He cried in a whisper at some image, at some
vision—he cried out twice, a cry that was no
more than a breath—"The horror! The horror!"
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Born Josef Teodore Konrad Nalecz Korzeniowski, in
Podolia, Ukraine, in 1857.
In 1874, Conrad went to Marseilles France and joined the
Merchant Navy
Conrad eventually became a British merchant sailor and
eventually a master mariner and citizen in 1886.
He traveled widely in the east.
He took on a stint as a steamer captain (1890) in the
Congo, but became ill within three months and had to
leave.
Conrad retired from sailing and took up writing full time.
Writing took a physical and emotional toll on Conrad.
The experience was draining
The title can be understood both literally and symbolically. Literally, the continent is dark and
forboding, with an unexplored heart (the Congo) in its depths. Symbolically, the "heart of
darkness," is the journey of Marlow and his companions. Their travels can be understood as
a journey into the exploration of the darkness of the men's souls (sin) , reflected back to them
by the "dark continent" which they explore. Their journey out of the Congo can be interpreted
as a parallel to man's redemption from sin, or as the dualism of man.
Marlow - The protagonist of Heart of Darkness.
Kurtz - The chief of the Inner Station and the object of Marlow’s quest.
General manager - The chief agent of the Company in its African territory, who runs the
Central Station.
Brickmaker - The brickmaker is a favorite of the manager and seems to be a kind of corporate
spy.
Chief accountant - An efficient worker who seems to have accomplished anything: he has
trained a native woman to care for his wardrobe.
Pilgrims - The bumbling, greedy agents of the Central Station.
Cannibals - Natives hired as the crew of the steamer, a surprisingly reasonable and welltempered bunch.
Russian trader - A Russian sailor who has gone into the African interior as the trading
representative of a Dutch company.
Helmsman - A young man from the coast trained by Marlow’s predecessor to pilot the steamer.
Kurtz’s African mistress - A fiercely beautiful woman who seems to exert an undue influence
over both Kurtz and the natives around the station, and the Russian trader points her out as
someone to fear.
Kurtz’s Intended - Kurtz’s naïve and long-suffering fiancée, whom Marlow goes to visit after
Kurtz’s death.
Aunt - Marlow’s doting relative, who secures him a position with the Company. She is an
example for Marlow of the naïveté and illusions of women.
Fresleven - Marlow’s predecessor as captain of the steamer.
Marlow expressed a desire to go to Africa to his Aunt who got him a position as a captain of a
steamboat of an ivory company. Marlow travels to Africa and finds the blacks being poorly
treated and ordered to do meaningless work by the whites. He continues down the river
and becomes surrounded by savages in the fog. Marlow is frightened but the savages don’t
do anything... until the fog rises. The savages attack , the arrows s have little effect on
Marlow’s men, only Marlow’s helmsman dies. Marlow blows the whistle and mysteriously,
all the savages retreat in fear. Kurtz is very ill and needs to be taken back to England, but
he does not want to go. Kurtz is worshipped by the natives and completely exploits
them. Kurtz tries to escape to the natives but Marlow catches him and takes him back to
the steamboat head back for England. While still on the river, Kurtz dies saying, “The
horror, the horror.” Marlow returns to England. He visits Kurtz’s intended who is still in
mourning a year after Kurtz’s death. She still remembers Kurtz as the great man he was
before he left, and Marlow doesn’t tell her what he had become before he dies.
Primitivism
 As the crew make their way up the river, they are traveling into the “heart of darkness.” The
contradiction, however, is that Marlow also feels as if he were traveling back in time.
Imperial Authority
 Whatever the conditions in Africa may be, all of the characters agree that they are different
from those of Europe. There is a feeling of anything-goes vigilantism that shifts the balance
of power from the stewards in a “civilized” state (police, doctors, bureaucrats) to whoever is
most threatening.
Groupthink and Stock Characters
 This novella is unusual in that the author does not name most of the characters in his book,
other than assigning them titles that describe their larger organizational goals.
Illness
 Illness is a major factor in this novella. It appears in physical and mental forms. Marlow is
hired to replace a man who committed suicide, and another instance of suicide is
announced by a somber Swedish man.
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Framed Narrative
 Narrator begins
 Marlow takes over
 Narrator breaks in occasionally
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Marlow is Conrad’s alter-ego, he shows up in some of
Conrad’s other works including “Youth: A Narrative” and Lord
Jim
Marlow recounts his tale while he is on a small vessel on the
Thames with some drinking buddies who are ex-merchant
seamen. As he recounts his story the group sits in an allencompassing darkness and pass around the bottle.
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Darkness
 Primitive Impulses (Kurtz, previous captain, etc.)
 Cruelty of Man (Kurtz and Company)
 Immorality/Amorality (Kurtz)
Lies/Hypocrisy (Marlow chooses Kurtz evil versus Company’s hypocritical evil)
Imperialization/Colonization (Belgian Company)
 Cruelty of Man
 Greed
 Exploitation of People
Role of Women
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Civilization exploitive of women
Civilization as a binding and self-perpetuating force
Physical connected to Psychological
Barriers (fog, thick forest, etc.)
Rivers (connection to past, parallels time and journey)
Many different interpretations have been put on
this book:
 Some see it as an attack on colonialism and a
criticism of racial exploitation
 Some see Kurtz as the embodiment of all the evil
and horror of the capitalist society.
 Others view it as a portrayal of one man’s journey
into the primitive unconscious where the only
means of escaping the blandness of everyday life is
by self degradation.
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Apocalypse Now is a film that was directed by
Francis Ford Coppola starring Martin Sheen,
Robert Duvall and Marlon Brando
This film was based on Conrad’s Heart of
Darkness.
Coppola takes the story to Vietnam. Captain
Willard (Marlow) is sent on a mission to kill
Colonel Kurtz who has gone renegade