Heart of Darkness
The journey to the heart of the Congo is a descent into the heart of darkness for both Marlow and Kurtz. As they sail further and further from civilization into a land of savagery, both Marlow and Kurtz begin to undergo significant psychological changes. However, the ways in which Marlow and Kurtz handle their descent into darkness are very different from each other. Kurtz is at war with himself. He is fighting his base instincts and desires with the civilization he had been raised in. He starts off confused and slowly grows more hungry and desiring towards the end. Marlow is getting sick of it. He starts of horrified and slowly grows more apathetic and ambivalent towards the end.
The darkness tears both of them apart, but in different ways. Marlow is slowly withering away at the hands of darkness. At the beginning of the novel, he is severely affected by the cruelty towards the natives that he sees at the hands of the white imperialists. Ive seen the devil of violence, and the devil of greed, and the devil of hot desire; but, by all the stars! these were strong, lusty, red-eyed devils, that swayed and drove men men, I tell you. But as I stood on this hillside, I foresaw that in the blinding sunshine of that land I would become acquainted with a flabby, pretending, weak-eyed devil of a rapacious and pitiless follyfor a moment I stood appalled. What Marlow sees is inhumane and he cannot deal with it. It is too harsh for him. Kurtz as well is slowly eaten alive by the darkness. He is very drawn to it, but is disgusted by it at the same time. He hated all this, and somehow he couldnt get away. Marlow is disgusted by it as well. He finds the actions of the imperialists useless and futile: There was a touch of insanity in the proceeding, a sense of lugubrious drollery in the sight.
The difference lies in the fact that Marlow wants to get away from it, or at least tries not to care about it. I didnt want any more loitering in the shade.
He just wants to get away from the darkness he wants to do his job and return home. Kurtz, on the other hand, cant get enough of the darkness. He wants to be a part of it, wants to take it into himself, wants to live it completely. The reader can see this clearly when Marlow finds Kurtz on his hands and knees in the forest, crawling back towards the witchdoctor performing the ritual: I could hear the natives chanting through the black wall of the woodsI glanced into the cabin. A light was burning within, but Mr. Kurtz was not there. Kurtz had been driven out to the edge of the forest, to the bush, towards the gleam of fires, the throb of drums, the drone of weird incantations Marlow and Kurtz both hate the darkness they are subjected to, both become weakened by it, but Marlow has the strength to resist. Kurtz doesnt.
Another difference between the two is that Marlow recognizes he is descending into darkness. Kurtz doesnt. This probably is because Marlow was forewarned about Kurtzs descent. He could see the way that the darkness consumed Kurtzs soul, and he was able to watch for it in himself and recognize when it happens, and try and keep some sense of morality while it was taking place. Your strength comes in, the faith in your ability for the digging of unostentatious holes to bury the stuff inyour power of devotion, not to yourself, but to an obscure, back-breaking business. And thats difficult enough. Marlow was essentially forewarned about the devastating effects that could happen to him in the Congo, and he was able to avoid these by seeing Kurtz and seeing what happened to him. But this must have been before hislet us saynerves, went wrong, and caused him to preside at certain midnight dances ending with unspeakable rites, whichwere offered up to himto Mr. Kurtz himself. Kurtz didnt have this advantage. Kurtz went into this alone, with no one to help him, and no one before him. He had to be the example. I tried to break the spellthe heavy, mute spell of the wildernessthat seemed to draw him to its pitiless breast by the awakening of forgotten and brutal instincts, by the memory of gratified and monstrous passions. This alone, I was convincedhad beguiled his unlawful soul beyond the bounds of permitted aspirations. Kurtz had no one to stop him from relenting to the darkness in the first place; therefore it was much easier for him to succumb to the darkness than it was for Marlow.
Marlow maintains some semblance of civility throughout the novel. He realizes that what the Europeans are doing is wrong. [the natives] were scattered in every pose of contorted collapse, as in some picture of a massacre or a pestilenceI stood horror-struck. He knows that the natives are being hurt. Marlow knows that the imperialists had come in way over their heads. What were we who had strayed in here? Could we handle that dumb thing, or would it handle us? I felt how big, how confoundedly big, was that thing that couldnt talk, and perhaps was deaf as well. What was in there? He realizes that the true proponents of darkness are the whites themselves. He does not like the natives enough to be nice, but he doesnt hate them as to where he would be uncivil: I found nothing else to do but to offer him one of my good Swedes ships biscuits I had in my pocket. He retains enough of his humanity to treat the natives as fairly as possible. By the end of the novel he even comes to gain some sort of respect for them. And I saw that something restraining, one of those human secrets that baffle probability, had come into play there. He keeps enough of his humanity to protect Kurtzs intended from the horrors of the darkness. The heavens do not fall for such a small affair. Would they have fallen if I gave Kurtz the justice he deserved? But I couldnt. I couldnt tell her. It would have been too darktoo dark Marlow has not been completely desensitized by the darkness of the island. He remains human enough to be sympathetic to others. This could also be because he is trying to distance himself as much as possible from the darkness the effect it had on his was so profound that he merely wishes to forget.
Kurtz, on the other hand, loses most of his humanity and his sanity. He does not deal very well with his descent into darkness. He barely retains any semblance of humanity. This is seen mainly when Marlow recognizes that the decorative posts outside Kurtzs hut are really stakes with human heads on them: Then I went carefully from post to post with my glass, and I saw my mistake. These round knobs were not ornamental but symbolic; they were expressive and puzzling, striking and disturbingfood for thought and also for vultures if there had been any looking down from the skyThey would have been even more impressive, those heads on the stakes, if their faces had not been turned to the house. Marlow says that this incident only showed that Mr. Kurtz lacked restraint in the gratification of his various lusts, that there was something wanting in him. Throughout his stay in Africa Kurtz believes that what hes doing is right; or at least, if he knows its wrong, hes powerless to do anything to stop his base desires. Believe me or not, his intelligence was perfectly clearconcentrated, it is true, upon himself with horrible intensity, yet clearbut his soul was mad. Being alone in the wilderness, it had looked within itself, and, by Heavens! I tell you, it had gone mad. I hadfor my sins, I supposeto go through the ordeal of looking into it myself. No eloquence could have been so withering to ones belief in mankind as his final burst of sincerity. He struggled with himself, too. I saw itI heard it. I saw the inconceivable mystery of a soul that knew no restraint, no faith, ad no fear, yet struggling blindly with itself. Kurtz becomes blind to the darkness. He doesnt keep any semblance of humanity; he stoops to cannibalism and participating in the dark rituals of the natives. he would go off for weeks looking for ivory. He would forget who he was when he was with the natives. Kurtz doesnt rescind any of this until he is on his deathbed and utters his final words: The horror, the horror!
While the darkness had a significant impact on both Kurtz and Marlow, Marlow seems to have handled its power much better than Kurtz did. Marlow managed to retain a sense of civility and sympathy throughout the book. He did not coddle the natives, nor did he resort to stooping to their level and immersing himself in their dark and uncivilized culture. He managed to keep a clear and level head and complete his task; get in and get out. He was able to avoid the perils of the darkness because he had someone to model after. He saw Kurtz, what had happened to him, and knew what not to do in order to avoid such a situation. Kurtz was not so lucky. He didnt have anyone to warn him about the powers of darkness; he had to become an example himself. The darkness took a much greater toll on him because of this. He became engrossed in the wild and savage culture of the natives. He did not know how to control himself. He was power-hungry, fascinated by the darkness, and he did not want to give up his position. To return to Europe as to return to a life of mundane drollery, and Kurtz could not have that. He had been sucked in, completely and totally, into the very heart of darkness.
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