Darkness is a masterpiece. It is
the most powerful, interesting and famous novel of Conrad published in the
volume entitled Youth, and other stories, 1920.
It has gained
great name and fame when T.S. Eliot, in his poem The Hollow Men, used a line of
Heart of Darkness – “Mistah Kurtz, he dead,” as the motto of the poem. Thus it gripped the attention of the men from
the very beginning and now it is enjoying the reputation of being Conrad’s
masterpiece. The theme of the novel is
universal as it deals with the lust for adventure as well as materialism; on
account of that men visit the remote, unknown undiscovered, far off places. The corruption, degradation, enmity which
emerge from isolation in the dark wilderness of the earth is the prime concern
of the novelist. Though it is a very
thin book yet regarded as one of the “universal classics”.
ii)
Appropriateness of the Title : Heart of Darkness
The heart of darkness is at once the heart of Africa, the heart of
evil-every thing that is nihilistic, corrupt and malign-and perhaps the heart
of man Thus title is most significant
and suggestive of the content. It indicates
the theme in both context: literal and allegorical.On the surface level the
story of the novel is the journey of Marlow into the dark continents of
Congo. He narrates his experience of
exploring that place, the persons he met and events that had happened during
that period. It is just like Roman
conquerors who invaded England, likewise white Europeans are going into Congo
regions to exploit them and suck as much money as possible. The essence of the journey is related to a
man Mr. Kurtz who has become a devil and Marlow brings him back to Europe
because he was seriously ill and in utmost need of medical treatment.
On the other hand this novel is a story of symbolic journey, a journey
to explore the dark region (subconscious) of mind. Marlow reveals his inner mind and also
provides the psychological study of the characters he met during his
journey. He has very well portrayed Mr.
Kurtz’s traits, attitudes, manners, behaviour, opinions etc. Marlow’s journey is also a journey of
exploring into the heart of evil that is lurking everywhere. Mr. Kurtz symbolizes greed, cruelty,
inhumanity, brutality, savagery, ruthlessness etc. Thus, this voyage helps Marlow to understand
the nature of evil.
In other words, the title is very appropriate and suggestive because it
refers to the theme of the novel in all its implications.
iii)
Characterization in Heart of Darkness
In Heart of Darkness, Conrad
does not strictly adhere to the method of stream of consciousness in which
writer places the reader within the mind
of the character and make the reader listen and also see their interior monologue. But Conrad has used the technique of
“multiple point of view” in which a character is presented through different
angles and eyes. Like the modern
novelists, Conrad also takes interest in the complexities, intricacies and
subtleties of human soul but he presents his most complicated and mysterious
character through the eyes of other characters in the Heart of Darkness. Mr. Kurtz is presented and judged through various eyes like the Accountant,
Manager, Brick maker, the Russian, Marlow himself, Mr. Kurtz’s finance
etc. The Russian was pro-foundly
influenced by Mr. Kurtz and expressed his extreme devotion, esteem and love to
Marlow and said that he is jealous of that lady who was Mr. Kurtz’s so called mistress
and housekeeper. He remained so intimate to Mr. Kurtz that he served him
during his two illness. He said that
Kurtz was a great and virtuous man of progressive ideas. He made Marlow aware of the conspiracy of
white men to crush Mr. Kurtz and threw a great light upon Mr. Kurtz’s lust for
ivory and transformation into savage but his tone was full of praise and
appreciation for Mr. Kurtz.
Then Manager and
brick maker also informed Marlow about
Mr. Kurtz that he was becoming so popular because of the grand accumulation of
ivory and that very soon he would get his promotion. Mr. Kurtz’s beloved also showed her love and
esteem for Kurtz. Marlow has narrated
his own view on Mr. Kurtz also that he was very eloquent; fascinating and
impressive. In spite of knowing that he
had completely identified himself to the devil he found something appealing in
Mr. Kurtz. Thus Mr. Kurtz is judged by
various points of views in Heart of Darkness.
Symbolical Significance of the Heart of Darkness
The novel Heart of Darkness is an excellent example of the symbolical
suggestions in novel. From the very
title till the end almost every character and event is highly symbolical. Literally, the title Heart of Darkness means
the unexplored dark continent of Africa (Congo) but its symbolical meaning is
the depths of human mind that is subconscious.
Thus, this novel deals with the journey into the dark places of human
mind also. Mr. Kurtz is the symbol used
for the modern western man’s lust for power and greed. Marlow is symbolical of the writer having a
penetrating insight into the sub-conscious; of the contemporary interest in
psychology and psychoanalysis and also the spirit of adventure and love of
knowledge.
The other characters like Manager of the Central station is symbolical
of inefficiency, spiritual emptiness and barrenness. The Brick maker, who acts as an informer to
the Manager and regarded by Marlow as “papier-mache Mephistopheles” symbolizes
cunningness and treachery. The
white-men, as said “faithless-pilgrims”, are representing complete absence of
any faith, moral or belief, and they also symbolize an existence of
parasites. Cannibals are symbolical of
self-restraint who do not kill White-men in order to eat their flesh despite
starving badly. The knitting women are
symbolizing Fate who decided the future
of every human being in this world.
The native women and Mr. Kurtz’s fiancée represent woman’s extreme
devotion and persistent loyalty to the man whom they love. The Russian is also symbolizing loyalty and
devotion as well as curiosity or the desire to learn.
There are few other symbolical elements like ivory. It is ivory that motivates the white men to
come over the dark region of Congo. Thus
this novel is rich in symbolical suggestions.
Q : Examine critically the role of Marlow.
Ans : Marlow is fearless,
dynamic person who loves adventure and exploration. It is his love for adventure and exploration
that fascinated him towards Congo since his childhood. The river Congo particularly enchanted him in
his childhood as snake would fascinate a bird.
A mighty big river resembled like an uncoiled snake with its body at
rest and tail lost in the depths of the land.
Marlow is an undaunted personality who fearlessly faced all the dangers
and perils of adventure. At a crucial moment during his exploration
when hostile savages attack on his
steamship he shows his ingenuity in blowing the whistle to keep the barbarians
away from the steamer. He is not
horrified by the physical danger yet is prone to spiritual fears and doubts.
TWO knitting-women
Marlow meets two
women in the Company office when he goes there for medical examination. These women are knitting with black
wool. They are very grave and dreary. They, of course, have something sinister
about them. Marlow describes the look of elder
woman’s eyes as a frightful warning to
the things going to happen during the adventure. These women symbolize the Fate of human being
of this world and its constant encircling yarn.
One women is there to attend the visitors and lead them to their concerned
officers but the other casts her eyes on Marlow from above her spectacles. She seems to know all about the
visitors. Thus, there is something
supernatural about them.
The Native Woman
In the part third of the novel we meet a native woman who appears on
the river bank when Mr. Kurtz is being taken away by the Manager and Marlow to Europe for immediate medical
treatment. She has been housekeeper of
Mr. Kurtz’s house at Inner Station and his so-called mistress. She does not want Mr. Kurtz to leave the
Inner Station. Marlow describes her as a wild, gorgeous woman
moving majestically with measured steps, putting on striped dress, and jingling
wild ornaments; her hair is well combed hair that looks like a helmet. She wears on various kinds of ivory ornaments. Marlow makes a remark at her, “ savage and
superb wild-eyed and magnificent.” She
comes on the river bank to take Mr.
Kurtz back to wilderness but suddenly after showing painful and pathetic expressions she turns back to the jungle. She is so devoted to Mr. Kurtz that
between Russian and her there has
developed the enmity and rivalry.
Mr. Kurtz’s Fiancée
The last female
character, in this novel, is Mr. Kurtz’s fiancée whom Marlow meets after two
years of Mr. Kurtz’s death. She appears
to him as a lamentable figure still mourning over the death of Mr. Kurtz. She shows her extreme passion and love for
Mr. Kurtz whom she wanted to marry
against the wishes of her family. Marlow
finds nothing girlish about the lady, she seems matured in love, loyalty and
belief. When she comes to know that
Marlow has remained very close to Mr. Kurtz she casts a look of pain, sorrow
and desolation. Marlow feels that she is
not the puppet in the hands of time who could destroy her love for Mr. Kurtz,
it is everlasting and for ever.
She is completely alien to the bare fact of Mr. Kurtz’s transformation
into an evil. She says to Marlow that
Mr. Kurtz would always be remembered by the people in this world for his
goodness. She says that still she does
not believe that Mr. Kurtz is dead. She asks Marlow about the last words of Mr. Kurtz uttered just
before death. At this point Marlow tells
a lie that it was her name and she feels greatly exalted after
hearing that. Marlow
does not tell her the truth that it was “ The horror! The horror!” because he does not want to make her disillusioned and more sad.
Q : Write a note on Horror ‘Horror’
Ans : One evening when Marlow
entered Kurtz’s cabin he heard him saying – ‘I am lying here in the dark
waiting for death.” Kurtz’s face carried a mingled expression of ‘somebre
pride, of ruthless power, of craven terror-of an intense and hopeless
despair’. Marlow could not under stand
whether he lived his life again during that supreme moment of complete knowledge when he cried twice – “The
horror! The horror! Later on the Manager’s boy brought the news of his
death-“Mistah Kurtz – he dead”. Even
after his death, the white men kept on making contemptuous reference about him.
The Significance of “ The Horror”
It seems that at the end Mr. Kurtz
became aware of his devilish
deeds and fiendish lusts which he had been gratifying during his life. Thus, there was hardly anything for Mr. Kurtz
to feel proud of except an unfulfilled
love. At the realization of this bare
fact Mr. Kurtz got horrified at his end and exclaimed in terror,”The horror!
The horror!”
Imagery : Though the
imagery used in Heart of Darkness is remote and wild yet its vivid, graphical
presentation enables us to visualize.
First of all, there is the image of nature and surrounding that Marlow
perceives along the coast as he sails by a French steamer. The ever memorable sights are of the boiler
lying uselessly in the grass, reversal pieces of destroyed machinery, rusty rails, useless blasting of the rock,
pathetic sight of six chained men
etc. These all sights make Marlow feel
that he has entered the Inferno. Here we
are reminded of the picture of hell given in
The Divine Comedy by Dante. It
includes the picture of starving and dying people.
Q Impact of Stream of Consciousness technique on the Art of
Characterization
Ans : In the modern fiction,
the point of interest lies very likely in the dark places of psychology. Hence the stream of consciousness emerges out
of psychology. The supporters of this concept of novel have
endeavoured to portray the depth and complexity of human consciousness as faithfully as possible. It is a journey of exploration into the realms
of feelings and sensation. In this novel
Heart of Darkness we see Marlow in the course of giving the details of
characters he encounters, laying more
emphasis on revealing their inside, their feeling and emotion, in other words
their sub conscious. He also explores
his own mind when he has narracted the
story. Almost all the characters,
accountant, Manager, Brickmaker, Mr. Kurtz and Marlow himself are discovered
from inside also, we see clearly what is going on in their mind. The accountant’s manager’s and Brickmaker’s
hidden jealousy for Mr. Kurtz, Mr. Kurtz as a devil from inside as reflected in
his cruelity, and identification with savagery,l description of Marlow’s liking
and dislikings, views an work-ethic and also the horrible and disgusting
experiences on seeing pathetic sights in Congo etc. everything is vividly narrated
to the reader.
The doctor, whom Marlow meets in
the company office when he goes there for medical examination before going on
journey, shows much interest in measuring the stream of consciousness or the
mind of Marlow. He represents the
contemporary interest of people in science like psychology and psychiatry. Because the novelists of stream of
consciousness like Joseph Conrad were involved
in presenting the internal reality
we find no falsification of facts as
we read the traditional
story. Thus, incidents and characters
become bound to be real and life-like
because their mind or internal reality is revealed in the novel. This is the cause behind why we feel a sense of
familiarity and intimacy to the characters of the novel.
THE CHIEF ACCOUNTANT :The Chief Accountant of the Belgian trading
company is portrayed very vividly. His portraiture is so close to life that we
feel like meeting such a man in our real
life. Marlow treats him as an
exceptional person, putting on white collar, cuffs, trousers, a neck tie, a
light jacket and well polished boots. He
is putting constantly a pen holder behind his ear. In these wild surroundings his personality
enhances his magnetic effect. Thus
Marlow has a great reverence for him.
He is deeply captivated of his collar, white cuffs and brushed
hair. His figure is a dummy of hair
dresser. The Chief accountant has been
living for three years in Congo and it is his achievement. He is a potential figure who is encountering
the harshness of the environment of Congo.
Marlow puts a very fantastic question how is he maintaining his
clothes. He frankly says that a native
woman is looking after his wardrobe. He
is compensating for her duties by teaching her.
Then in the end we quote a phrase used by Marlow “apple-pie order”
regarding the nice maintenance of account books.As he is a very conscientious
man he does not with that anybody should interfere in his work. He wishes no body to distract
when anybody moves around his office.
He symbolizes efficiency in work as well as a sense of exactitude and
responsibility. Sometimes this man
appears to be a comic figure. He is
wearing very fashionable dresses as living in European Capital. He is surrounded by the savages who are
half-naked and their appearance is very horrible. Hence it is something comic, ridiculous and
contrasting. He is very effective and
impressive figure as depicted by Conrad whereas Mr. Kurtz. Is a demon. He is a cultured gentleman representing the
European community. The grimness of atmosphere
in the Central Station reflects the wilderness of Congo but a solitary
well-accomplished personality takes us to the fascinating world of Europe.
THE MANAGER OF THE CENTRAL STATION
The depiction of the Manager of the Central Station is also very vividly
and elaborately given by Marlow. He is a
man of medium stature and of ordinary built.
He is very ordinary in complexion, feature, manner, behaviour and voice. His blue-eyes have a sharp look in them that they fall on others like an axe. His smile is not worthy to be called a
smile. Here follows most important and
significant remark made by Marlow in this context. He says that this man inspires neither love,
nor fear, nor respect, what he inspires is sheer ‘uneasiness” and nothing
else. Marlow degrades him by saying that
he has no wisdom for organization or for initiation or even for order. His want of the organizing capability clearly
reflected in the deplorable condition of his station. His station is an
evidence to his lack of the sense of
organization. He neither has
intelligence nor learning. His
managerial post is not the result of his any specific skill or talent but of
his exceptional stamina. Though his
potentiality he is able to withstand the
harshness of the environment of cruel Congo.
He succeeds in spending three years in Congo continuously without
falling as a prey to any disease or illness.
The manager spends much of his time in plotting against Mr. Kurtz. He appoints brick-maker especially with the
purpose of getting information about what is going on among his
subordinates. Brickmaker works as spy
and keeps his eyes on other white men.
The manager is also treated as a symbol in the novel Heart of Darkness
by Joseph Conrad. He is symbolical of
the white man’s hollowness. Hollowness
of the Western man is among one of the important themes of the novel. Marlow describes the manager in the same
tone as he describes Mr. Kurts “hollow
at the core”. He says Manager as
having”nothing within him”. Marlow’s way of portraying this character makes us
detest this personality. In the
portraiture of the Manager, Conrad has shown his contempt for the white men of
Europe who went to the Congo for trading purpose, for the gratification of selfishness,
greed and ambition, to have more power.
Brick maker, who is encountered by
Marlow at the Central Station has been posted there to make brick but hardly
any brick could be seen by Marlow anywhere at the Central Station and the man
has spend the whole year at the Central
Station. Then Marlow learns that because
some important ingredients were not made available to him, that is why, he
could not make bricks. He is functioning
like a spy to the manager of the Central
Station informing him what is going on among the other white-men at the
station. This man seems to Marlow to
be very crooked and cunning. That is why he addresses him as “papier-mâché
Mephistopheles.” Marlow sees him as
possessing devilish qualities, a hollow and thin devil.
Brick Maker’s symbolical Significance :The Brick Maker is
symbolical of the cunningness and
pretension. He also represents the
hollowness as Manager does. We find this
person more detestable than the Manager.
Marlow is feeling contempt for these two men. The Brick-maker like other white-men is among
the category of “faithless pilgrims”
showing their worst trait. Indeed, these
men have no moral or virtuous purpose behind coming to Congo except extracting
ivory and to satisfy their lust of greed by ruling over them and exploiting
them.
The Russian, as Viewed by Marlow :
In the novel Heart of Darkness Russian is a young man of
twenty-five. He has remained a seaman
and an explorer, thus he already has lot of experience about this field of
working. Russian finds a kind of affinity between Marlow and himself because
they both are professional and seasoned sailors and explorers. Marlow gets an impression of a harlequin (a
buffoon) when he first sees him. He has given no name in whole novel. He was in
multi-coloured dress with bright patches of blue, red and white colours on
it. These patches were everywhere on his
clothes, in front of, on the back, on elbow, on knees. Thus at that time he was giving the
impression of a cartoon. The
multiplicity of colours on his clothes is symbolical of the multiplicity of
ideas in his mind. Like these patches
they are also fragmentary. He has so
many ideas but he lacks depth in them.
He is very important figure in the novel because Marlow has been given a lot of information
about Mr. Kurtz through him. Russian’s
view on Mr. Kurtz is among those various
angles through which his character is examined.
He says about himself to Marlow that after having a quarrel with his
father, a priest, he had run away from his house and after many wanderings he
got reconciled to him (father) but has not stopped his wanderings after
reconciliation also.
The Company’s Doctor : Marlow, before being selected as the skipper
on the stream boat of the trading company, is
examined by a doctor and here he has given a very interesting
description about him (the Doctor). The
doctor is old and feeling the pulse of Marlow.
He says that Marlow’s pulse is good
for the country where he is about to sail. Then he asks Marlow to let
him examine his head. Marlow gets
surprised at it but allows him to measure the head. The Doctor, then, examines his head and
writes down the measurements. The doctor
seems to Marlow as a “harmless fool”, an unshaven little man in a tattered coat. The doctor says to Marlow that he always
examines the heads of those men who are going to visit distant lands and he
does so under the interest of science.
Marlow is informed by doctor that he is the first English man who has
come under his observation. Then Marlow
says that he is not in the least a
typical Englishmen.
The doctor is not a Physician but portrayed as a psychologist and
psychiatrist also. He symbolizes the
emergence of contemporary psychology and
psychiatry as regular sciences and people’s
upcoming interest in these
subjects. He reflects the interest of
scientist in the field of the exploration of minds as Freud referred it as a
complex mechanism.
THE HELMSMAN: Helmsman
is portrayed as an athlete in black complexion, belonging to some coastal
tribe, putting on a pair of brass ear-rings and a blue cloth has wrapped him
from waist to the ankles. Marlow says that this man often overestimates
himself; he has too high opinion about himself but actually he is an unstable
kind of fool Marlow ever met. He steers
the steamship with great pretension and swagger when Marlow is present there by
his side but when ever he leaves his sight he behaves as an absolute coward, horrified at his
work. He regards his work as a most
dangerous one & is killed by natives.
The “Faithless Pilgrims” The white-men at the Belgian Trading Company’s station are remarked by Marlow as
“faithless pilgrims”. Marlow has used the word “pilgrim”
ironically. They come over to Congo with
a high moral purpose of ameliorating the
condition of the back ward’s life but they are not faithful, they have proved
themselves faithless in regard to their
moral purpose. They exploit the natives
in order to gratify their lust for ivory.
They are described by Marlow as loitering aimlessly in the sunshine
around the Central Station with long sticks
in their hands. They look like a group of “faithless pilgrims
bewitched inside a rotten fence.” They
use the word “ivory” again and again in their talk. They talk
sometimes loudly and sometimes whisper.
It seems to Marlow that ivory is
a god to them and they are praying to it.
These faithless pilgrims were
much terrified when their ship was attacked
but the cannibals were untouched and composed and calm. Marlow felt, at that time, that these
westerners were so worthless, and insignificant that the cannibals even did not
like to eat their flesh. These
“faithless pilgrims” become more contemptible figures because of this pungent
irony used by Marlow.
THE CANNIBAL CREW
There are twenty men on the board of steamboat, described by Marlow as
fine-fellows. Their most noteworthy and
striking qualities are their extreme
devotion to work and the self-restraint.
For so many times, the steamboats get stuck in the river because of the
shallow level of water and at that moment these cannibals are used to push the
steamer in order to get it down into the river.
In the course of his voyage over
the Congo river Marlow feels grateful to those cannibals who prove to be of
immense importance to make the steamer afloat.
Marlow does not pay much attention to their cannibalistic attitude of eating flesh because they do it on his
back, when he is not present there in
front of them. That is why he ignores
this cannibalism.
Marlow is greatly surprised to see that the cannibals are badly
suffering from hunger but they do not kill the white-men in order to eat their
flesh. The cannibals are highly
symbolical in the novel. They symbolize
hard work, efficiency, cool – mindedness, and above all self-restraint. It is in contrast to what white men symbolize:
greed, superficiality, and lust of power, self-centeredness, commercial
mentality and lack of self-restrain.
0 Comments