Heart Of Darkness Imagery Essay

Prompt #3 Marlow goes through a life altering journey in his trip to the Congo, much like Ralph in The Lord of Flies. Both of these gentleman suffer not an external battle but a psychological one through their gained knowledge of savagery. Throughout the novella Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad many of the character’s main changes and struggles happen internally. Conrad’s use of imagery, the frame perspective, and illusions provide more action and excitement to otherwise unseen changes in the main character Marlow. Conrad’s extensive use of imagery throughout Marlow’s journey to Africa allows the reader to see and understand Marlow’s perception as the story progresses. The first description of Marlow’s character before the journey in the Congo is his aversion to walking by the battered slaves chained together walking along a hill, “Instead of going up, I turned and descended to the left” (Line 341). This shows Marlow’s distaste toward the idea of the chain gang through …show more content…
The first vision of Kurtz appears while Marlow is entering the house of the intended, and repeats a previous scene with Kurtz being carried on a stretcher “…the stretcher, the phantom-bearers, the wild crowd of obedient worshippers… the heart of conquering darkness.” This vision creates a major contrast from the clean and civilized home allowing for increased excitement and action for the reader. The resounding voice of Kurtz within Marlow’s head, as seen in lines 1932-1933 “…in a whisper that seemed to swell menacingly like the first whisper of a rising wind”, added a twist to the visit with the intended, and showed the ethics shift that Marlow is having to fight through as a more physical entity. Marlow’s mania increases throughout the visit allowing for an added sense of harrowed excitement to an otherwise uneventful encounter. Marlow tends to