Heart of Darkness Notes
Part I—Toward the Heart of Darkness
Setting—this is a FRAME STORY! Setting is dependent upon the narrator: when
the first (unnamed) narrator speaks, it is late 1890’s, on the Thames River by
London, and the characters are aboard The Nellie. When Marlow begins
narrating his story through the use of flashback, it is earlier (how much?),
and details his time going from London to Brussels, Belgium, and ultimately,
up the Congo River in Africa.
Characters—the main character is Marlow, who appears godlike and meditative
on the yacht, before he launches into telling his tale. He represents morality
and the early description indicates he is going to unfold a tale that will
reveal insight and beg questions of the human mind and soul. Two other
characters on the yacht are listed by their profession, and this is significant
to Marlow’s story—the accountant and the lawyer (his story reveals greed
and injustice). In Belgium, there is the strange character of the Doctor, who
performs a “physical” that is, at best, perfunctory. In Africa, Marlow
encounters the Chief Accountant, whose appearance is emphasized,
representing the wealth that is coming out of the Congo. At the Central
Station, Marlow encounters the unappealing General Manager, a hollow man
who performs his job in a mechanical, machine-like manner. His alter ego is
the brickmaker, the “papier-mache Mephistopheles” who serves no purpose
being there (what is Conrad saying about the white men being in Africa
here?). Also present is the General Manager’s uncle (who resembles “a
butcher in a poor neighborhood”), who will head up the Eldorado
Exploration Expedition (the name says it all, and they are “greedy without
audacity, and cruel without courage”). Finally, there are the “pilgrims” which
is Marlow’s sarcastic way of referring to the agents of the company. Most of
these “pilgrims” are in Africa to make a fortune, not to fulfill a mission.
Kurtz is an exception to this, as he entered Africa with the idealistic,
humane concerns. Kurtz’s success threatens the other, profit-motivated
“pilgrims.”
Contrasts—Early in the story, the numerous comparisons of light and dark as
well as black and white dominate the content—things are not clearly seen
nor are they fully invisible (like the ideas Marlow will bring up in his
narrative—even he is unsure of definite answers to his questions). Marlow
begins speaking by asking his listeners to compare England at about the year
45 (when Julius Caesar sent legions to the island) to Africa of the 1800’s.
Plot—Marlow’s story begins with telling how he got the job as a river-boat pilot
for the ivory export company of Belgium, the Societe…Haute Congo. He then
goes on to describe the journey down the coast of Africa, and his arrival at
the Lower Station. All of these events are marked by a sense that something
isn’t right, and the notion of “progress” is sarcastically refuted—the aunt’s
view of the natives, the “doctor’s” examination of Marlow’s skull, the firing
of the man-of-war into the coast, and the many images of decay, decline, and
inefficiency of the Lower Station. At the Lower Station, it is the Chief
Accountant who first mentions Kurtz, and the mystery of Kurtz begins. The
more Marlow hears about Kurtz, the stronger his need to see and talk to
Kurtz grows.
Part II—In the Heart of Darkness
Just as Part I began with Marlow on the deck of a boat, Part II also begins with
Marlow on the deck of a boat, this time, his river-boat that is under repair.
There he overhears the GM and his uncle talk about Kurtz, esp. the story of
his returning up-river rather than accompanying his last shipment of ivory.
They do not know why he did that, but Marlow naively assumes it is because
of Kurtz’s work ethic. They are hopeful the climate and disease will take
care of the Kurtz problem, as they have heard he is ill. They only realize
Marlow is there when he jumps up, “startled” by the appearance of the
jungle. This is significant: Marlow’s drowsy awakening to the blackness of
the jungle is Conrad’s use of a physical feature to underscore a
psychological truth: overhearing the discussion of the men, Marlow sees the
darkness within the minds and hearts of some men. Conrad personifies the
jungle with the dark capabilities of the human heart. As Marlow, the
“pilgrims,” and the crew of cannibals finally depart, Marlow describes the
jungle as sinister and menacing. Viewing the natives, Marlow is most
interested in how human they are, which is in direct opposition to how the
whites view them.
The discovery of the book An Inquiry into Some Points of Seamanship, excites
Marlow, as it represents (in major contrast) civilization among the chaos and
disorder of the wilderness he has been traveling through for hundreds of
miles.
And then the FOG descends, the thick, WHITE fog. This fog immobilizes
Marlow and the pilgrims, and there are cries coming from the jungle, and
Marlow likens the sound to the cry of the fog itself. The fog represents the
difficulty of Marlow (and all mankind at times) to ascertain reality from that
which is fantastic or dreamlike. Conrad seems to be suggesting that life is a
process of passing between dreams and reality—or the real and unreal, that
none of us can be completely sure which is which all the time. Continually
through his travels up the Congo River, Marlow has stated that reality fades
around him. Suspense is at its highest, as Marlow and readers are ready to
see Kurtz, to know if he is alive.
Marlow’s appreciation (based on his erroneous belief about the eating habits of
cannibals) of the “discipline” of the cannibals up to this point is both
humorous and informative. It allows Marlow to extol the virtue he values
most: the act of RESTRAINT. Their virtue is in sharp contrast to the
“pilgrims” on board who will blindly shoot into the fog at the shoreline,
hoping to kill innocent natives.
Even in this, the most active scene of the novel, the figure of Kurtz, and the
mystery surrounding it, looms largely in the background. For Marlow,
getting to Kurtz has had all the archetypal difficulty of reaching an
“enchanted princess in a fabulous castle,” and he is grief struck at the
possibility that Kurtz has died before he could reach him.
At this point—the end of Part II, the phrase “heart of darkness” is used
repetitively. Marlow has brought his listeners (and the readers) into the very
heart of darkness, and the innermost point of the story. As it is dark on The
Nellie, the unnamed narrator remarks that Marlow seems to be little more
than a voice. This is interesting in that Marlow’s first meeting with Kurtz
yields Marlow’s observation that Kurtz has become little more than a voice.
The death of the helmsman (who lacked restraint) makes Marlow more
painfully aware of how likely it is that Kurtz is already dead.
Part III—Out of the Heart of Darkness
Reaching Kurtz’s trading post combines many strong images: the waving of the
Russian trader, who is anxious to have assistance, the ominous skulls on
spikes (reminders of those who challenged Kurtz’s authority, and warnings
to those who currently serve him). The Russian/harlequin who is clownishly
dressed is not meant to be taken so seriously. He is a devotee of Kurtz (he
nursed him back to some form of health) who fails to see the monster he
has become.
Upon meeting him, Marlow finds that Kurtz has been transformed into a form
of devil. He has abandoned all restraint in the absence of the accountability
that accompanies civilization. Kurtz has acted in a way to satisfy his most
base and selfish desires. Kurtz’s references to “my ivory, my station, my
river…” all exude his extreme egoism. Kurtz is the embodiment of the
colonial/imperial efforts of Western Europe in Africa: “all Europe
contributed to the making” of Kurtz. Absolute power has corrupted Kurtz’s
character absolutely. Marlow sees an early report Kurtz wrote for the
Society for the Suppression of Savage Customs, where he details how the
white men can exercise powers for “good practically unbounded”; at the end,
though, Kurtz scribbled “Exterminate all the brutes.” (Question: which are
the brutes? The white men or the natives? With Kurtz, would there be any
difference to him?). Conrad never fully details the manner in which Kurtz
was able to exercise power so completely over the natives who performed
raids on other stations for him (maybe the vague reference to “ceremonies”
has something to do with it), or how many Kurtz had to kill, but it is
implied. Marlow decides it must have been the jungle that awakened such
dark desires in a man like Kurtz, and that it (the jungle) found Kurtz to be
really “hollow at the core.”
At once, many questions about Kurtz have been answered, but they have been
replaced with more questions. He appears more ghostlike than real, yet
when he finally speaks, appears to want to devour everything. Conrad uses
extreme descriptions making Kurtz seem unreal and grotesque rather than
plain or ordinary. At meeting Kurtz, Marlow is full of abhorrence and
disgust with the reality of what Kurtz has become.
At midnight, Marlow discovers Kurtz has disappeared. Marlow pursues the
“shadow” that is Kurtz. At the bank of the river, Marlow discovers a trail,
indicating Kurtz has been crawling (he is too weak to walk). This seems
suggestive of the total devolution of his character and existence, a loss of
manly stature. This moment is the climax of the story: we cannot go
forward and we cannot go back without something of the most
consequential nature happening. Marlow must leave the track, that is, leave
conventional paths to discover the dark truths of Kurtz’s condition. And
these truths hover around the central question of identity—who are we? It
is only when Marlow holds up the lost image of Kurtz for Kurtz himself to
see, that he can be persuasive. Marlow sees the problem as that of
identifying Kurtz with his civilized personality and breaking the “spell” of
the wilderness “that seemed to draw him to its pitiless breast by the
awakening of forgotten and brutal instincts.” A corollary of Marlow’s insight
is that he too must “go through the ordeal of looking into myself.” Kurtz’s
‘lostness’ is really a metaphor for the alienation we all must face.
“The horror! The horror!”—probably Conrad’s most famous words, as well as
some of the most enigmatic and debated words in literature. Whatever the
real nature of the “horror,” it shows that Kurtz died as a creature in torment,
with some bit of recognition of what he had become, one who failed to
accomplish his goals—goals laced with implicit savagery. These final words
are so important because they represent a final moment of clarity where
Kurtz is able to express his own disillusionment after he looks within and
truly sees himself.
Even after visiting with the “Intended,” Marlow has not fully solved the mystery
of Kurtz. Many critics assert that Conrad, in fashioning the character of
Kurtz, designed the prototypical twentieth-century man who is tragically
divided against himself.
The reaction of the four men listening about The Nellie is perfect—their
reticence and inability to appreciate what Marlow experienced is
representative of the self-centered aspect of human nature. In other words,
it didn’t happen to them, so why should they care? This is where the tragic
trend of history repeating itself originates, with individuals refusing to learn
from the mistakes of others, and Conrad seems to be suggesting that
mankind will continue to struggle with greed and self-importance, along
with the desire of the strong to overpower and rule the weak, at any cost.