HeartofDarkness

picsource:deviantart

Heart of Darkness (1902)

The title I am thinking of is The Heart of Darkness but
the narrative is not gloomy. The criminality of inefficiency
and pure selfishness when tackling the civilising work in
Africa is a justifiable idea. The subject is of our time
distinc[t]ly though not topically treated.
(Collected Letters 2: 139-40)

Heart of Darkness (1902)

THE HISTORICAL CONTEXT
OF THE NOVEL
Conrad witnessed the specific
form of colonial imperialism
King Leopold II of Belgium
practised in his Congo Free
State. His agents had to:
bring civilisation
accustom the natives to
general laws
institute a labour tax of
forty hours per month

Heart of Darkness (1902)

PLOT
The novel is set at the end of the 19th
century at an unspecified date.
The story is told by a sailor called Marlow
who works for a Belgian company
involved in the ivory trade in the Congo.
Marlow and the passengers of the Nellie
are waiting for the tide which will let the
ship sail from London.
Marlows task is to carry raw ivory from
the heart of the African continent to the
coast where it can be loaded on ships
bound for Europe.

Heart of Darkness (1902)

PLOT
In Africa he gets to the Company Station where he is disappointed
by the inefficiency and by the cruelty of the colonial exploitation.

There he hears Kurtzs name for the first time.

Kurtz was a company agent who has become a sort of idol for the
natives. He is seriously ill.

Marlow finally meets Kurtz and succeeds in taking him on board.

Kurtz dies during the journey.

When Marlow returns to

Belgium, he calls on Kurtzs
fiance and tells her that Kurtz
said her name while dying.

Marlon Brando
as Kurtz
in Apocalypse Now
(1979).

Heart of Darkness (1902)

a system of political
and economic
dominance

THE INDICTMENT OF IMPERIALISM

In the novel imperialism is

Conrad condemned:
the brutal exercise of law on the natives
the missionary zeal
the administrative efficiency and search for profit

Heart of Darkness (1902)

Marlow

THE MAIN CHARACTERS

A sailor who enjoys exploring

the uncharted areas of the world.
Has not yet been subjected to
the chaos of the African Congo.
Is able to view things in a
rational light.
Comes to realise that the
natives probably have more
sense than the white Europeans
who have come to civilise them.
Like Kurtz, he is the only person
in the novel to be addressed by
his name.

Kurtz
The chief of the Inner Station.
Almost legendary due to his genius
and his stations superior ivory production.
Has a passion for the wilderness, the
years in the jungle have made him
savage and fanatical.
He is worshipped like a godlike being
by the natives.
He is in poor health by the time Marlow
encounters him.

Heart of Darkness (1902)

THE STRUCTURE AND STYLE OF THE NOVEL

A series of stories, one embedded within the other.

External frame with an anonymous narrator who
introduces the story and formally closes it.
Marlow, the observer-narrator.

Shifts backwards and forwards in Marlows

narrative creation of suspense and interest.
Language characterised by idiomatic speech and
irony psychological realism.

Heart of Darkness (1902)

WHAT IS THE DARKNESS?

Death and despair in the jungle.

Solitude and alienation, which drive man
mad.
The death of ethical behaviour.
The death of goodness and civility.
The death of our authority as selves.

Heart of Darkness (1902)

A JOURNEY INTO THE SELF

Marlows is a mythical
journey in search of
the self to bring
back
a new truth.
Kurtz went into
the jungle without
knowing himself his
wrong conduct took him
beyond the limits of his
heart the result was
madness
and death.
John Malkovich (as Kurtz) and Tim Roth
(as Marlow) in Heart of Darkness
(1993).

Heart of Darkness (1902)

A JOURNEY INTO THE SELF

Marlow did not transgress his limits he came back

without fully understanding his experience.
The heart of darkness tried to exercise its influence on
him he was able to restrain himself.
Marlow was saved because his aim was
self-knowledge, the mystery of existence, which
demands great humility.

The novel ends with this suggestion:

it is impossible to penetrate the surface
of reality in any meaningful way.