Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness presents both a physical and emotional journey for the main character, Marlow. The reader travels alongside Marlow as he sails along the Congo River to the Inner Station, where Kurtz is, and witnesses the descent from civilization into madness. Throughout his journey, Marlow discovers that, when mankind is allocated access to entirely absolute power, it is destined to fully abuse its dominance over others in order to achieve personal gain and will eventually self-destruct, thus showing that unrestricted authority irreversibly corrupts man and drags him into darkness. Marlow’s journey begins when he travels from Belgium to the Congo, in which the reader witnesses the stark contrast of the civilized and “proper”
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Throughout the novel, Kurtz has been viewed as this deity who is idolized by all and feared by many; his tactics of ivory collecting are renowned around the whole island. Marlow’s main reason for sailing along the Congo River was to befriend the man behind the legend; he continuously obsesses over meeting Kurtz, much in the same way explorers obsess over becoming rich. When the reader is finally introduced to Kurtz, the effects of prolonged exposure to pure chaos manifest through his characterization. Kurtz is both mentally and physically ill; it is clear that he is not only mentally deranged, but also failing physically. He has become one with the savages, and nearly has Marlow and his crew killed- the very Europeans with whom he was considered in the same ranks with. He is also shown to be physically sick with jungle fever, which gets progressively worse as the story continues. The reader can see that absolute power not only affects the people around us, but our own mentality; Conrad shows us certain aspects of Kurtz that make us sincerely doubt his sanity. After all, this is the same man who has chopped off the heads of the “rebel” natives and put them on posts facing towards his house- would these be the actions of someone who is sane? Kurtz has had unrestricted access to all of the power on the island- he was
Throughout the novel, Kurtz has been viewed as this deity who is idolized by all and feared by many; his tactics of ivory collecting are renowned around the whole island. Marlow’s main reason for sailing along the Congo River was to befriend the man behind the legend; he continuously obsesses over meeting Kurtz, much in the same way explorers obsess over becoming rich. When the reader is finally introduced to Kurtz, the effects of prolonged exposure to pure chaos manifest through his characterization. Kurtz is both mentally and physically ill; it is clear that he is not only mentally deranged, but also failing physically. He has become one with the savages, and nearly has Marlow and his crew killed- the very Europeans with whom he was considered in the same ranks with. He is also shown to be physically sick with jungle fever, which gets progressively worse as the story continues. The reader can see that absolute power not only affects the people around us, but our own mentality; Conrad shows us certain aspects of Kurtz that make us sincerely doubt his sanity. After all, this is the same man who has chopped off the heads of the “rebel” natives and put them on posts facing towards his house- would these be the actions of someone who is sane? Kurtz has had unrestricted access to all of the power on the island- he was