The Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad is a multi-layered novel. It describes the journey of the protagonist Marlow into Africa while parallel talking about his transformational journey as well. The novel at the same time is a critic as well as a commentary on imperialism, disillusionment, power and greed. It is through the various characters and their actions that he notices in Africa that Marlow transforms from an idealistic young man to someone who not only is disillusioned with his previously held beliefs but also becomes someone who can see the lie of imperialism for what it actually is.
At the beginning of the novel, Marlow holds british imperialism in high esteem.He admits that Britain was once a land of darkness too which was conquered …show more content…
He opines that what differentiates and saves the british from other imperial powers were their efficiency and their devotion to it. He also talks about British imperialism as something that is designed to not only help the British but also the colonized people. Marlow’s idea of equating efficiency and accomplishment with imperialism can be seen only at the beginning of the novel as it is the time he hasn’t embarked on his journey. His idea of imperialism however undergoes a gradual change as he sees imperialism for what it is. His first taste of falsehood about imperialism stems from him seeing a french army attacking the natives from the coast. He sees no reason for the attack and realises that imperialism in practice is much farther from the theory of ‘helping’ the natives and in reality is all about exerting violence and gaining power through that. Marlow’s idea of imperialism takes a further beating when he arrives at his company’s station on the coast of Africa. This is when he calls imperialism the ‘insidious devil’. At the station he sees the imperialists walking around not doing much and also doing a lot of damage. By using excessive violence on the native people, the British weakened them and Marlow
At the beginning of the novel, Marlow holds british imperialism in high esteem.He admits that Britain was once a land of darkness too which was conquered …show more content…
He opines that what differentiates and saves the british from other imperial powers were their efficiency and their devotion to it. He also talks about British imperialism as something that is designed to not only help the British but also the colonized people. Marlow’s idea of equating efficiency and accomplishment with imperialism can be seen only at the beginning of the novel as it is the time he hasn’t embarked on his journey. His idea of imperialism however undergoes a gradual change as he sees imperialism for what it is. His first taste of falsehood about imperialism stems from him seeing a french army attacking the natives from the coast. He sees no reason for the attack and realises that imperialism in practice is much farther from the theory of ‘helping’ the natives and in reality is all about exerting violence and gaining power through that. Marlow’s idea of imperialism takes a further beating when he arrives at his company’s station on the coast of Africa. This is when he calls imperialism the ‘insidious devil’. At the station he sees the imperialists walking around not doing much and also doing a lot of damage. By using excessive violence on the native people, the British weakened them and Marlow