Heart of Darkness is representative of not only a geographical journey but also a metaphorical one of self-realization. As the protagonist, Marlow, tells of his journey up the Congo, the story reveals that everyone carries their own Congo within them. This Congo within us, similarly to the geographical Congo, is full of dark forces: fear, savagery, and the fascination of the abomination. While on his journey, Marlow meets Kurtz, a worker for the same ivory company who has established himself as a god among the natives.
Although, unlike Marlow, who is in search of a new self-truth, Kurtz has entered the jungle without understanding himself. Because of this, he is unprepared for the darkness that awaits him within the Congo, and so descends into his own subconscious and becomes enveloped. Although Marlow travels to the same geographic location as Kurtz, his journey within himself takes a dramatically different path. The darkness tries to overtake Marlow as it did Kurtz, but he recognizes his own fascination of the abomination and can resist it because he finds a purpose, which grounds him.
Marlow goes to the Congo to develop his experiences and character because he believes that he will be shaped by what happens around him and what he does with that influential environment. However, without the effort of self-realization and selfawareness, the presence of the Congo will overtake the inner journey and corrupt all that is good within someone. Because Kurtz was so power hungry, and dominated the natives economically, sexually, and physically, he became controlled by his own lust.
In order to excuse his harmful actions, he lived under the ruse that he is bring light to the savage’s lives. Ironically, he is bringing darkness not only to them, but to himself as well. Kurtz was unable to fight off his fascination and so was corrupted and became mad. In Conrad’s Heart of Darkness, the central and most telling theme is the journey of self-realization and distinguish between good and evil. In Conrad’s Heart of Darkness, it seems that practically every action and character has a deeper and more complicated meaning, which will reveal more about the inner journey.
From the beginning of Marlow’s story, there are countless symbols motioning towards the journey to discover the uncharted sea of the subconscious. One of the first symbols of the inward voyage is that of the posture of Buddha. As Marlow tells of his adventure, the narrator says that he had a pose like “of a Buddha… ” (Pg. 4). This position is that of the Buddha within his moment of enlightenment, showing the seriousness of the quest. In addition, similarly to Buddha, the sea is significant in grounding him and showing him his path.
We also see Marlow being lead into a room by two women, spinning wool. These two women represent the Fates from Greek mythology, whose wool represents a person’s life and future. When the women’s thread is spun, it becomes black, creating a sense of an ominous or dangerous future. It is somewhat of a warning to Marlow and the events that will conspire in the Congo. There are other symbols that represent a future of danger and darkness, such as the river resembling the snake. This sinuous river is connected to the serpent in the story of Adam and Eve, where it offers them forbidden fruit.
Although they have been warned, they eat the fruit and gain the darkest knowledge of themselves. Marlow, though he understands the dark connotations, is charmed by the snake and can’t look away—in other words, he becomes fascinated with a known dangerous journey Intertwined with the danger of the foreboding journey is the presence of light and darkness, which purview life and death. For instance, there is a consistent motif of bones in Marlow’s story. He is told of a man who was killed and whose skeleton was left in the jungle until the grass grew through the bones and were lost within the field.
Here, we see the grass represent life and light, and the skeleton represent darkness and death. These opposites are connected within one another showing that light and darkness are present within everyone. Conrad is revealing that a sense of evil is omnipresent in the core of every human, society, culture, and can ultimately be found at the core of humanity. Marlow sees darkness everywhere and in everything, even when light exists. However, we tend to hide the darkness by moral deeds and civilization, it is essential to understand the two parallels as joined to find one’s true self.
Marlow’s journey largely focuses on the question of which existed first and how can we balance them to be moral beings. Although, the answer to this question is not easily found, and those who do not look far enough into themselves for the answer will be corrupted. One of the main character representations of darkness and corruption is the ivory trader, Kurtz. He serves as an essential example of how even if one civilized, they can become savage due to their environment. Despite his high status with his colleagues and the natives, he has become consumed and emptied by his greed.
Because of this blinding greed and lack of self-awareness, Kurtz has given into his primitive instincts and surrendered to his fascination of the abomination. However, Kurtz represents more than evil in any one single person, he represents a societal and overarching corruption that is found hidden, deep beneath the layers of refinement and civilization. With the character of Kurtz, we can see multiple metaphors that represent his extreme corruption and myopia to the light. For example, Kurtz’s oil painting which depicts a blindfolded woman carrying a torch.
This painting can be seen as a symbol of liberty and an upstanding lifestyle that separates the civilized from savages. Although the women is carrying a torch, she is blindfolded and the light casts a menacing look—it is almost as if the light is highlighting her sightlessness from the darkness. As a portrayal of the truest form of society, it can be deciphered that this darkness lives within all humans and unless we find our own self and fight, we will be defeated. The pinnacle of Marlow’s journey leads to his realization that hell lives within everyone, no matter their economic status or level of civilization.
When Marlow experiences his last encounter with Kurtz and has reached the inner station, his morals and views are significantly shifted. In this instance, he has an intimate glance of what the Congo inside of us is capable of, and how largely it can change us. While before Kurtz’s colonial views made him a product of Europe, his current views can now be a display of the suppressed savagery the jungle has imposed on him. Marlow’s journey has now become more realistic and impactful—almost terrifying, really.
While Kurtz lies there dying, he sees the jungle’s influence on his own heart and with this, cries out “the horror, the horror! ” due to what has grown within him and society (pg. 34). The journey that Marlow embarks on is seemingly intrinsically personal as it is something one must change within themselves. Although we know every little about our own fascinations, under the rule of civilization and society we convince ourselves that we are immune to it and it will become lost and converted by our good intentions.
We believe that the light of society and civilization will protect us from the unbarred and savageprovoking darkness, although this belief is already shrouded in the same darkness whose influence we are ignorant to. The journey in Heart of Darkness is a gradual understanding and self-realization that Marlow encounters. As he sees Kurtz face his own darkness and death, Marlow is forced to look within himself and recognize the darkness that lies under the surface, and how he should fight it.
Although he, like many Europeans of his time, longed for adventure and a change of place, but did not realize the meaning until the end of the narrative. The exhibition of Buddha in both the beginning and the end of the book symbolizes an attempt to understand and conclude the parallels of light and darkness and how to identify and conquer them. Heart of Darkness ultimately ends with a suggestion that truth and realization in everyday life are the only ways to maintain one’s inner balance of light and darkness and avoid the blinding darkness which leads to madness and demise.
