seems to be
regards them as human, though as less developed in accordance to Darwinian
theory. The way the African characters are constructed was part of the reason
why Conrad was accused of racism: their language is incomprehensible and
liveliness seems to be imbued in Kurtz, who has gone native. In effect, Conrad is
not focused on the portrayal of the natives because their savagery is not the point
of interest in his text; what Conrad is concerned about is the atavism of the
Europeans, the latent savagery within those who claim to be civilised and
civilisers.
one
might indeed say the needin Western psychology to set Africa up as a foil to
Europe, a place of negations at once remote and vaguely familiar in comparison
comes off worse in the comparison. The Europeans are meant to be civilised and
degeneration. When Conrad was writing Heart of Darknessthe word racism did
not exist, while the word race denoted something different, a meaning that
would now bnation and ethnic group” (Firchow 4; 5) and
it mostly referred to culture. to
authorize, to dominate, to legitimate, demote, interdict, and validate: in short, the
power of culture to be an agent of, and perhaps the main agency for, powerful
civilization sets the rules of engagement and controls the inferior one. Despite
indictments of pro-imperialism from critics, at the time of publication Conrad
only liked it but read it as anti-
the text are steeped both in the time when it was written and published and
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anchored in the time when it was read.
self. The move beyond the boundaries of Western civilization allows Marlow to
better understand the degenerate self of Europeans driven by greed and a desire
for power. Since he is away from civilization, the world he encounters and the
people he meets are not restrained by law or moral norms. Additionally, to some
extent, they cannot be said to be part of a community. This solitary existence is
grounded in the need for competition in the colonial territories, but this leads to
65, 73), is not
achieved in the end, instead he transforms into someone unrecognizable. In part,
the responsibility for this transformation could be assigned to the isolation and
(Conrad 27) The solitary existence has taken a toll on Kurtz, since he is removed
from any humanizing influences. Moreover, Kurtz has been stripped of the
limitations of reason and conscience. The freedom and solitude of the jungle
Throughout the text, Marlow is doing his duty as the captain of a ship and
in the process becomes an observer of the cruelty and unfairness of colonialism.
His participation in the imperial project is limited and marginal at best. He
observes and offers some comments that indicate he is not entirely behind the
way the subjects of colonialism are treated in the Congo. Nevertheless, this does
not impede him from believing in the civilizing mission of imperialism. Western
dominating others in the interest of so-called civilizing values. The novel starts
with a parallel between London and Africa and the claim that London was once
too an unexplored, dark, primitive wilderness, representing the unknown for the
Roman colonists. Conrad had spent six months in the Congo, in miserable
conditions, and felt that this
(Najder 250) As a witness to European exploitation, Conrad creates a mouthpiece
that reveals the ruthlessness and hypocrisy of the imperial enterprise. Heart of
Darkness characterizes Belgian colonialism in opposition to the British and the
Roman ones.
The colonial enterprise stands at the core of Heart of Darkness, the text
gravitates towards a negative view of colonialism. But it oscillates between
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descriptions of Roman and Belgian colonialism, skirting around mentions of
British colonialism. The Belgian colony of the Congo and the colonial practices of
King Leopold II are specifically indicted, but no mention is made of British
colonies in particular, yet there are subtle mentions of British explorers and of the
Thames becoming the source of enlightenment and religion, but also of violence
Hunters for gold or pursuers of fame they all had gone out on that
stream, bearing the sword, and often the torch, messengers of the might within the
land, bearers of a spark from the sacred fire
imperial practices are also implied, yet a positive spin is put upon them, as an
attempt for Conrad to retain his readership. Conrad took colonialism with a grain
of salt, while Marlow seems to be distrustful of the so-called civilizing mission,
given that the colonisers are devoid of the necessary qualities to achieve it.
Conrad revealed that the religious and moral justifications used in support
of the imperial project were employed to conceal the reality: namely, that
colonialism was rooted in greed and that the oppressed were controlled through
brutality. He hoped to reveal the miserable situation in the Congo: Heart of
Darkness thus has its important public side, as an angry document on absurd and
exploitation under the guise of a so-
and christianising the natives was endemic. But the natives were in fact starved,
mutilated or even murdered in the Congo.
These justifications were grounded on the assumption that the African race
was inferior to the white race, which led to the construction of a discourse of
power that provided Europeans with a rationale for their incursions into colonial
Such an obviously inferior culture as the Europeans found in Africa
must result from an inferior race, and such an innate inferiority justified imperial
a variety of
Western nations, imperialism turns supposedly benevolent and paternalistic:
attributes to the imperial endeavor and its hero justifies, even necessitates,
their incursion into Africa, for while being commercially advantageous to
the British, it is morally beneficial to the African, an extremely convenient
equation. (White 33-4)
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Supposedly creating a win-win situation, the imperial project is pushed
forth since the British Empire had something to gain financially, while the
situation of the Africans would improve from the perspective of education and
civilization. However, the negative aspects of Africans were exaggerated so as to
missionaries were strongly tempted to
Africa, to explain the frustrations they experienced in making converts, and to
of colonialism and imperialism becomes destructive in that it polarizes the
Africans and Europeans. However, Heart of Darkness partly subverts this
dichotomy, since the European colonisers suffer and degenerate.
The discourse employed by Conrad does not make use of the term
imperialism and it barely mentions the word colonists as a contrast to conquerors
They were no colonists, their
administration was merely a squeeze, and nothing more, I suspect. They were
conquerors, and for that you want only brute force" (Conrad 6-7, my italics). Here
unfavourably. Ironically, of course, the very word colonist is of Roman
power, establishes Africa as a place of darkness, savagery and lack of knowledge,
the extension of empire, [given that] the African needed the white
man's help if he was to progress towards a more civilized and truly liberated
(White 29) But there was no true exchange of knowledge, since the
Victorians did not feel they had anything to learn from the Africans. (White 29)
Moreover, in imperialist discourse, it is only the dominant culture that is
Thus, the establishment of the dichotomy is the purview of the Europeans,
without any input from the Africans. Lopsided though the construction of the
discourse of power may be, there is a purpose to it, since it reveals the desire to
make the Africans invisible and easily controlled. According to Patrick
Discoursethat most subtle yet also inescapable form of powerin
its imperial guise persists, for example, in the most recent assumptions about the
Heart of Darkness is also imbued with irony and it reveals the hypocrisy of the
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imperial project:
The French ship was conducting one of their wars by shelling enemies; the
natives of the chain-gang are criminals; a debased native is one of the
reclaimed; the workers are generally destructive rather than constructive,
rebels
megalomaniac depravity is, according to the manager, the vigorous action
for which the time was not ripe: an unsound method. If the Europeans were
presented as consciously hypocritical, the tale would be less disturbing, for
conscious hypocrisy entails the recognition of the truth. But what we see is
a credited lie, a sincerity in the use of purposive jargon for destructive
-created
in the image of the falsehoods that sanction destruction and callousness,
and whose falsehoods cohere in a logical structure. (Watts Darkness 112)
Cedric Watts reveals that the hypocrisy of spin doctoring the discourse related to
imperialism demonstrates that colonialism was a morally bankrupt project. It
was grounded in falsehoods and exaggerations and it led to oppression and
brutality. weaning those
(Watts
Heart 57) The use of such language in the 19th century however was not usually
invested with irony, it is Conrad who is ahead of his time in revealing the
transgressions of colonialism through language. In general, the discourse of
power in the 19th century was purposefully employed to validate and consolidate
the position of empires. The claim of the imperial power was bolstered by
privileging one pole of the dichotomy at the expense of the other:
The discursive power here, as well as its proliferation, works to
manufacture attitudes but also, as Said argues, to render the machinery
Victorian audience, so must be opening markets and clearing the way for
those unquestionably privileged goals of civilization and enlightenment.
(White 33)
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The mechanisms of power are concealed through discourse with the aim of
attaining new colonial territories. The objective was to obtain power under the
guise of the noble cause of educating and christianising the natives.
eloquence uses this same strategy, but he undermines himself when concluding
power of discourse goes both ways, yet in a text written in the 19th century, the
dominated are never given a voice, as opposed to the representatives of the
colonial centre, such as Marlow and Kurtz.
Taking a steamer up the Congo to the Inner Station, Marlow had hoped to
soon meet up with Kurtz, of whom he had heard before reaching Africa.
Marlow. But the encounter with Kurtz is constantly postponed and it feels as if
the readers are taken along on a quest, creating a portrait of Kurtz out of the
might be due to his own fears since Marlow recognizes in Kurtz certain impulses
towards savage
expectations are set up, enhanced and subsequently disappointed when it comes
to meeting Kurtz. Marlow expects to meet a powerful, charismatic figure, but
that is not the case. If initially Kurtz was in fact such a figure, once he loses
ground in terms of morality and civilization, it seems he is also physically
diminished, as if his mental state has an impact in physical realm. When the
meeting finally occurs, Kurtz is described a mere shadow of himself, as a result of
an ailment.
The information about Kurtz, collected by Marlow along the way, is scarce
know was what he belonged to, how many powers of darkness claimed him for
their own. That was a reflection that made you creepy all over. It was impossible
not good for one either-9, my italics) Kurtz is
seen as belonging to the darkness after years spent in Africa, which creates a
feeling of uneasiness in those who encounter him. The powers of darkness seem
to be able to sink their hooks into Kurtz as a result of his alienation from his
telling of the story of a civilised man who arrives at a disillusioned discovery in
terms of the brutality that lies beneath the thin layer of civilization.
Newly arrived in Africa, Marlow feels that uneasiness, since he is still
grounded in the culture he hails from, whereas Kurtz has severed that connection
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and I
knew it. He had kicked himself loose of the earth. Confound the man! he had kicked
the very earth to pieces. He was aloneand I before him did not know whether I
stood on the ground or floated in the air
word choice it sounds as if he had excised it voluntarily. On the other hand,
Marl
Kurtz, the colonial territory represents a space of freedom, of absolute power and
of control over those he oppresses. Thus, his self-discovery is partly due to a lack
of restraint and an atavistic desire for a more primitive self. Kurtz reverts to a
contact with the Africans.
a
towards primitivism is not only a geographical one, but rather a psychological
one. As Michael Levenson puts it, the movement through physical space is not as
were rather anxious about any contact they had with those they regarded as
such contact, they would devolve in a manner similar to Kurtz in Heart of
Darkness
devolution is understandable since he has most contact with the natives, few
interactions with other Europeans and seems to be involved in a relationship
with an African mistress, which indicates miscegenation.
By the time the encounter occurs, Marlow understands that Marlow has
fallen short of his ideals and has come to commit barbarous acts. Before this
realization, Marlow had believed Kurtz to be remarkable due to his idealism,
When Marlow reaches Kurtz, nothing is left of that idealism: Kurtz is now
idealist, was described as well-educated, charismatic and eloquent. For the
natives, he becomes godlike, but in light of Victorian morality, he turns demonic.
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He embodies the process of transformation undergone by civilized men as they
virtue, through the words of those who describe him to Marlow. In the novella,
Kurtz reverts to primitivism, failing to uphold his European customs and ideals.
a
strange and ominous transformation had taken place in Mr. Kurtz's personality;
like a snake shedding its skin, he had cast off all his fine European habits and
ideals, revealing a creature whose condition of moral degradation and animal
primitivism made him indistinguishable from the savages for whom he had once
expressed such touching concern. (Meyer 156) The discrepancy between the
Kurtz described by his European acquaintances and his Intended, in other words
between the Kurtz prior to his African experiences and the one Marlow
encounters, is blatant and compelling in understanding just how far the
degeneration of the civilised European may go when he is uprooted from his
native soil and left rudderless.
According to Cedric Watts, Max Nordau, in his essay "Rabies Africana, and
the Degeneracy of Europeans in Africa" (1891),
distinguishes between two opposed European attitudes toward Africa,
former say: 'We take Africa in order to improve the condition of the
natives;' the latter state, 'We pocket Africa for our own profit.' The Cynics
Conrad's shams; and his cynics are Conrad's madmen. (Watts Darkness 112)
Kurtz turns from hypocrite to cynic within the pages of Heart of Darkness, though
his hypocrisy is not intentional initially. Later in the text he focuses on profit to
Degeneration. Conrad was in
contact with Nordau, having received a written tribute to The Nigger of the
Narcissus
(Watts Darkness 113-4)
primitive and pre-moral
revealed once Kurtz is immersed in the wilderness of Africa, as if a previously
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hidden aspect of his personality emerges. According to Cedric Watts, Kurtz fits
the typology of the highly gifted degenerate, which seems to be the psychological
basis for the character of Kurtz
(rather than some complex resulting from traumas in his upbringing) as the key
co-existing with brilliant qualities; he has the salient quality of genius without
moral stability; and he even appears to have the gigantic bodily stature that
Nordau mentions, for, to Marlow, he looked at least seven feet long. (Watts
Darkness 115)
Max Nordau discusses this typology and there are evident parallels with
Kurtz, especially in the way he is able to use his faculties in service of the
imperial project and how he manages to corrupt and delude those he interacts
with. Kurtz is initially an active force in the so-called progress of mankind, until
-of-the-
his followers into a wasteland. (Nordau 22-4) Ultimately, Kurtz turns into a
Nordau, for instance, claimed that civilization was being
corrupted by the influence of people who were morally degenerate; and his
Watts Heart 46) From the
idealist believing in the noble cause of imperialism and trying to civilise the
savages, Kurtz turns into the cynic focused on profit, who reveals the truth about
reverts to primitivism; his transformation is evocative of the existence of a latent
primitive self within civilised men. The primitive self is revealed within a setting
that is marked by darkness, savagery and wilderness, suggesting the importance
is, however, limited since he does not interact with other European agents
sufficiently.
civilization. At the very beginning of his stay, he is asked to write a report for the
International Society for the Suppressio
on civilization and on redeeming the savages is quite eloquent, but his eloquence
is meant to control and manipulate and hides his own savagery. The report on
savage customs, which sounds promising and compelling initially, is
(Conrad 50)
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indifference. The journey into the unknown, away from everything that is
familiar, can lead to a loss of identity since the self is no longer firmly planted in
the native soil, but rather seems to float or be set loose:
the stability of an sense of identity depends directly on the
he has established with the familiar, personal
and impersonal, concrete and abstract, animate and inanimate objects of his
past and present existence. When these many identifications are
threatened, as for example when an social or physical
environment changes rapidly, his sense of identity will be challenged.
(Wengle 153)
The Europeans travelling to Africa are spatially displaced and alienated from
their culture. In fact, travelling to faraway, unknown lands gave shape to fears
related to the loss of self and to becoming decivilized, fears that were connected
to the unfamiliarity of the colonial territories and to the belief that the colonial
20; 72)
Kurtz has an undeserved reputation of striving to redeem the colonial
enterprise and civilize the savages, in accordance to his moral ideals. Yet Marlow
oon casts them aside:
partly, to compete with the other agents and become the one who sends in more
ivory than all the others put together, and partly because he comes to enjoy his
sense of superiority. Once he becomes accustomed to power, he discards his
mission and even his morals fade away. Primitivism takes root and he devolves
in committing casual cruelty:
the wilderness had found him out early and taken on
him a terrible vengeance for the fantastic invasion. I think it had whispered to
him things about himself which he did not know, things of which he had no
conception till he took counsel with this great solitudeand the whisper had
proved irresistibly fascinating. It echoed loudly within him because he was
hollow at the core..-8, my italics)
In a sense, Marlow seems to suggest that the so-called wilderness had taken
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revenge on Kurtz for the fact that he dared to invade the wild geographical space
of Africa. This idea that the personified wilderness might take revenge on the
the heart of a conquering darkness. It was
a moment of triumph for the wilderness, an invading and vengeful rush which it
seemed to me I would have to keep back alone for the salvation of another soul
European interference, condemns him to live in the wilderness, in isolation and
that solitariness turns Kurtz introspective, which in turn allows him to make
certain self-discoveries and attain self-knowledge. Additionally, the
transformation revealed to Kurtz things he did not know about himself,
including the fact that he was a hollow man, lacking a moral/spiritual core. It is
implied that Kurtz gained a terrible self-knowledge. In interacting with Kurtz,
Marlow also gains that same knowledge and, perhaps, Conrad hopes for his
contemporaries, the Victorian readers to reach the same understanding without
undergoing the same experiences.
The way Kurtz is constructed as a character suggests that he is an epitome
fails to uphold morality, then who would not succumb to temptation? The
duration of his stay in the jungle and the constant contact with the natives have
taken a toll, since his individuality is predicated on his desire for power and on
his greed, as well as the adulation and terror of those he oppresses. This, in turn,
leads to his insanity. Without restraints to weigh him down, either in terms of
law or in terms of conscience, Kurtz is free to act as he likes. Kurtz confers
himself the status of a god to emphasise his superior standing and, perhaps, feels
that mere constraints in terms of social and moral norms no longer apply to him.
His madness reveals itself through his violence as well as his obsession with
p
(Conrad 48) The insane arrogance displayed by Kurtz becomes a symbol for
European colonisers and their degeneration: moving from a supposed desire to
improve the backward territories and their population to their exploitation and
t and questions
the assumption that a supposedly superior, more civilised nation is capable of
civilising less fortunate people.
Running amok in a lawless land, Kurtz is consumed by his primitive
instincts, which is reflected in the brutality with which he suppresses the natives.
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Accordingly, he has the natives make sacrifices to him and kills them off in great
numbers, as evinced by the row of impaled human heads surrounding his hut:
I had been struck at the distance by certain attempts at ornamentation, rather
remarkable in the ruinous aspect of the place. Now I had suddenly a nearer
view and its first result was to make me throw my head back as if before a blow.
not ornamental but symbolic; they were expressive
and puzzling, striking and disturbingfood for thought and also for vultures
. I was not so
shocked as you may think. The start back I had given was really nothing but a
movement of surprise. I had expected to see a knob of wood there, you know.
I returned deliberately to the first I had seenand there it was black, dried,
sunken, with closed eyelidsa head that seemed to sleep at the top of that
pole, and with the shrunken dry lips showing a narrow white line of the teeth, was
smiling too, smiling continuously at some endless and jocose dream of that eternal
slumber. (Conrad 57)
agents, a symbol of successful imperialism, a man he was there to save, are
revealed to be delusions the moment he sets his eyes on what Kurtz chooses to
use as decorations for the enclosure of his cabin. He can no longer regard Kurtz
as someone to be admired or followed as a leader, and, perhaps, he might also
real
illusions of imperialism as a force of positive influence are also shattered.
are a sincere revelation of
by implication, a stain on the positive image of the imperial enterprise. Marlow
e
expectations of seeing inanimate, wooden ornaments, when in fact what he was
seeing were fleshy ornaments, albeit still inanimate in the stillness of death.
Marlow closely observes one head in particular, which seems to be smiling
because of the shrunken
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shattered illusions, of the tarnished reputation of European imperialism, of
e natives can be regarded as
Kurtz as an incarnation of it. The rotting flesh becomes symbolic of the decaying
morals and ideals behind the imperial enterprise. No matter how degenerate the
native, the degeneration of Europeans that Marlow glimpses in that moment of
revelation is far more worrying.
the rehabilitating influence of Europe, since they were incapable of governing
themselves and this justified the need for foreign domination; however, it was
also a double-to rule was founded
to degeneracy, they would no longer be fit for the role they had assigned to
him unfit to lead, to civilise others and to take responsibility for the lives and
becomes a warning that even those who are educated, civilised, and cultured can
revert to primitivism, barbarity and savagery. Even more problematic was the
belief that the so-called savages had been civilised in the past and that they had
reverted to a state of barbarism, as this could provide a warning for what might
happen to Western civilization
Victorian era as confident and melioristic, the exploration of other cultures such
as Africa mirrored back to the Victorians disturbing images of recidivism that
sometimes shook their faith in the very idea of pr
preyed upon Victorian anxieties prevalent in the 1890s and the belief that
civilizations are cyclic.
and appalling acts. His madness and his moral corruption are caused partly by
alienation and isolation, but also by primitive instincts that can be found in all
men. It is only at the time of his death that Kurtz realizes how degraded he has
provides a clue to the fact that Kurtz has come to realize his moral depravity:
It was as though a veil had been rent. I saw on that ivory face the expression of
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sombre pride, of ruthless power, of craven terror—of an intense and hopeless
despair. Did he live his life again in every detail of desire, temptation, and
surrender during that supreme moment of complete knowledge? He cried in a
whisper at some image, at some visionhe cried out twice, a cry that was
no more than a breath: ‘The horror! The horror!, my italics)
The metaphor of unveiling or shedding light or illuminating appears several
times in Heart of Darkness. The very darkness of the title could refer to the reality
of colonialism which needs to be unveiled. As stated earlier, however, things
experiences in Africa. In this instance, too, there is no conclusive explanation.
What was hidden behind the veil that is rent is still unclear. Why Kurtz feels
craven terror and intense and hopeless despair is never revealed fully. Even in
his storytelling, Marlow is clearly groping in the dark. He tells the story in order
to make sense of his experience, but the account is convoluted and it includes
pauses and gaps. It feels as if Marlow has a hard time grasping the full meaning
time accepting that his illusions have been shattered. It appears that Kurtz attains
some profound knowledge at his time of death and the way to react to that is to
therefore readers and critics can only make assumptions about the possible
meaning of the complete knowledge Kurtz has reached. The interpretations of
Perhaps they
refer to Kurtz's corruption, perhaps to the horror of a senseless universe. But
(Watts Heart 57) It
is possible that, while Kurtz never gets the chance to reveal what knowledge he
has attained, the knowledge is, in a sense, transferred to Marlow who has
witne
Marlow feels a sense of kinship with Kurtz and grasps the similarities
between the two of them. Perhaps he understands that living under the same
conditions as Kurtz, he too might succumb to moral corruption and might
become degene
colonisers. Living in the wilderness and dealing with the darkness, primitiveness
and savagery of both land and people, Marlow believes that his own savage
ccurs as Marlow tries to bring him back to
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civilization. Marlow is unable to rescue Kurtz, especially since the latter tries to
be understood both literally bringing him out of the jungle and
metaphorically trying to make him shed his corruption and degeneration. But
normality, to civilization, is impossible. There seems to be no protection against
corruption and degeneration. The primordial journey into the jungle reveals the
thin veneer formed by civilization, whereas greed and the desire for power break
through that veneer to reveal the savagery and cruelty beneath.
Marlow recognises himself in Kurtz, turning the latter into a possible
ing for Marlow in terms of the
effects of the wilderness on European colonisers. The impact of colonialism on
those who are alienated from their culture as a result of the isolation involved in
the work undertaken in the colonial territories is one that cannot be easily
forestalled or impeded. His expectations regarding civilization are shattered
beyond redemption, despite his hopeful ideals at the onset. The effect emerges
from within the heart, soul and mind, though there are physical effects as well.
The Heart of Darkness can be recalled at this
changes take place inside
[was] any madness i
from a gentle creature to one who reacts with extreme violence at the slightest
arture towards Africa, Conrad
foreshadows the possible changes that might occur on the level of the psyche and
of identity.
However, the first signal that something might go wrong during the
adquarters,
who seem to stand in for the Fates (Moirae/Parcae) who control the thread of
destiny:
uncanny and fateful. Often far away there I thought of these two, guarding the
door of Darkness, knitting black wool as for a warm pall, one introducing,
introducing continuously to the unknown, the other scrutinising the cheery
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and foolish faces with unconcerned old eyes. ‘Ave! Old knitter of black wool.
Morituri te salutant.’ Not many of those she looked at ever saw her againnot
halfby a long way. (Conrad 11, my italics)
The warnings abound in this short excerpt, since the women use black wool to
knit a pall, preparing for the deaths of more than half of those who depart.
Additionally, the women introduce the potential agents into the unknown by
guarding the door of Darkness, and those who pass through the door salute them
saying: those who are about to die salute you, as the gladiators did the Roman
emperor. The knitting women become the mythic references that universalize
ing it into a descent into the underworld. The
underworld is represented by the wilderness, on the one hand, and by the
primitive self and its capacity for savagery and evil, on the other. We can assume
that other agents travelling to the Congo had gone through the same ritual of
being invited into the unknown by the knitting women, Kurtz included. Despite
the descent into the underworld of both Marlow and Kurtz, neither is reborn or
redeemed in a strict sense, and they both suffer physically and mentally. Marlow,
however, is lucky enough to return from his ordeal, whereas Kurtz, who had not
retained his moral/spiritual integrity and his civilized identity pays the ultimate
price. Thus, the mythic references become ironic.
In the aftermath of having his illusions shattered, Marlow returns to
civilization and renders Kurtz a final service, by visiting his acquaintances and
his Intended. At this point, the realization he has come to is not fully articulated
and therefore it is unspeakable. It is only later, by telling the story of his
adventures in Africa, that Marlow can start to make sense of the events that
transpired. His visits reveal a lionized Kurtz in the words of his friends they all
believe Kurtz to have been a noble man, devoted to christianising and civilizing
Marlow is appalled by the conflicting images of Kurtz, who was in fact
unfaithful, violent, lustful and arrogant. However, he feels that revealing all of
this to her would serve no purpose and would be hurtful so he reassures her and
ically Conradian attempt to shore up the fragile edifice that
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ions regarding the true meaning of being civilised are
also effortlessly crushed. So, Marlow is in part rejoicing that he has been able to
return to civilization, but he is also aware of the hypocrisy of his position in
bowing his head to social convention and upholding the lies believed by the
Intended:
sense of a man isolated from society, Marlow returns to the civis, the
f civilized lies:
saving illusion that shone with an unearthly glow in the darkness, in the
triumphant darkness from which I could not have defended her from
which I could not even hav
sexist formulation, women are the upholders of the beautiful lies of
civilization because so few of them have been acquainted with the worlds
where such lies are exposed the world of colonialism. (Griffith 94)
The Intended remains a symbol of civilization, that, in its fragility, needs to be
protected. Marlow tells his lie since he realizes that his repressing the truth will
allow her to not suffer the same disillusion he did. Marlow now knows that
beneath the veneer of civilization lies darkness and feels compelled to protect the
Intended from that darkness and the knowledge of it. Moreover, to be civilised is
to repress savage instincts and primitive behaviours and to adhere to norms of
conduct, meaning that civilization, in a sense, means to lie to oneself, too. In
supposed nobility, the Intended embraces the righteousness of Western
imperialism and she can remain a symbol of civilization.
In conclusion, the journey into the Dark Continent, and implicitly, into the
heart of darkness becomes a test for the Europeans who dare to venture there.
Conrad had looked into the darkness, was unsettled by what he saw there and
tried to bring that awareness to others. Conrad chronicles the mental
degeneration and moral corruption that breaks down identity and that makes
Europeans unfit to civilise others. In Heart of Darkness, the self comes apart, when
subjected to sufficient stress and insufficient restraint. Another factor that
culture. Additionally, the contact with primitive cultures can lead to a
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devolution. The lack of connection to civilization and the immersion into
primitive culture creates an initial anguish, which later turns into a pursuit of a
life without restraints. Without rules and laws, the identity of the European
slowly melts away, revealing what lies beneath, perhaps the real identity that
had been rep
there is corruption, madness and degeneration. Yet, Kurtz stands for the whole of
Europe, since it was the whole of Europe that contributed to his existence. Thus,
the degenerate Kurtz, as the embodiment of Western civilisation and of European
The text speaks to prevalent fears in the Victorian Age regarding the
cyclicity of civilizations, fears of degeneration and the dissolution of the self. As
Conrad aptly reminds his readers, Britain too had been one of the dark places of
the earth, during the Roman subjugation. Thus, from the savagery and
wilderness of Britain as a Roman colony, to a time when the British Empire was
at its peak, Britain had evolved. However, the fall of the Roman Empire functions
-builders and to believers in the
durability of civilization; it invokes a humiliating chronological perspective; and
it may jolt the reader Heart 58) Britain was to the
Romans in the past, what Africa was to the Europeans in the present. From the
peak, the only way to go is down, towards a decline of the British Empire, hence,
anxieties regarding moral corruption and degeneration ran rampant at the time.
The 1890s reveal such anxieties and other similar ones regarding the menace of
science, reversed colonialism, inner demons of the primitive self, effeminate
masculinity, masculine femininity, devolution, degeneration and the like all
posing a threat to the British Empire and its future prosperity through a
The Strange Case of Dr.
Jekyll and Mr. Hyde DraculaThe Picture of Dorian
GrayThe Island of Dr. Moreau and The Time Machine,
Heart of Darkness inscribes itself in
this trend of locating the perils and threats not in the geographical space (in the
aforementioned texts it is not the physical landscape that makes them gothic) but
within the human mind and body, which are revealed to be mutating and
decaying leading to corruption and degeneration, which has further implications
on the possibility that civilization might be in a state of decline.
Marlow had embarked upon this journey beyond the limits of Western
civilization with a sense of wonder, hoping for a chance to explore the formerly
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become a place of darkness
Africa is terror, cruelty and savagery, and it is not the natives who perpetuate it,
but the so-called civilisers. Marlow embodies Victorian values and tries to
preserve them, but in encountering those who have flouted the rules of society
and civilization, he also undergoes a spiritual crisis. Marlow becomes mentally
aware of the (im)moral implications of the imperial project and starts to better
understand the discourse propounded as well as the impact of colonialism not
have felt more of lonely desolation somehow, had I been robbed of a belief or had
missed my destiny onrad 47, my italics) This newly acquired awareness
makes him feel desolate and isolated as well as unsettled. The wilderness affects
those who live in it and turns them into deracinés who have lost their bearings.
The darkness of Africa is predicated on the presumed light of Western cultures:
with light, because the light was refracted through an imperialist ideology that
43) This darkness is grounded on the imperialist discourse and the dichotomies it
sets up.
Heart of Darkness deals with the economic exploitation and, ultimately, the
power, that are intrinsic aspects of colonialism and imperialism. Kurtz, the
idealist, did not yearn for power, but Kurtz, the competitive agent of Empire,
who had gone native, lives for it. His story is steeped in the discourse of colonial
power, which privileges those who have power at the expense of those who do
not. So, Heart of Darkness
colonized people in the attempt to vindicate the exploitative actions of the
Heart 57) The very yearning for power at the expense of what
makes one civilised is alarming. The imperial discourse of power favours the
view that advanced nations can take on the responsibility to educate, christianise
and civilise the backward peoples of the colonial territories. But first, the natives
of those territories have to be revealed to be inferior, and to have a need to be
shown to require the help of Western civilization, and the Europeans are eager to
take on this endeavour. It is after all in their interest to gain access to the colonial
territories for their resources, but the rhetoric used for this to be accomplished is
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bankrupt project.
As it is defining itself over and against the savagery and inferiority of the
primitives, civilization becomes preoccupied with its frenzied acquisition of
wealth. With their focus on profit, the Europeans develop a blind spot they fail
to notice when the primitiveness and savagery insidiously permeate civilization
and their moral sense. Secure in their belief of their own superiority, they cannot
conceive of the possibility that the contact with the wilderness can influence their
sense of self and their identities and that the boundary is a shifting and porous
one. The aggrandizing discourse of power and the condescending view of the
to him a restless drive towards expansion and conquest. Yet in the end they
prove to be not only his hubris, but also that of the European civilization he
civilization proves itself to have an inner emptiness there is a void where their
core values should be located. The West/Occident proves to be the source of
darkness, especially considering the etymology of the word occident (> Lat. occido
to fall, to kill, to slay, to torture, to ruin). The city Marlow returns to is
described as sepulchral, suggestive of death if not a literal, then a metaphorical
preclude his return to civilization as he was contaminated by the degeneration
and primitiveness of the wilderness. If he were to return, he could turn into a
source of contagion, and this threat needs to be dispelled. Thus, the impact of
colonialism can be regarded as a mirror Caliban holds up to see his own
and prosperity), and what is reflected can be appalling (European cruelty,
hypocrisy, degeneration and primitiveness). Heart of Darkness reveals an image of
colonialism that is difficult to bear since it becomes a comment on European
civilization and its imperfections.
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