Remember!

1) Conrad was a writer of the sea, but not for its own sake. What he understood was that the crew of a
ship on the water firmament epitomized human society in extreme circumstances when true nature
surfaces unhindered,, under the characters will.
2) The oblique manner of narrating (the same event or thing seen and perceived by several
characters) meant a giant leap forward in attaining literary objectivity and complexity.
In book after book, Conrad sets a lone individual into confrontation with the complexities of the modern
world, whether the world is that of European imperialism, or political anarchism, or the secret world of spies, or
the world of political revolution.
His heroes and heroines have to find their bearings as the society crumbles around them, and Conrad
usually depicts them at a moment of choice, when they have to act on their lonely knowledge without any
guarantee that they have chosen rightly.
His time at sea(Conrads time), travelling widely to Singapore, Australia, the Belgian Congo, Bombay
and the East Indies, provided rich material for his stories.
Heart of Darkness is about a voyage up the Congo River into the Congo Free State. Conrads brilliant
depiction of Marlows journey into the heart of Africa continent is one of the most influential novels of the twentieth
century.
Typically for modern literature, naturalism is encountered in Heart of Darkness, suggesting an
uncompromising treatment of reality through a description of every corner of reality or environment. However,
reality is not presented in a photographic manner (images), but as a subjective projection of feelings and impressions
(e.g. Marlows feelings, Marlow telling and describing others feelings).
Conrads narrator (Marlow) is a reflecting consciousness, not necessarily involved in the events, but
interested in them. The narrator has both detachment and partial involvement.
Marlows journey in the heart of the jungle could represent a journey into his own soul, a journey
into the history and also a journey into truth.
Heart of Darkness has its story based on the relationship between the absolute and the relative, truth
and suppression of truth, primitivism and civilization.
Heart of Darkness marks a key moment in colonial literature, Joseph Conrad questioning the certainties
about racial superiority which underpinned white rule. Simple greed is what motivates empire, Conrad suggests, the
quest for money making Europeans more barbarous than the supposed black cannibals they governed and worked to
death.

Main characters
Marlow, the protagonist, is an alter ego of Conrad; both are sailors for the British Empire during the late
19th and early 20th centuries during the height of British imperialism.
The most famous of Conrads narrators is the character Marlow, who appears in several of his major
works as an elusive commentator on the action.
Marlow, a seaman and wanderer, recounts his experiences in Africa when he led an expedition into the
impenetrable and mysterious core of the jungle. The darkness he encounters is both moral and physical: Mr. Kurtz,
the agent dealing win ivory whom he is to meet, is the embodiment of the corruption, decay and exploitation.
As an outsider, Marlow finds himself drawn to the charismatic Kurtz, but after witnessing the malevolence
and tyranny that emanate from him, Marlow is forced to look into his own soul and reassess his values.

Marlow, an independent thinker, a capable man, is defeated by the world in some fundamental ways,
making him weary, skeptical and cynical. Unlike Kurtz, Marlow doesnt die but suffers terribly, being
contaminated by his experiences and memories which is a far worse burden than death itself.
Kurtz is a trader of ivory in Africa and commander of a trading post; he monopolizes his position as a
demigod among native Africans. Kurtz, whose reputation precedes him, impresses Marlow strongly, and during the
return journey Marlow is witness to Kurtz's final moments.
Kurtz is a multitalented manpainter, musician, writer, promising politician. He starts out, years before the
novel begins, as an imperialist in the best tradition of the "white man's burden." The reader is introduced to a
painting of Kurtz's, depicting a blindfolded woman bearing a torch against a nearly black background, and clearly
symbolic of his former views. Kurtz is also the author of a pamphlet regarding the civilization of the natives.
However, over the course of his stay in Africa, Kurtz becomes corrupted. He takes his pamphlet and
scribbles in, at the very end, the words "Exterminate all the brutes!" He induces the natives to worship him, setting
up rituals and venerations worthy of a tyrant. By the time Marlow sees Kurtz, he is ill and almost dead. Marlow
seizes Kurtz and endeavors to take him back down the river in his steamboat. Kurtz dies on the boat with the last
words, "The horror! The horror!"
Kurtzs fiance, unnamed till the last pages of the novel, is outlined by her almighty devotion to
Kurtz. She is devoted to an image of Kurtz instead of the man himself, considering that his words, at least, have
not died as well as his example. Being convinced that Kurtzs goodness shone in every act, she loves him and
claims that she knew him best. She yearns for information about how Kurtz spent his last days but, seeing her
absolute devotion, Marlow cant bear to tell her Kurtzs real last words (The horror! The horror!) and tells her that
the last word he pronounced was her name.