Comment on the symbolism of the title Heart of Darkness
The symbolism of the title Heart of Darkness - Heart of Darkness (1899) is a novella by Polish-English novelist Joseph Conrad. It tells the story of Charles Marlow, a sailor who takes on an assignment from a Belgian trading company as a ferry-boat captain in the African interior. The novel is widely regarded as a critique of European colonial rule in Africa, whilst also examining the themes of power dynamics and morality. Although Conrad does not name the river where the narrative takes place, at the time of writing the Congo Free State, the location of the large and economically important Congo River, was a private colony of Belgium's King Leopold II. Marlow is given a text by Kurtz, an ivory trader working on a trading station far up the river, who has "gone native" and is the object of Marlow's expedition.
The novella's setting
provides the frame for Marlow's story of his obsession with the successful
ivory trader Kurtz. Conrad offers parallels between London ("the greatest
town on earth") and Africa as places of darkness. Originally issued as a
three-part serial story in Blackwood's Magazine to celebrate the thousandth
edition of the magazine, Heart of Darkness has been widely re-published and
translated into many languages. It provided the inspiration for Francis Ford
Coppola's 1979 film Apocalypse Now. In 1998, the Modern Library ranked Heart of
Darkness 67th on their list of the 100 best novels in English of the twentieth
century.
Joseph Conrad's most read novella Heart of Darkness has
double meaning in its title. One dictionary meaning is that the title refers to
the interior of the Africa called Congo. Another hidden meaning is, the title
stands for the darkness or the primitiveness that every person possesses in his
or her mind and heart.
The
etymological meaning of the phrase Heart of Darkness is the innermost region of
the territory which is yet to be explored, where people led the nomadic and
primitive way of living. The setting time of the novel Heart of Darkness dates
back to those periods when the continent of Africa was not fully explored. So
the continent was called the heart of darkness. The major and significant
events of the novel take place in the Dark Continent, though the first and the
end of the story takes place outside the continent. The central character,
Kurtz, comes under the influence of the savages and becomes one of them in the
same dark place called Congo. The savages and Kurtz, in fact, belong to the
heart of darkness.
The description of the scenery by Marlow adds something vital
meaning to the title of the novel. The wild scene, thick and impenetrable
jungle, the pictures of the natives hiding in the dense jungle, the silence and
the dangerous stillness of the river Congo, the thick fog, all these features
are suggestive to the title Heart of Darkness. The outer physical
setting intensifies the horror and the fear among the readers. The reading
about the description of the natives and their way of appearing in the novel
bring the terrific effect in the mind of the reader.
On one occasion, Marlow is attacked by the natives in his
steamer. In that attack the helmsman is killed. The natives attack the steamer
of Marlow not knowing why he is there, but in the ignorance. The ignorance and
backwardness of the savages, the purposeless attack creates the feeling like
being in the midst of the heart of darkness. The attack to the steamer is
planned by Kurtz, who has become one savage living with the natives. He becomes
more barbaric than the inhabitants. The essence of savagery, brutality and
cruelty sums up in the existence of Kurtz. Kurtz's mission was to civilize the
natives, to educate them, to improve their way of living and the important one
is to bring the light into their lives and into that dark territory. But he
ends in converting himself into the savages, and the most striking thing is
that he has set himself like a god in that Dark Continent. He starts following
their unspeakable rites. He does any brutal raids for the sake of collection of
ivory. According to Marlow, Kurtz has become a devil being failure to control
his moral restraint. He lets his inner self, the primitive self, dance freely
in the lap of darkness and becomes the representatives of the darkness. His
superstition and evil has become the embodiment of darkness. Psychologically,
Kurtz is the symbol of everyman's darkness which is veiled under the curtain of
civilization. Kurtz is the heart of darkness.
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The term heart of darkness stands for another meaning too.
The journey of Kurtz and Marlow to explore the interior of the Dark Continent
called Congo is not only the physical search of some the territory, but it is
an exploration of the innermost part of the human mind and the human heart. The
geographical search is comparatively easier than the search of one's self,
one's Dark Continent. Both Kurtz and Marlow are in an implied sense in the
journey to find their dark region of mind and heart. In case of Kurtz, he
cannot hold the mystical and attractive power of his savagery self, his
suppressed primitive self and gives in. He fails to control his moral
restraint. He submits to the dark side of his personality and becomes one
savage. He reaches to the heart of darkness, but cannot resist its power upon
him and he cannot come back from his subconscious state of mind. But in the
case of Marlow, he too travels to the heart of darkness, the subconscious. He
reaches there and witnesses the heavy influence of primitive self on Kurtz. He
notices that he has become totally a devil, deviating from his main aim to
civilize the savages. Marlow, despite the truth that Kurtz has been transformed
into the barbaric self, praises him and is attracted towards him. He has fallen
a near prey to the primitiveness. But, amazingly, he does not submit himself to
the savagery self of his subconscious. He reaches to the heart of darkness,
witnesses the transformation of Kurtz, and gets to know the irresistible power
of barbaric hidden self, praises it and again comes back to the light of
civilization.
The entire theme of the Novel lies in its title. The darkness refers to the dark
civilization of Africa and Heart symbolizes the very core of the African nation
where people are savage, inhuman, uncivilized and fully ignorant. Symbolically
the title deals with the unexplored story and history of civil and uncivil
spirit in nature and human heart.
This is very obvious that human minds are consist of a
certain complexity. We cannot all together can get rid of the negativity of our
mind. We are a mixed creature of good and bad. The author wants ua to believe
that there are we possess much or less darkness in our mind. Sometimes we never
hesitare to expose them, or sometimes we do it privately.
Colonialism has a deep impression of bitter life throughout
the history. The
system has changed the view of the mankind. The direct or indirect hatred
toward them is the provement of the agony that sufferers feel. Colonialism only
brings mental and spritual disaster under the cover of meterial development.
The character of Kurtz and the uncivil native Africans are
the main subjects of the novel. The character of Kurtz is mysterious and
symbolic. He is the true representative of the mankind where he is made of both
something very good and somothing very bad. The native represent the unbound
darkness of human.
Comment on the symbolism of the title Heart of Darkness Heart of Darkness is replete with symbols. In Heart of Darkness every
person and everything means more than what we are likely to find on a
superficial level. The novel is based on both the historical facts
and the facts of Conrad’s own experiences. But Conrad has tried to convey the
deeper truths underlying both facts. Through the novel he certainly tries to
reveal obscure truth which lies underneath.
Almost all characters in Heart of Darkness have
some symbolic significance. The central figure in the novel, Mr.
Kurtz is highly symbolic. First, he symbolises the greed and the commercial
mentality of the white people of the western countries. Mr. Kurtz’s desire to
collect the maximum quantity of ivory shows the exploitation of the
backward people by the white colonizers. Second, he symbolizes the white
man’s excessive love of power. Third, the change which comes in
him during his stay, among the savages, symbolizes the influence of
barbarism upon a civilized man.
The role of
Marlow is highly symbolic. Firstly, he symbolizes the spirit of adventure and a love of
knowledge. His boyhood dream of travelling to Congo and sailing upon the river
Congo is translated into reality only because of his inborn spirit of
adventure. He also symbolises philosophical approach to human life by his
constant brooding and meditation upon what he sees.
Similarly, the characters too carry symbolic
significance. The Manager of the Central Station symbolizes spiritual
emptiness. He is unable to inspire respect or love or fear because he
is spiritually barren. Though he has no originality and no solid ideas in his
head yet he can do his manager’s work like a machine. Then there is the
brick-maker who acts as the manager’s spy and informer. Marlow calls him as
a “papier-mache MephistopheIes” means cunning and trickery. Then there
are a number of white agents who keep loitering around the
Central Station because they have nothing to do. Marlow calls them “faithless
pilgrims”.
The cannibal crew on Marlow’s steamer
symbolize efficiency because they do not shirk work; they also symbolise
self-restraint because they do not try to satisfy their hunger by eating their
flesh.
Comment on the symbolism of the title Heart of Darkness - The knitting women in the beginning of the novel
symbolises the Fate, who determine the future of every human being on
the earth as they seem to know all about everybody who visits
the Company’s officer. The majestic-looking native woman, who appears
on the river-bank when Mr. Kurtz was being taken away, symbolizes a woman’s
strong devotion and loyalty to her lord. Mr. Kurtz’s fiancée, Intended, also
symbolizes loyalty, she symbolizes the hold of an illusion upon a woman’s
mind. The Russian, who resembles a harlequin, symbolizes inquisitiveness,
loyalty and fidelity.
Finally, Marlow’s journey into Congo is symbolic it is a journey into Marlow’s sub-conscious mind or a journey into the subconscious mind of making in general. According to a critic it is a psychological-anthropological journey. The very title of the novel is also symbolic. The literal meaning of the phrase “heart of darkness” is the inmost region of the dry country known as Congo; but symbolically it means the inmost region of a man’s mind or soul. So the incursion into the heart of darkness also means a descent by Marlow into the depths of his own soul. As Marlow stands for Conrad himself so the novel also becomes a kind of the exploration of Conrad’s own mind during his visit to Congo. the symbolism of the title Heart of Darkness.
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