Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad Essay Example

Introduction

The novel "Heart of Darkness" written by Joseph Conrad explores moral confusion, hypocrisy, and ambiguity. The choice between two evils idea is explored by Joseph. The novel describes Marlow as an ideal person who aligns himself forceful to a hypocritical and malicious bureaucracy of the colony or Kurtz who is malevolent openly and rule defiance. With the progress of the novel, it is evident that it is wrong to judge others. Throughout the novel, evil versus good is brought out.

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Does Marlow view a lot of situations as ridiculous?

Marlow has witnessed several situations that are part of problems that are big such as like "the world going insane" as he sees them. For instance, he sees the unique things such as a man carrying a bucket of water with a hole. The novel by Joseph provides a different view of the evil nature as illustrated in the people's mind and heart. There is a struggle for maintaining the judicial and moral sense as the narrator continues to find out Kurt's dark secrets and the trading company conspiracy. Marlow's speech distinguishes him from the rest of the passengers by conjuring up the past where Britain was the savage of the "end of the world" and not the heart of civilization (Heart of Darkness: Character Studies). This shows that he was an imperial critic, although his arguments did not show anything to do with the contrast between the imperialism impacts to colonized people than Europeans.

Does Marlow interpret the surrounding world?

He describes the trip as a back time journey, to a "prehistoric earth." The most disturbing issue to him is the native people seen in his words along the river, is that there is some suspicion with them being inhuman. His isolation that is self-imposed compels him to make considerations of other crews that are African American like himself, and what is seen confuses him (Murfin). He is puzzled by the difference between the native fireman and the uneducated ignorant European who they share the same job. Although the journey is jeopardy as a result of the uncertainties, there is none that passes, all this attributed to Marlow's skill. As he pilots the steamboat along a river full of treachery, this is a symbolism of discovering his way through the conspiracy world, black faces that are inaccessible and mysteries.

What is the view of Kurt's?

The Russian utters the words in the best manner, "I went a little farther ... till I had gone so far that I don't know how I'll ever get back" (Reading Heart of Darkness). There is a similarity between Marlow and the Russian, they are both is a search of the enlightenment and epiphany. The possible enlightenment source is Kurtz and therefore becomes a more powerful story figure, although he is not recognized until the end. Kurt's makes a speech in savage and civil tongues. He has a forte in his eloquence since he makes a disguise of his darkness from people such as the Russian. The woman who mourns in Europe for Kurt's praises him of heart with generosity, greatness and a noble mind. There is a contrast of opinions of the two peoples impression by the manager, who describes Kurtz as a person who gathered ivory unethically by incitement of locals to violence.

The book can be viewed as a personal inner conflict of morals between what is termed as bad and evil. This is as a result of the dilemmas in morals created by Marlow and Kurtz, where they have a review of strengths and worthiness in the wars at the end with forces of darkness inside them. The transformation of Kurtz in concepts and purpose from directing and enlightening the locals on getting an income by exploiting them and accessing their ivory illustrates how and a person can be discontinued from the first beliefs.

References

"Heart of Darkness: Character Studies." 2008, doi:10.5040/9781472543066.

Murfin, Ross C. "A Critical History of Heart of Darkness." Heart of Darkness, 1996, pp. 99-114., doi:10.1007/978-1-349-14016-9_3.

"Reading Heart Of Darkness." Conrads Heart of Darkness, doi:10.5040/9781472543028.ch-003.