Similarities In Joseph Conrad

’s Novels Essay, Research Paper

I hereby hand over all copyrights I might have for this paper. You are free to use it for what ever

purpose you see fit. Jonathan Welden

Joseph Conrad’s books, The Secret Sharer and Heart of Darkness, both deal with

each of our “dark selves”. These books also have similarities which are overwhelming.

In describing the true inner self of humans, Conrad used many symbols which have

become apparent in many of his novels. Conrad uses the same or very similar objects in

many of his works.

Joseph Conrad wrote Heart of Darkness in 1899 to recount his voyages in the

Congo. Conrad hid most of his meaning in his words using a form of writing known as

“stream of consciousness”. This made it difficult for people to find the true meaning of

his work. After about ten years, Conrad realized that he would have to get his point

across in an easier to understand book. This book was The Secret Sharer.

Both of these books include the hero wanting to meet or developing a fascination

for a truly evil character. In Heart of Darkness, Marlow is very eager to meet Kurtz.

Marlow is so eager, in fact, that he eventually starts to panic when he thinks he will never

meet him. Marlow realizes that Kurtz is a very evil person, but this does not stop him

from wanting to meet this incredibly remarkable person. In The Secret Sharer the

Captain saves a murderer from almost certain death without knowing what the man has

done. Later, The Captain has a discussion with the man and finds out his name is

Leggatt. Leggatt tells his story and the Captain becomes more enthralled with Leggatt

ever so more. When Leggatt tells the Captain he has committed a murder, the Captain

does not throw him overboard. Instead, the Captain harbors this criminal because he

feels a connection with Leggatt that he has never felt before. In both stories the hero

identifies with his evil counterpart to the point that they actually become one in their

own minds. Conrad wanted to show the evil that exists within all of us.

The bulk of Conrad’s stories deal with sea voyages because of his extensive

sailing as a young man. The ship in his writing can be thought of as symbolizing the

journey through life, a vessel of sorts. His stories encounter many happenings, showing

the many things one’s soul can go through.

Pity has a strong grasp on both stories’ plots. Marlow feels pity for Kurtz and his

Intended. In the end, Marlow lies to Kurtz’s Intended about his last words, because he

feels sorry for her. She will be devastated for the rest of her life because of a man who

was truly evil and only realized it in the end with his dying words “The horror. The

horror”. The Captain thinks that he should help his mirror self escape and risks

everything, his job, his life, even his ship to fulfill this desire. The Captain sails his ship

into a reef with rocks and very nearly sinks his ship. This allows Leggatt to jump in the

water and swim to safety and start a new life. Before this, however, the Captain gives

Leggatt his hat, which also symbolizes pity. The Captain needed to give the cap to

Leggatt to feel good about himself and, ironically, the cap saves the ship from certain

doom in the end.

Both evil characters in the stories, Leggatt and Kurtz, get away and actually

succeed in their own way. Leggatt goes free even though he has committed a murder,

and Kurtz dies as a god to his native followers. Conrad shows us that evil triumphs over

good much of the time. Through death, Kurtz has found eternal life.

Marlow and the Captain experience incredible suffering from their “dark sides”.

Marlow becomes appalled at the apparent brutality of the Manager and Kurtz and, near

the end, chases Kurtz down just to realize that Kurtz appears to already be taking on a

very ghost-like appearance. Three hundred yards away, a pagan ritual is being held for

Kurtz which awaits him as he crawls on the ground, one last desperate attempt to die as a

god. The Captain becomes very stressed that he will be discovered and it builds day by

day. The Captain grows to hate the Steward. He is sure that the Steward will be the one

to discover Leggatt in his quarters. The Captain gets so close to discovery that his “voice

died in his throat”. This happens because the Steward hung a wet coat in the Captain’s

closet. The Captain is driven nearly to insanity and this near discovery scares him. He is

curious about why Leggatt was not discovered and begins to feel that Leggatt could be a

figment of his imagination, and that no one but he can see him. This shows us the mental

state of the Captain and how tortured he became.

Another of Joseph Conrad’s books is Lord Jim. Lord Jim also has some

similarities with Heart of Darkness and The Secret Sharer. The main character is a man

called Jim, but by the Malays, a tribe he had helped, he was known as “Tuan Jim” or

“Lord Jim”. This book involved sailing and it also contained a character called Marlo

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