HEART OF DARKNESS:
A COMPREHENSIVE REVIEW
Abigail Shell
2nd Block
Mrs. Byrnes
Colonization destroys the
purity of a culture.
Just as the explored regions on young Marlow’s maps became darker in color as they were explored, so did the civilization
being explored lose the purity of its existence, for the conquerors infused the subjugated culture with their values and styles
of living. Additionally, the country conquering another lost purity of its own culture, for it gained blots on its soul by
destroying other civilizations ways of life, and it combined some of the culture of its colonies with its own, resulting in a loss
of its pure civilization.
Montezuma greets Cortez
Nina, Pinta, and Santa Maria
Columbus and “Indians”
Civilization is a cycle.
In Heart of Darkness, countries like England and France are in the process of subjugating nations in Africa. Though
believed to be the height of civilization, these two countries were once subdued and colonized with the same methods
they employ in Africa by the Roman empire years before. Marlow references this cycle when he muses that England
had once been one of the “dark places of the world,” and he uses this fact to delineate the irrationality of colonization.
Rome in Caesar’s time
England under Elizabeth I
African Chieftan
A balance must be struck between
Apollonian and Dionysian forces to
maintain sanity.
European nations like England and France in Heart of Darkness adhered to strict moral codes of conduct and
were veritably obsessed with the ordered Apollonian style of life. When men went off to Africa, then, the
complete lack of Apollonian structure caused them to lose their minds as they
were consumed with primitive, Dionysian impulses. The Doctor, in warning Marlow to avoid agitation, touched
on this as a cause of insanity, and Marlow, as he mused over the internal aspects of the men he met, examined
the breakdown inevitable when one side of this scale becomes disproportionately large.
Order, law and art under Apollo
Unrestricted immorality and pleasure nder Dionysus
White Areas on the Map
At the beginning of his tale, Marlow recounts how, when he was young, he was fascinated
with the white areas on the map, the areas yet to be explored. Areas scoured by man were full of lines
and shading, but those untouched remained pure white. In keeping with Conrad’s theme of the
destructive and irrational nature of colonization, these maps play a crucial role.
Because the unexplored regions remained white, they were pure and uncorrupted,
but everywhere man’s foot had been, the land on the map turned black.
Fresleven’s Body
Marlow’s precursor, Fresleven, died in a fight with the natives over two chickens. After he
died, however, his bones remained exactly where they had fallen, and grass grew up through
them. The natives refused to touch the bones, for they had thought Fresleven to be a god,
and his death alarmed them. Because he was capable of dying, however, he could not have been
a god, and his bones remained visible as a sign to the natives that the whites were no more
deified than they were.
Kurtz’s painting
Shown to Marlow by the Brickmaker, this piece of art depicted a blindfolded woman holding a
lighted torch aloft in the darkness. Such an image combines ancient depictions of Justice, who
was blind, and Liberty, who held a lighted torch. Kurtz’s choice of image reflected the irrational
European view that colonization was bringing civilization and peace to those they conquered, and
the fact that a woman was shown as the symbol emphasizes Marlow’s belief that women live in a
world of their own, separate from the actual, tangible facts of the world.
From the Novel
tSomnambulist
About the Novel
tEpiphany
tGabardine
tLugubrious
tDrollery
tRapacious
tFrame Narrative
tMoribund
tAdventure Tale
tPropitiatory
tPrevaricator
tServiette
tIchthyosaurus
1) What effect, if any, does the setting have on the tone of the novel?
2) How are Kurtz’s fiancée and Kurtz’s mistress foils?
3) Are Kurtz’s methods unsound or merely appropriately adapted to the hostile environment?
4)What is Conrad’s central message in the novel?
5) What is the significance of the Chief Accountant’s choice to maintain European dress standards?
6) Describe the significance of Marlow’s audience.
7) Describe the importance of identifying each person by his/her job description.
8) Why are only two characters in the novel given actual names?
9) How are the skulls surrounding Kurtz’s station significant?
10) Explain the importance of and associations in Kurtz’s painting of the blindfolded woman.
11) How is the title of the novel significant to theme?
12) What lesson does Marlow eventually come to understand by the novel’s conclusion,
and how does this enlightenment differ from traditional reason and opinions?
13) How is madness developed in the novel?
14) How is the Russian Harlequin developed as a foil for Marlow?
15) What is the significance of the continual references to the primal nature of the setting?
• Conrad was born in the Polish Ukraine in 1857.
• His father was exiled to Siberia on suspicion of plotting against the Russian government.
• He was sent to live with his uncle once his mother died, and he never saw his father again.
• He spent twenty years of his life as a sailor.
• In 1886, he became a British subject.
• He travelled down the Belgian Congo in 1890.
• This trip ruined his health and he returned to England to recover.
• His other works include Almayer’s Folly, Lord Jim, Nostromo, and The Secret Agent.
1899-1902
wPhilippine Insurrection
wBoer War
1902
1900
wBritish government takes
control of the Royal Niger
Company’s territories
1903
wAnglo-Japanese alliance signed
wWright brothers’ first airplane
wCuba gains formal
independence from Spain
wHay-Herran Treaty signed
wTreaty of Vereeniging ends
second Boer War