Heart Of Darkness Essay Research Paper Title

Heart Of Darkness Essay, Research Paper

Title: Heart of Darkness

Author: Joseph Conrad

Setting: The storyteller, Charlie Marlow, sits on the deck of the Nellie recanting his journey to the Congo and his perception and encounter with Kurtz and Kurtz’s intended.

Plot: The telling of a remarkable horror tale to the inner darkness of man, Kurtz/Marlow, and the center of the earth, the Congo. Charlie Marlow gives the accounts of the double journey to the passengers on the deck of the Nellie as she is held still by the tides.

Key Characters

Charlie Marlow

“Deviant” [narrator (Conrad) to the reader 1] We are given a visual picture of a ship, the Nellie, going out to sea on the Thames. The narrator describes the Director of Companies, like a pilot; the lawyer, by his possessions; an accountant, by his action of bringing out dominoes. But when the narrator describes Marlow he distinguishes him with a name and a physical description. The narrator seems to idolize this man, Marlow. Just the same way Marlow idolizes Kurtz. Marlow is physical posture symbolizes Buddha. Marlow is different from the rest of the passengers. Quote: ‘He had sunken cheeks, a yellow complexion, a straight back, an ascetic aspect, and, with his arms dropped, the palms of hands outwards, resembled an idol.’

“Architect” [narrator (Conrad) to the reader 3] The reader has been told of the Nellie going down the Thames to the center of the earth, but the ship has stalled or held back by the tides. This makes the passengers prisoners of the tale that is about to unfold from Marlow’s lips. This compares with Rime of the Ancient Mariner, in that the mariner mesmerized the wedding guest with his inner journey on the outer seas. Charlie Marlow is inspired by the darkness of the surrounding ships of war to recant his journey to the Congo. The narrator says that most seamen have simply stories, but not Marlow. Marlow’s tales are like the way a Russian nesting doll works, open the doll and there is another doll inside. The meaning and the characters are in the surrounding layers of the intended destination, Kurtz and the Congo. This gives us the structure of Marlow’s story telling-his legacy. Quote: ‘But Marlow was not typical (if his propensity to spin yarns be expected), and to him the meaning of an episode was not inside like a kernel but outside, enveloping the tale.’

“Visionary” [Marlow to passengers of the Nellie 3] The narrator is telling of the past travelers of the Thames ‘the dark “interlopers” of Eastern trade, and the commissioned “generals” of East India fleets’. Fortune seekers and conquerors of times before are related to the ivory trading and powering over the natives of the Congo. The sun is setting the reference of the coming of a dark tainted journey. Speaking of the Thames, Marlow calls it only one of the dark places. He is giving an introduction to his tale of the Congo. The vision of the Thames as one of the dark places is that in the end the dark shadow of Kurtz still follows him even to Kurtz’s intended’s place through the lie of Kurtz’s last words, her name. Quote: ‘”And this also,” said Marlow suddenly, “has been one of the dark places of the earth.”‘

“Loner” [narrator to reader 3] Marlow has just spoken about the Thames-one of the places of darkness. Just as the ancient mariner was destined to take his fateful journey alone so is Marlow. Marlow journeys into himself and wanders the sea unlike the other seamen who have land bound homes. Quote: ‘He was the only man of us who still “followed the sea.”‘

“Rebel” [narrator to the reader 4] Marlow is telling the passengers to comprehend the journey of a young Rome conquer garbed in only a toga pushing inland to the savagery of the center. Parallel to Marlow’s journey to the Congo armed with only his good moral intentions of bettering the natives. Marlow is preaching to the passengers, but is in a meditative position. His English dress and Buddha demeanor conflict in a rebellious state of contrast with their perspective norms. Quote: ‘he had the pose of a Buddha preaching in European clothes and without a lotus flower’

“Avant-garde” [Marlow to the passengers of the Nellie 6] Marlow since his youth wanted to explore the uncharted land of the Congo. When younger the map had nothing on it, but now there was the snake of the river that had charmed him. Conrad is paralleled with Marlow in his dream to be a seaman. Marlow had at first tried to secure a job on a ship to the Congo on his own but was unsuccessful. He had always done things on his own power and merit. Now, for the first time in his life he had to recruit the women to influence a certain trading society to get the job he so desperately wanted. He calls upon his aunt who does his bidding. Quote: ‘I, Charlie Marlow, set the women to work-to get a job.’

“Conformist” [Marlow to the passengers of the Nellie 23] Marlow is at the central station. The brickmaker is giving him some insight into Kurtz. The brickmaker, who doesn’t make bricks, is inadvertently telling Marlow that the manager is trying to rid himself of Kurtz by neglecting him. The manager fears that Kurtz’s would steal his job, because of Kurtz’s gifted talent of acquiring ivory. Marlow only has an ideal of Kurtz, like a sort of religion set around the image. Marlow has been engulfed by the worship of Kurtz that he would lie for him. Quo