Madness is seen as the middle ground, a black and white line, between normality and abnormality, sanity and insanity. Heart of Darkness, a novella written by Joseph Conrad, centers around a sailor named Marlow, who struggles between awareness and madness as he journeys across the Congo River in Africa and comes into contact with the African residents and his surroundings, and Kurtz, a trader of ivory in Africa and commander of a trading post who struggles with madness both physically and mentally. Conrad is able to illustrate the theme of effects of madness through the fictional element of characterization, with both Marlow and Kurtz as his main focuses. One way the author displays the effects of madness is by documenting Marlow’s progression …show more content…
Kurtz, “the most dangerous person of all those whom [he] will encounter (Navarette). He first hears of Mr. Kurtz when the company’s chief accountant mentions his name and tells Marlow that “in the interior you will no doubt meet [him” (Conrad 15) and describes him as “a first class agent…a very remarkable person” (16). Marlow soon becomes obsessed and makes meeting Mr. Kurtz his sole purpose to get into Africa’s interior. The next day, Marlow and his crew of sixty men leave the station “for a two-hundred-mile tramp” (16) to reach Africa’s interior. As more time passes, he delves deeper and deeper into the depths of the African interior to reach Kurtz, he becomes even more mad and realizes that “his estrangement is physical, his unease generated not from himself but from his surroundings” (Maier-Katkin). When describing his surroundings, Marlow states, “Going up that river was like traveling back to the earliest beginnings of the world, when vegetation rioted on the earth and the big trees were kings…you lost your way on that river…till you thought yourself bewitched and cut off forever from everything you had known once” (30). Although he emphasizes the freedom of the African wilderness, it is befitting that Marlow reverts to a state of madness in a terrain so closely affiliated with primal nature and the beginnings of time. As he treks deeper and deeper still into the …show more content…
Kurtz’s physical surroundings and state also contribute to his madness. Being surrounded by wilderness and the jungle of the African interior makes him go mad and become a man completely different than his assumptions. Although he yearns to conquer the jungle, it instead “gets into his veins, consumes his flesh” (44). He becomes a complete victim to the jungle’s power. The influence of the jungle on his madness is so strong, that Mr. Kurtz succumbs to “two illnesses” while living in the African interior (51). This displays that his mental madness becomes physical; his bodily illness serves as a reflection of his sick, twisted mind. The prime example of this is the presence of decapitated heads that embellish Mr. Kurtz’s station house. These heads “only [show] that Mr. Kurtz [lacks] restraint in the gratification of his various lusts, that there was something wanting in him” (53). The presence of the decapitated heads makes it perfectly clear that Mr. Kurtz has cut all ties to a civilized society and acts as solid evidence of his complete descent into madness. In addition, the position of the decapitated heads suggests that they are an object to be intentionally displayed, rather than a warning. Marlow expresses his concern by stating that “[they] would have been even more impressive…if their faces had not been turned to the house” (52). In the eyes of Kurtz, these heads serve as symbols of
Kurtz had seen the true heart of man, and he knew of the evil. In his
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.
Kurtz is introduced as a respectable and powerful man because he is known for his wisdom and his nobility. His mission in the Congo is to save the natives from their barbaric way of life and make it more similar to the European, through colonization. He believes that in order for his plan to work he must present himself as a confident god-like leader “…must necessarily appear to them [savages] in the nature of supernatural beings – we approach them with the might as of a deity.” 1 In order to control the situation, the natives must relate to them, and trust them. However, as Kurtz gains more power over the natives he gets blinded by it, instead of civilizing the natives by stripping away their primitive ways, he dehumanizes them, and himself too. Kurtz does not understand how the natives live, and does not try to, therefore making him seem ignorant, which is ironic to the character he is known to be. He trusts in colonization, where the natives should mimic the European culture. His renowned success in the company; consequently convinces others that his actions are moral, however it creates a shadow that prevents...
Marlow’s journey into the Congo River is treacherous and unpredictable. Therefore, in a desperate need for civilization and escape from savagery, the boat serves as a sanctum from the natives, and becomes the link to moral civility. Throughout Marlow's voyage, he and his crew encounter mass amounts of fog. The fog symbolizes ambiguity in its most primal form, not only obscuring but it also distorts. The fog impares not just physical visibility, but which often ends up being wrong, which suggests that the fog has both literally and figuratively clouded Kurtz’s judgement. Marlow’s need to be on the boat, reflects the boat as a safe haven, a place where he can examine his own moral conscious more clearly. When his is not on the boat, he is less decisive and his judgement and moral compass are
Both Marlow and Willard became obsessed with a man by the name of Kurtz. Marlow wanted to meet Kurtz very bad. He was so fascinated with his accomplishments that he...
...s of the jungle, which sought to swallow him whole like the snake devouring its prey, sending it deeper within its body digesting it by stripping it of its layers one by one, paralleling the snake-like qualities of the river that drew Marlow deeper and deeper into its dark nothingness. And just like the Ancient Mariner, who is doomed to tell his tale for the rest of his life for the sake of penitence, Marlow, too, seems to retell his story of the tragic loss of innocence, of death and rebirth. Regardless of how many times the story had been told before it got to the narrator who eventually transcribed the events, it is one of great importance. It tells us that we must not judge a book by its cover, regardless of how convinced we may be of what is inside.
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
Towards the end of the story, right before Kurtz dies, Marlow looks at Kurtz, and says “I saw on that ivory face the expression of somber pride, of ruthless power, of craven terror-of an intense and hopeless despair.” (P.118), and then Kurtz screams, “The horror, the horror.” (P.118) and he dies. He is referring to what he sees inside himself. This is just what Marlow was afraid he was becoming, he looked deep inside himself, and saw Kurtz.
This is where the relation takes place. Once one section of the body, as in the mind or physical aspect, is affected by the darkness, it’s easy to dominate the other section. Through Marlow, Conrad gives his readers a visualization of the beginning stages of someone evolving into a local in this type of environment, “And this also… has been one of the darkest places on earth”(Conrad). Conrad shows the relation between insanity and physical illness by forcing Marlow to experience both. Among the Congo, Marlow encounters true darkness for the first time.
Marlow "would have as soon expected restraint from a hyena prowling amongst the corpses of a battlefield." The cannibals action is "one of those human secrets that baffle probability." This helps Marlow keep his restraint, for if the natives can possess this quality Marlow feels he certainly can. Kurtz is the essence of the lack of restraint Marlow sees everywhere. Kurtz has "kicked himself loose from the earth."
The first showcase of madness in this novella is when Marlow is about to enter the congo and he sees a French war ship firing randomly into the jungle. The French have a French warship firing into an uninhabited land, so they can battle the natives that live the congo. The idea of using a warship to try to fight people in an uninhabited land is absurd. A reader could see no point in the random bombardment of the land, but to people who had been in the congo see nothing astray with this attack on the natives. This attack gives the reader a sample of the madness that the main character is about to experience in his trip down the Congo River, after this Marlow ventures to the outer
On one hand, Marlow is saved by his self-discipline while on the other hand Kurtz is doomed by his lack of it. Before Marlow embarked on his voyage to Africa, he had a different view. Due to propaganda, he believed that the colonization of the Congo was for the greater good. In his head, he judged that the people of Africa were savages and that colonization would bring them the elation and riches of civilization. Despite an apparent uneasiness, he assumed that restraint would function there.
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.
...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.