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Analysis of conrad's heart of darkness
Analysis of conrad's heart of darkness
Major themes of conrad's heart of darkness
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In the novel, “Heart of Darkness” by Joseph Conrad there are many themes that are explored, but none more so than the hollowness of civilization. In the novel, Marlow travels to the unnamed city where a European company interested in the richness Africa has to offer has its headquarters. He describes the city as a "white sepulcher." A sepulcher is a beautiful tomb, which on the surface is looking strong and magnificent but hides inside only the dead. The white sepulchral city symbolizes civilization. The beautiful white outside suggests the justifications that Europeans use to justify colonization, while the hidden hollow inside of the sepulcher represents the hypocrisy of the European people, and desire for power and wealth that truly motivate the colonial powers. This essay will explore …show more content…
In the “Heart of Darkness”, the hollowness of civilization is directly reflected in the hypocrisy of the entire colonial effort. In Europe, colonization of Africa was justified on the grounds that it would also civilize the ‘savage’ African natives. In an effort to civilize Africa, it revealed the truth nature of civilization, as all their ‘teachings’ towards the natives were hollow. At the beginning of the novel we get a glimpse of what the narrator’s thoughts on colonialism is. "What greatness had not floated on the ebb of that river into the mystery of an unknown earth! ...The dreams of men, the seed of commonwealths, the germs of empire." (Conrad, 17) He views colonialism as something to be marveled at. He believed men went away with dreams and money to build empires in England’s honor and cure savagery where ever they may find it. But Marlow has seen what truly happens and takes the opposite view: he sees England itself as one of the savage places, and imagines how that savagery changed its conquerors. "And this also," Marlow says suddenly, "has been one of the dark places of the earth."
Cesaire and Conrad both have different methods and rhetoric to criticize colonization. Cesaire is more direct with his critiques. In contrast, Conrad is more reserved with ideas and his thoughts. Conrad attracts the reader into Marlow’s world where the experiences of Marlow and his thoughts, which are never direct, are where one can distinguish his critiques of colonialism. John Reed’s articles are descriptive and allows the reader to have a vivid picture of the reality that is present in the war.
In the novel, Heart of Darkness, Kurtz’s greed and maliciousness consume his actions and take over his body. Since Kurtz gains authority from his copious amounts of Ivory, he becomes arrogant and abuses his power. He murders groups of natives and hangs their heads on stakes to show his control which instills a sense of self validation. Sarcastically, Marlow states, “evidently the appetite for more ivory had got the better of the-what shall I say?-less material aspirations”(Conrad 86). He displays his cruelty by placing material wealth like Ivory above human lives. This obsession eats him alive, and slowly, he becomes his treasure. His body deteriorates, and Marlow “saw on that ivory face the expression of sombre pride, of ruthless power, of craven terror. . .”(105). He becomes a reflection of his greed which leaves him “hollow at the core” with no moral compass(87). In the beginning, the setting takes place in an ironic town called Brussels. Conrad alludes to a book in the Bible and states, “I arrived in a city that always makes me think of a whited sepulchre. Prejudice no doubt”( 13). In the Bible, a whited sepulchre represents the burial site for the deceased and also represents a hypocrite. As the bodies rot underground and the bones take their place, the sepulchre serves as a comparison to the hidden impurity and sinfulness throughout Western civilization. The inside holds the truth while the outside
Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness shows the disparity between the European ideal of civilization and the reality of it, displayed by the domination, torture, exploitation and dehumanization of the African people. Conrad often emphasizes the idea of what is civilized versus what is primitive or savage. While reading the novel, the reader can picture how savage the Europeans seem. They are cruel and devious towards the very people they are supposed to be helping.
“ 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.” (Conrad 65) So stated Marlow as though this was his justification for ravaging the Congo in his search for ivory. Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness shows the disparity between the European ideal of civilization and the reality of it as is evidenced by the domination, torture, exploitation and dehumanization of the African population. Heart of Darkness is indicative of the evil and greed in humanity as personified by Kurtz and Marlow.
A nation of tortured slaves with bodies so emaciated one could count the ribs, death lingering in every corner as overworked natives line the ground with their lifeless forms, a people so scarred that evil men are allowed to rule as gods. Unfortunately, the gruesome description reigns true for African tribes that fell victim to the cruelty of colonialism. Pointing out the abhorrent evils of the imperial tradition, Joseph Conrad wrote Heart of Darkness to expose the possibility of malevolence in a human being. Throughout the novella, Conrad illustrates sickening images of the horrendous effects of colonizing African tribes while incorporating themes such as a reversal of black and white imagery, the “fascination of the abomination”, and the inherent evil within humanity. Uniquely, Conrad often describes good and virtuous situations or people using the commonly negative description black. Likewise, Conrad also uses the word “white” to describe negative, evil, or unfortunate events and people. Another use of theme arises as Conrad’s main narrator, Marlow, becomes fascinated with the savage people and the cruelty under which they live. Although the situations and people are described as wild, Marlow pays special attention to the details of these people because they are all human, like him. Lastly, the protagonist, Kurtz, falls into deep evils as his soul is consumed by power-hungry and greedy ambitions. Conrad often discusses the possibility of evil within every man if the environment is unrestrained and open to a dictatorship-like control. Despite the main idea of the novel being the evil within man, a native Nigerian professor, Chinua Achebe, greatly criticizes what he believes to be both obvious and subtle racist undertones through...
Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness has a symbolic meaning behind its title like many other great works of literature. The title can actually be interpreted in many different ways. One way the title can be looked at is that it portrays how Conrad viewed the continent of Africa. It might also represent entering into a more primitive society, witnessing humans transforming from civilized to savage. Perhaps the Heart of Darkness refers to the colonialism and imperialism that the Europeans were practicing at the turn of the 20th century.
In Romanticism and Colonialism, Tim Fulford and Peter J. Kitson argue that few scholars explicate the relationship between Romantic texts, British colonialism, and imperialism. Fulford and Kitson point out that the "Romantic period is a watershed in colonial history," marking the inception of a British empire based on the political philosophy of the "white man's burden" (3). By reading Romantic texts in the historical and political context of colonialism and imperialism, Fulford and Kitson hope to return Romantic texts "to the context of material, colonial processes contemporaneous with their imagined versions of colonized people and places" (9). In other words, Fulford and Kitson read Romantic texts as reflections of historical reality and as complex, ambivalent responses to colonial and imperial discourse. With the aim of returning Romantic texts to "material, colonial processes," I will read Byron's poem "Darkness" through the lens of Julia Kristeva's conception of abjection. My abject reading of "Darkness" will then explicate the relationship between the poem and the larger process of British colonialism and imperialism. I will first read "Darkness" for instances of abjection through the lens of Julia Kristeva's 1982 essay, "Approaching Abjection." I will then conclude by addressing the question of how an abject reading of "Darkness" helps to elucidate the complex interplay between Romanticism and British colonial and imperial discourse.
One interpretation of Marlow's relationship to colonialism is that he does not support it. Conrad writes, "They were not enemies, they were not criminals, they were nothing earthly now,-nothing but black shadows of disease and starvation, lying confusedly in the greenish gloom" (p. 27-28). Marlow says this and is stressing that the so-called "savages", or Africans, are being treated and punished like they are criminals or enemies when in fact they never did anything. He observes the slow torture of these people and is disgusted with it. Marlow feels sympathy for the black people being slaved around by the Europeans but doesn't do anything to change it because that is the way things are. One can see the sympathy by the way that he gives a starving black man one of his biscuits. "To tear treasure out of the bowels of the land was their desire, with no moral purpose at the back of it than there is in burglars breaking into a safe" (p. 54). This statement by Marlow conveys that he doesn't believe that the Europeans have a right to be stripping Africa of its riches. He views the Jungles of Africa as almost it's own living, breathing monster.
Through several examples, Conrad often shows the pointlessness and savagery of the English colonization in Africa. Probably the first instance of this is when Marlow comes up to the French-man who is "shelling the bush". In this scene, the French see something move and so they start shelling it for that reason. The shelling really does no good; if fact, it probably does not even kill what is out there. This represents what the English are doing in a way -- they are trying to conquer a land by shelling it to death and by trying to kill all the people who live there. The next example that Conrad gives is when he sees the black guard, who is leading the black slaves in a chain gang, straighten up when he sees a white man. What this shows is how everyone tries to look better than they are when they are in front of a supposed superior person. Also it shows that if a person can suck up enough -- and sometimes betray their own people -- they can move up in the world.
Civilization is not as advanced as first assumed. Joseph Conrad asserts this disheartening message in his novel, Heart of Darkness. The novel follows a European man reliving his journey to the Congo through story telling to his shipmates. Through Marlow’s journey, Conrad reveals the stark contrasts between European civilization and African savagery. Heart of Darkness explores the struggles of different societies with an intention to expose the weaknesses of a complicated imperialistic ideal.
Firstly, the theme of hypocrisy is integrated in both works for the purpose of portraying man’s staggering and absurd potential for evil. In the novel, Heart of Darkness, the Europeans state that their objectives in Africa are to trade with the natives and immerse them with the light of civilization. However, their actions fail to reflect their stated motives since the Europeans take the ivory from the natives by force and they treat them inhumanely. Not to mention that the Europeans constantly refer to natives as objects such as machinery as well as suppress and eradicate them at any opportunity. Ultimately, the Europeans utilize their false words as a civilized veneer that masks their capability of being evil and savage.
Tenets of this theory that can be acted upon in interpreting text are questioning the system of values that support imperialism, questioning how imperialist colonizing powers are expanding, and focusing on victims of racism, military expansion, and exploitation. (Bertens, Hans) The text “Heart of Darkness” by Joseph Conrad was placed back in colonial times. The text is about a man who learns the truth about colonization and what the colonizing powers were really up to. A man named Marlow goes on a journey from England to Africa to find another man named Kurt, whom the colonizing powers (also known as the company) assume is being held captive by the natives and/or probably dead. Marlow discovers that the company did not actually send him and the ship’s crew out there to look for Kurt, but to steal ivory. When he finally reaches Kurt he soon discovers that Kurt has sided with the natives and the more Marlow learns about the company, the more he agrees with Kurt. (Conrad,
In Conrad's Heart of Darkness Marlow, the main character, symbolizes the positiveness of Imperialism. Marlow, as a character realizes the evil that negative Imperialism has caused and decides it is truly unnecessary. When Marlow states, "I had got a heavenly mission to civilize you," he expresses his good intentions to help the Africans progress and advance. Furthermore, when he says, "I was an impostor," Marlow recognizes the fact that he is an invader into a foreign land, yet he sticks to his moral values.
The opposite of darkness is always light giving the impression that the darkness in the story has the chance of becoming something else. The darkness in the jungles of the African Congo represent something that is uncivilized and untamed. As the reader continues throughout the story it becomes clear that these characteristics are not of the land but rather of the savage and dark natives. It becomes clear that Marlow shares many of his fellow European prejudices but through his own experiences encountering scenes of torture, cruelty, and near-slavery has made him a skeptic of imperialism. This is made clear when Marlow states, "The conquest of the earth, which mostly means the taking it away from those who have different complexion or slightly flatter noses than ourselves, is not a pretty thing when you look not it too much."
Joseph Conrad's novel Heart of Darkness portrays an image of Africa that is dark and inhuman. Not only does he describe the actual, physical continent of Africa as "so hopeless and so dark, so impenetrable to human thought, so pitiless to human weakness" (Conrad 94), as though the continent could neither breed nor support any true human life, but he also manages to depict Africans as though they are not worthy of the respect commonly due to the white man. At one point the main character, Marlow, describes one of the paths he follows: "Can't say I saw any road or any upkeep, unless the body of a middle-aged negro, with a bullet-hole in the forehead, upon which I absolutely stumbled three miles farther on, may be considered as a permanent improvement" (48). Conrad's description of Africa and Africans served to misinform the Western world, and went uncontested for many years.