More handpicked essays just for you.
Analysis of joseph conrad's heart of darkness
Critical analysis on the novel Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad
Analysis of conrad's heart of darkness
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Human Nature in Heart of Darkness and Apocalypse Now In Joseph Conrad's "Heart of Darkness" and Francis Ford Coppola's "Apocalypse Now" the reader learns more and more about human nature as Marlow, Captain Willard, go farther and farther up the river in search of Kurtz. An evil side lies within every man, but this evil remains repressed by society. When moving up the river and farther away from civilization, the evil side begins to break out. Whenever basically different cultures meet we are led to discover ourselves and can even drive us to perceived madness. Both stories are about "Man's" journey finding himself, and confronting his fears of failure, insanity, culture and even death. Marlow is an early version of Kurtz, and Kurtz is what Marlow could become. He, like Kurtz, had good intentions upon entering the Congo. Along the trip into the wilderness, they discover their true nature through contact with the natives. Even Marlow admits, "I was getting savage." As Marlow ventures farther up the Congo, he feels like he is traveling back in time, the deeper into the heart he goes the more regressed the inhabitants seem. Kurtz once was considered an honorable man, but living in the Congo separated from his own culture he changed greatly. In the jungle he discovers his evil side, secluded from the rest of his own society he becomes corrupted by power. "My Ivory. My people, my ivory, my station, my river," everything was under Kurtz's reign. While at Kurtz's camp Marlow encounters the broken roof on Kurtz's house, the "black hole," this is a sign of the uncivilized. The black hole represents the unknown and unconquered, and therefore represents the uncivilized. Also, Marlow notices the "black heads" on Kurt... ... middle of paper ... ...s curiosity and longing to die in the movie. Colonel Kurtz states: "I watched a snail crawl along the edge of a straight razor. That's my dream. That's my nightmare. Crawling, swiftly, along the edge of a straight…razor…and surviving." Kurtz's worst fear is living, going back to civilization as an uncivilized man. After having his soul cut up by war, just as the snails soft under belly would be cut. Both Marlow and Captain Willard were fully warned and well aware of the evils each would encounter. However he chooses to ignore this aspect in hopes of satisfying his curiosity. His curiosity about the unknown realm drives him to cross the line between civilized human behavior and enters a nightmarish world. In this nightmare world he realizes the horror of human nature as he sees over the edge of sanity and discovers what he could become, Kurtz.
Both works also reflect the theory that "civilized" white men that go into an uncivilized land become savage and do not return to white civilization. An example of this that is in the book is Marlows appointment with the doctor. The doctor measures Marlow's skull to compare its size at the present time to the size of his skull upon his return from the Congo. The thought is that a civilized mans skull is a different size than a savage skull. When Marlow asks the doctor how the results of this test have been in the past, the doctor comments that there are none because no civilized person has ever returned from the Congo.
This shows how Willard is focused only on completing his mission and that he is willing to sacrifice the safety of the crew. Another important factor in the leading up to the death of the helmsman is the cries of the native people, which are heard by the crew and serves to unsettle them even further. In Heart of Darkness, the cries of the natives make the crew question if they will be attacked or not. Marlow makes the mistake of thinking that the “anguished” cries of the natives are a signal that they will not attack. This causes Marlow to drop his guard and when the attack does come, he slowly realizes this.
When reading each page, a sort of investigation begins in trying to figure out how Kurtz became insane. However, that investigation was not fully closed because in the end no one knew what had happened to him. In a way his character presented the idea that perhaps the darkness, his darkness was his own and was all along in him waiting to come out. Because there were other men living and working in the Congo who had not become insane as he did, such as the Russian trader or the ivory company’s accountant.
This situation of waiting for Kurtz allows Marlow to fantasize about Kurtz and create a larger than life figure out of a man who he’s never met before. Soon Finding Kurtz becomes an all-out obsession for Marlow; even the night before they meet Kurtz, he wishes to press on despite the danger. Here the reader can see that Marlow is willing to get to Kurtz at all costs. When Marlow does finally make contact with Kurtz, his fantasy carries over into the person who he sees Kurtz as. Marlow is willing to overlook some of Kurtz’s shortcomings and is very willing to see his greatness. Marlow is obviously fond of Kurtz, as it can be seen in the passage when he speaks of Kurtz’s “unextinguishable gift of noble and lofty expression.” Here the reader can observe that Marlow is truly fond of Kurtz’s. The narrator even chooses to side with Kurtz against the manager; even though he hardly knows the man. Kurtz has also managed to get the native people to worship him as a god, and has mastered their language. This makes Marlow respect him even more. Marlow’s point of view allows him to foster both the reality and the fantasy of Kurtz, and though he is very fond of Kurtz, he is still able to see the truth in him as
The novel ends with Kurtz "gradually engulfing" the atrocities of the other agents in his own immense horror"(Dorall 303). At his dying moment, Kurtz utters "Horror! The Horror of the World! which for the. novel are words reflecting the tragedy of Kurtz, and his transformation.
Marlow’s thoughts are so consumed by Kurtz, that he is built up to be much more of a man than he truly is. In turn, Marlow is setting himself up for a let down. He says at one point, “I seemed to see Kurtz for the first time...the lone white man turning his back suddenly on the headquarters, on relief, on thoughts of home...towards his empty and desolate station”(P.32). When Marlow reaches Kurtz’s station, he begins to become disillusioned. He begins to hear about, and even see, the acts that Kurtz is committing, and becomes afraid of him. He sees in Kurtz, what he could become, and wants nothing to do with it. He does not want people to know he has any type of relationship with him, and says in response to the Russian, “I suppose that it had not occurred to him that Mr. Kurtz was no idol of mine.” (P.59). It is at this point that he begins to discover the darkness in his heart.
The true meaning of varying interpretations comes alive when one compares the two film versions of Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad. Heart of Darkness and Apocalypse Now have the same basic outline and underlying themes, however the plots, characters, settings, time, purposes, and points of view differ enough to create two extremely different effects and two entirely opposite movies. Both movies depict an insanity: of man in Heart of Darkness and of war in Apocalypse Now. It is ironic that Heart of Darkness, the movie replica of the novel, is a boring, slow-paced flop of a production, while Apocalypse Now, a loosely based film, had great success and audience appeal. Heart of Darkness is a 1994 Turner Network Television (TNT) Pictures made for TV movie, directed by Nicolas Roeg. It is based so exactly on the Joseph Conrad novel that the differences between the two are almost indiscernible. As in the novel, the Nellie floats on the Thames River while Marlow, played by Tim Roth, tells of his journey into Africa. He is employed by an English trading company and assigned to sail up the Congo to the inner ivory station. He takes along Mfumu, a black native cannibal, as a companion. They encounter strange situations with company managers, the accountant, natives, cannibals, a sunken ship, and natural disasters. All along the way, Marlow hears of Kurtz, the corrupted chief of the Inner Station, played by John Malkovich, and becomes obsessed with finding him. As he nears the station, natives attack the boat and kill Mfumu. Marlow meets a Harlequin who tells him personal stories about Kurtz and his methods of becoming both admired and feared by the native tribe. Wh...
Both Conrad’s, “Heart of Darkness”, and Coppola’s, “Apocalypse Now”, profoundly illustrate the journey of man into their inner self and man’s encounters with their insanity, fears and demise. The novella and film are comprised of numerous pivotal themes that facilitate the understanding of the deeper meaning of both works. Fundamentally, theme is an extensive message or idea expressed by an author and is a crucial element of literature since it sheds light on universal concepts. The most striking parallels that can be formulated when comparing themes in both the novella and the film are associated with human nature. Specifically, Conrad and Coppola incorporate theme of hypocrisy in order to portray man’s incredible potential for evil.
When Marlow finally reaches Kurtz he is in declining health. This same jungle which he loved, embraced and consumed with every ounce of his flesh had also taken its toll on him. Marlow finally meets the man whose name has haunted him on his river journey. Could this frail human be the ever so powerful Kurtz? The man who has journeyed into uncharted territories and has come back with scores of ivory and the respect of the native tribe. Yes, this was the very man and though he is weak and on his way to death his power still exudes from him.
Both of the men had different backgrounds before they began their journey. Marlow was an experienced sailor, while Willard was an experienced warrior. Willard was a man who went to hell and back in Vietnam. His soul was already corrupted and only got worse while his journey to Kurtz continued. Marlow was a man who just wanted a job. His experience in sailing was the reason he got into his mission. Marlow takes the place of a captain who was killed by natives while on a similar journey. Willard was a man who was picked by the secret service. He was looked at because of his strong history in the military. The history of both men was important for each of them to go their perspective missions.
...s to look at Kurtz as a hero for all that he had accomplished, no matter how evil. Marlow?s obstacles as the hero are not the overcoming of a dragon or evil villain. It is the eternal battle of the story of a Hero versus Antihero. Marlow?s blindness to Kurtz?s impurities are both his strength and weakness. His ignorance to the greatness of his own qualities can best be stated one way: ?The Horror.?
In conclusion, it is easy to understand how Kurtz came to his conclusions and how a person who is being viewed as “Godlike” might abuse that phenomenon in a questionable way. This is further supported by the fact that Marlow was swayed to believe that the Africans were savages as they attacked his ship. It wasn’t until later that he concluded the attack was prompted by the African’s fear that he would take Kurtz away.
He even considers that he would have as soon expected such restraint from a hyena prowling amongst the corpses of a battlefield.... ... middle of paper ... ... Interestingly, Marlow and Kurtz are very comparable and several parallels can be drawn between them, yet their fates differ in the end. Kurtz’s fate is due to his lack of restraint, but Marlow’s restraint only saves his life for the time being.
...il of desire, temptation, and surrender during that supreme moment of complete knowledge? He cried in a whisper at some image, at some vision,-he cried out twice, a cry that was no more that a breath- 'The horror! The horror!' "(Longman, 2000, p. 2240). This is what distinguishes the two men; Kurtz abandoned himself and went over the edge, but Marlow is aware of just how close he was to becoming what Kurtz was.
Conrad uses the character of Marlow to make use of his own thoughts and views about the people in the Congo. He feels pity for them as he sees them falling down carrying heavy packages and Kurtz commanding them like a batallion of troups. This sight angers Marlow and when he gets to Kurtz, it’s too late. Even he has been pulled in by the darkness. Conrad makes an effective distinction between Marlow and Kurtz.