Heart Of Darkness Nihilism

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Recommended: Analysis of the novel Heart of Darkness

Nihilism in Heart of Darkness

Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness (1899) challenges readers to question not only society's framework but more importantly the existence of being. Through the events involving Marlow and Kurtz, Conrad communicates a theme of the destruction of Being, "including that way of being which we call 'human' and consider to be our own" (Levin, 3). This theme is more clearly defined as nihilism, which involves the negation of all religious and moral values. The philosophy behind nihilism is extensive and in its completeness connotes humanity's inescapable fate of meaninglessness. The extent to which various ideologists regard nihilism varies according to their own philosophies. Nietzsche represents the nihilism …show more content…

By maintaining her illusion of Kurtz's love for her, Marlow shielded Kurtz's Intended from the abyss of nihilism. The lie gave meaning to Kurtz's death and provided closure for his Intended. Marlow created values and a "ground of all possible meaning" for himself and Kurtz's Intended by maintaining the illusion of Kurtz as a complete man rather than expose the truth of his "hollowness." For Kurtz's Intended, the illusion of Kurtz and his "gift of expression" played crucial role in her framework of reality and truth. He represented the Western values and with his tragic death and final self-realization, the values that were the foundation of his greatness were finally exposed as nothing more than empty symbols. Marlow's awareness of the void of Kurtz's "values" and "meaning in life" prompted his actions of creating an illusion which replaced the illusion of Kurtz as "the ground of [their] own meaning." As Whitehead comments, "Marlow knows that there is a truth, a humanly made reality, created by a man's assertions of himself amidst appearances... in his deliberately made illusions" (Whitehead, 128). Clearly, Heart of Darkness portrays the elements of nihilism and Conrad effectively addresses the means sometimes necessary to avoid exposure to the true void of the …show more content…

It is fitting that Conrad chooses Kurtz's greatest gift and source of influence to be his "gift of expression" to convey the true void of a society so mesmerized by the power of "words" that "once pronounced, die." Yet "words" are key elements of Heart of Darkness: the narration itself is a story told of Marlow's "words", the entire basis of admiration and worship of Kurtz is based on his ability to express and communicate "words", and the very foundation of maintaining a constant 'truth' for Kurtz's Intended rely solely upon knowing Kurtz's last "words." Conrad clearly communicates a strong theme of nihilism which underlie the very framework of his novella. As earlier stated, Kurtz's achievement of supreme power over the society of the natives questions society's strong emphasis and reliance on religion. Kurtz's character is essentially nothing more than a single member of the Imperialist Western society, one insignificant individual of billions of inhabitants of the world; yet, he is able to instill the greatest terror amongst a great mass of people and establish himself as a god, simply because he can convincingly express words, which ultimately contain no meaning. Conrad questions the validity of religion and evokes doubt in the human reluctance to believe and worship God. Conrad's skepticism regarding Religion and faith abides the main philosophies of nihilism and his

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