lieshod Marlow's Lie in Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness

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Marlow's Lie in Heart of Darkness

In Conrad's novel, Heart of Darkness, it is generally accepted that Marlow told a lie to the Intended - the reasons for that lie are debatable. Through his lie, Marlow gives Kurtz a type of forgiveness. In so doing, perhaps Marlow errs on the side of restraint, while upholding the belief that Faustian wisdom has little value.

One of the main themes of Faust is that knowledge can be demoralizing, and in the end, is better left alone. From the outset of the book, Marlow makes observations on the uselessness of civilized knowledge on the African native:

"He was an improved specimen; he could fire up a vertical boiler. He was there below me, and, upon my word, to look at him was as edifying as seeing a dog in a parody of breeches and a feather hat, walking on his hind legs. A few months of training had done for that really fine chap.... He ought to have been clapping his hands and stamping his feet on the bank, instead of which he was hard at work, a thrall to strange witchcraft, full of improving knowledge"(Conrad 33)

In this quote, he shows how foolish European ideas are when applied to everyone. It is obvious that this native was not helped by his "improving knowledge." This revelation comes to him only after being on the river some time. This is because as Marlow goes back "through time," the ideas of Europe become more and more out of place. Though the point that knowledge, and by proxy truth, has been proven to be out of place in the Congo does not fully explain why he can lie to Kurtz's Intended in Europe where the normal rules of truth should apply.

Marlow tries to explain why he didn't tell Kurtz's Intended at the end of the book:

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Marlow lied. But it wasn't wrong. What he learned vicariously through Kurtz was that his knowledge was "droll", "not interesting in any way," and "disappointing." He didn't need to share that with her. Just like the Europeans back in Africa, he has the chance to bring his "horrible light" into a new place, but unlike the explorers, missionaries, and traders of which he was part, he decides that it is best to leave the natives alone.

Works Cited:

Boyle, Ted E. "Marlow's 'Lie' in 'Heart of Darkness.'" Studies in Short Fiction 1 (1964): 159-163.

Bruffee, Kenneth A. "The Lesser Nightmare: Marlow's Lie in Heart of Darkness." Modern Language Quarterly 25 (1964): 322-29.

Conrad, Joseph. Heart of Darkness. New York: Norton, 1988.

Maud, Ralph. "Criticism and Conrad." Literary Criticism, ed. Richard P. Sugg. Evanston, Illinois: Northwestern UP, 1992.

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