Analyzing The Main Aspects in The Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad

Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad, a story of a sailor who travels up the Congo River in search of the ambiguous and infamous Mr. Kurtz. During his journey up the river Marlow learns of the hypocrisy of imperialism and the truth of the white man’s burden. This is a book not for the faint of heart for it is far from a simple fable. The perplexing story relies heavily on symbolism to depict certain key elements of the story which often requires further analysation in order to fully comprehend. The most significant aspects of the book to consider while analysing should namely be how the limited narrator affects the narrative, the character Mr. Kurtz, the depiction of Africans relation to Europeans as well as the hypocrisy of imperialism.

The narrator of the story is limited which consequently means that a stream of consciousness is absent. This is because it is Marlow who is retelling the story from his point of view, while the narrator is the one who is listening to him speak. An omniscient narrator creates a stream of consciousness. A stream of consciousness is usually a great aid to a narrative because it contributes to understanding character’s thoughts and emotions resulting in effective character development. The absence of a stream of consciousness mainly affects the narrative in two ways, firstly it limits one’s understanding of characters such as Mr. Kurtz by restricting one’s knowledge of them. Secondly it also makes the reader dependent on how Marlow recalls and describes things. The descriptions given by Marlow are therefore, due to the limited narrator, arguably less accurate because the probability that they are flawed exists. The lack of an omniscient narrator accentuates the vagueness of the narrative. Moreover Marlow’s lack of knowledge becomes blatantly obvious regarding Mr. Kurtz and thus the character known as Mr. Kurtz becomes vague as well “to this day I am unable to say what was Kurtz’s profession”.

The enigmatic character Mr. Kurtz is someone who is known for his unrivaled eloquence and ability to deliver ivory. Mr. Kurtz starts off as an imperialist with the intention of civilizing the natives. He believed that he was doing them a favor by taking up the white man’s burden. In his pamphlet he writes: “By the simple exercise of our will we can exert a power for good practically unbounded”. When this novella was written it was often a common belief held by the imperialists that the Europeans were superior beings and that they were perceived, by the Africans, as “supernatural beings”. Furthermore Mr. Kurtz symbolises the greed and mentality of the white man because he felt obliged to take up the white man’s burden in order to get ivory. The irony of Mr. Kurtz is that he, in his mission to civilize the savages, turns into a savage himself. “Exterminate all the brutes!” was the last thing written by Mr. Kurtz before he turned into a savage. Through Mr. Kurtz transformation Conrad is arguably implying that imperialism is flawed and that savagery is a universal human trait which exists in Europeans as “the shackled form of a conquered monster”.

In the Heart of Darkness it is evident that Marlow does not approve of the maltreatment of the Africans but the vagueness of his words make it, at times, quite difficult to decipher what he is truly implying. It is unclear whether Marlow himself views the Africans as equals in terms of humanity but he acknowledges that there exists kinship between himself and the Africans. “They howled, and leaped, and spun, and made horrid faces; but what thrilled you was just the thought of their humanity - like yours - the thought of your remote kinship with this wild and passionate uproar.” However he does not approve of this remote kinship. He calls it “Ugly.”, but by recognizing its existence he is admitting that they share not only their humanity but also their savagery. According to Marlow he feels that there is “the faintest of trace of a response to the terrible frankness of that noise,” consequently implying that he recognizes the existence of his own inner savagery.

“The conquest of the earth, which mostly means the taking it away from those who have a different complexion or slightly flatter noses than ourselves”. These are the words uttered by Marlow in relation to his thoughts about the Roman Empire, suggesting in a subtle way what his general opinions on imperialism are. Through similar methods as well as the occasional use of irony Conrad’s true opinions permeate the narrative. ”It might have been connected with the philanthropic desire of giving the criminals something to do.” An example of Conrad’s use of irony when Marlow discovers the holes that were dug by the “criminals”. One must know that during the era when the book was published most people were oblivious of the atrocities that were being committed in Africa. At the time people were credulous and therefore they did not know of the true nature of the white man’s burden and the hypocrisy of imperialism.

The “whited sepulchre” was a symbol for the hypocrisy of the Belgian mission to civilize the Africans in Congo. The profanity of the white man’s burden is deeply rooted in the rhetoric used by the imperialists, but the mission to civilize the Africans was simply an excuse for savagery driven by greed. Therefore the description given in the narrative, “whited sepulchre”, is remarkably accurate for imperialism had many people fooled with its rhetoric and delusional beliefs that the actions were philanthropic in nature because it was the white man’s duty to civilise the Africans. Moreover, a real life example of the truth behind the white man’s burden was Leopold II of Belgium who in his mission to civilize the Africans committed horrendous acts of violence that would echo through time as proof of the greedy nature of the darkness which lays latent in all of us.

The limited narrator of the Heart of Darkness, Mr. Kurtz, the depiction of Africans relation to Europeans as well as the hypocrisy of imperialism have all been analysed to varying degrees based on their significance. It is not an impeccable analysis but the evidence is sufficient to conclude how absurd the hypocrisy of imperialism is as well as the delusional profanity of the white man’s burden, the Africans were neither “criminals” nor “enemies” they were simply people. People who shared both humanity and savagery equally with the Europeans. Mr. Kurtz was not successful when he took up the white man’s burden, not because he was incompetent, it was because the need for civilizing was nonexistent. Imperialism was not doing the Africans any favors and the so called philanthropic desire was nothing more than the manifestation of pure greed. The truth was foreshadowed and best described by Marlow himself: “The conquest of the earth, which mostly means the taking it away from those who have a different complexion or slightly flatter noses than ourselves, is not a pretty thing when you look into it too much.”

To conclude the essay, Conrad perfectly illustrates the hypocrisy of imperialism and by doing so he also revealed to the world the darkness which lies latent in all of us. To some it is a controversial book, others see it as a lesson to be learned from, no matter the reason it is not by fluke that Heart of Darkness remains a subject of discussion. We must learn from the atrocities committed by Leopold II for even though the world may have changed, human nature remains the same and with it man’s potential of evil still exists.