In Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness, there are many instances in which cruelty acts as a force driving the main theme that man is driven by greed and a lust for power. Such cruelty also serves as an additional way to view upon the actions of those in the book and how some may become corrupted by the “darkness” found deep inside of themselves. To begin, as the main focus of the story is to see how man acts when faced with no restrictions, greed and lust play a important role in how cruel some characters are to others in order to appease their own selfish needs. Many of these actions are caused by no one other than the Europeans, which the main character, Marlow, hails from. As the Europeans main for coming to Africa is obtaining elephant ivory,
