Darkness Symbolism In Heart Of Darkness

Madness derived from greed results in isolation. Man’s desire to expand always results in his ultimate dissatisfaction with life. The material goods and land never seem to fill the greater void that the character struggles with. In Heart of Darkness, Joseph Conrad uses his characters as a testament to this reality. The darkness within Kurtz is symbolic of the internal challenges that all men face within their lives. Within the novel, Kurtz serves as a figurehead aboard Nellie. His advanced technology allows him to be an ivory trader with elevated status; Marlow goes as far as to deify him. This is representative of the mysterious aura that surrounds him when he arrives on Marlow’s ship.
Ivory is a precious material. It is white as fresh snow …show more content…
Above all else, the waterway symbolizes development toward an objective. The natural flow of the river sets the pacing for the story. It is the main way the British have of getting to the focal point of the mainland where the most ivory is, so it steers them towards their objective. It likewise pushes Marlow toward his objective of achieving Kurtz. The stream likewise symbolizes the separateness of the pariahs, the colonizers. Marlow and the other individuals on the steamboat infrequently go shorewards. As a rule they just can't in light of the thick vegetation. The waterway physically and emblematically keeps them isolated from the locals, who live on shore. Other than Marlow's group, when we experience locals it is solely inland.
The title of the novel, the Heart of Darkness, too has emblematic significance. Topographically, the core of murkiness is Africa, where savageness and viciousness is uncontrolled, however mentally, the core of obscurity is inside every one of us. It is in our psyche, in our subliminal, covered up and masked as cultivated one. Our ravenousness and the evil goal towards others is dull. Therefore, the core of haziness is no place however inside