Two Paragraphs on Heart of Darkness

In the novella Heart of Darkness, the character Marlow does not sugarcoat the fact hat he despises lying; he states that, “I hate, detest, and can’t bear a lie, not because I am straighter than the rest of us, but simply because it appalls me. There is a taint of death, a flavour of mortality in lies […]” (Conrad 38). Despite this distaste for lies, Marlow chose to deceive Kurtz’s fiancé when she asked about Kurtz’s final words. He told her that his last word was her name (Conrad 110), but they were actually, “The horror! The horror!” (Conrad 100). This information begs the question, why did Marlow set aside his beliefs and moral principles to please the emotionally distressed woman? I believe that his experience in Africa changed a lot about his views on the world and even changed what he knew about himself. He may have realized that no good would come from telling her the truth about Kurtz and his work in Africa, therefore supporting a greater good. He may have realized that, with all of the evil and darkness over seas, there was no point in bringing the gloom back home.

The true meaning of the title Heart of Darkness can be interpreted in many different ways. It might refer to a location: the center/heart of a dark place. It can also be understood as a reference to a person, an evil/dark person. Several instances in the text refer to both people and location as ‘dark’. On page 47, Marlow speaks of the land, its evil and “the profound darkness of its heart”. Marlow literally refers to Africa as the heart of darkness when he says, “we penetrated deeper and deeper into the heart of darkness” (Conrad 50), and says it is “the heart of an impenetrable darkness” on a few occasions. I believe that Africa holds the heart of darkness in the literal sense, but buried in the text is the hidden meaning that people are the roots of evil and their hearts are full of darkness. The way that people treat each other is appalling and the way in which their brutality knows no resolve. The sunken heads on stakes were a very prominent example of the atrocious acts committed. Irony was frequently used when the Company referred to the native people as “savages”. The acts of the Company outline the question, who are actually the savages?