The Theme Of Evil In Joseph Conrad's Heart Of Darkness

Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness is the story of a man’s journey deep into the Congo. The title, however, is unclear as to what or which “heart of darkness” he is moving towards. The man, Marlow, enters the center of the continent of Africa, often seen as a place of darkness in the light of European civilization. But soon he experiences the the fullest extent of human depravity and cruelty enacted on an innocent civilization for the accumulation of wealth. However, the heart of darkness that Marlow finds himself in may be less a metaphorical one and more of a metaphysical one. Conrad develops the theme of supernatural evil as a form of darkness. He does this through Nature, Women, and the heart of Kurtz.

As Marlow begins his tale upon

Conrad thus sets the tone of the story somewhere in the conflict between Christian European civilization and the uncivilized pagan values of the different natives. This sort of conflict brings into play the possibility of demonic forces at war with morality in a place not penetrated by civilization. He gives a vivid picture of this uncivilized world as Marlow describes his journey into the deepest parts of the jungle. “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. An empty stream, a great silence, an impenetrable forest. The air was warm, thick, heavy, sluggish. There

Specifically, he presents women as being very apart from men. In Marlow’s world, the men are the ones that are seeking power, driving forward progress, and subjecting other men in the process. However, Marlow lets slip his view of women when he says, “Then- would you believe it?- I tried the women. I, Charlie Marlow, set the women to work- to get a job. Heavens!”(109). He does not expect anything out of “the women”, but gets his fateful job nonetheless. His point is even more obvious when he reflects about his aunt, “It’s queer how out of touch with truth women are. They live in a world of their own, and there had never been anything like it, and never can be. It is too beautiful altogether, and if they were to set it up it would go to pieces before the first sunset,” (113). He clearly puts women in a category all their own, more like daydreaming nymphs than actual people. They seem to lack substance or conviction, yet it was his aunt that got him his job and no man. This cotton- thin and unrealistic view of the world is reflected from his aunt at the beginning of the story and Kurtz’s Intended at the end. Both are very unaware of the true atrocities going on in the world, but by the end Marlow would prefer to preserve the Intended’s innocent view of human goodness rather than smother it. However, the unearthly effect of women takes a turn for the darker once we meet