Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad

Read By…………………: Richard Thomas
Copyright……………….: 1899
Abr/Unabr……………….: Unabridged
Total Size………………: 89 MB
Encoding Bitrate…………: 48 kbit/s
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“Heart of Darkness” is a tale of Marlow, an English seaman who has always dreamt of exploring the Congo and the heart of Africa. Told through the frame of an unnamed narrator, Marlow tells his story to the narrator and two others aboard a ship anchored on the Thames, near London. Marlow weaves a tale of his deep journey into the Congo, after a job with an English trading company becomes available. As Marlow works his way towards the Inner Station, he sees the mass destruction of the people and land, due to the imperialism of Europe. He also becomes intrigued by the talk of the enigmatic and profound manager of the inner ivory trading post, Kurtz. Marlow learns slowly that Kurtz is a very successful, but unstable character that has resorted to savagery towards the natives in his post. Marlow views Kurtz as an idealist like himself and begins to view him as sort of savior. When Marlow finally reaches Kurtz and his outpost, he sees that Kurtz has complete control over the natives, who attack Marlow, and that Kurtz brutally kills any opposition, as Kurtz has their heads placed atop poles in his courtyard. Marlow meets up with a sick Kurtz for only a small portion of the story, but after hearing Kurtz speak of his great plans for Africa and hearing his dying words of “the horror, the horror”, referring most likely to the human condition, Marlow realizes that Kurtz was simply a “mad soul”, filled with darkness.

There is a darkness within all of us that can present itself at any time; in Joseph Conrad’s “Heart of Darkness” the darkness and evil of Kurtz, Marlow, and Imperialism shine through and as a result slowly taint and destroy everything around them. The tone presented in the novel helps to point out a powerful theme that darkness is contained within every man. The author’s attitude towards the brutality of the Africans by the Europeans is clearly sympathetic and a strong commentary against Imperialism and the evils of those Europeans. The tone changes after Kurtz dies, going from Marlow respecting Kurtz to Marlow realizing Kurtz is only a man that has succumbed to his own darkness and evil. Conrad’s tone obviously points out the darkness of Kurtz and Imperialism, but the darkness can even be seen in Marlow, as he doesn’t believe in Imperialism, but does nothing to stop its occurrence. Marlow never really sees whole beings in the Africans either; he only describes limbs, eyes, and other features; never the Africans as a whole human. Marlow also lies to Kurtz’s Intended in the end, even though he believes lying to be one of the greatest evils in man. Darkness can also be seen in all the characters, as in the Central Station Manager who holds supplies from Kurtz in order to kill him and take over his position. Really the whole novel is a metaphor for evil, as it describes the Imperialistic Inner Station as the heart of darkness and the Congo River as the veins which spread this darkness throughout the body of Africa. Evil also becomes progressively worse as Marlow moves closer to the heart of darkness, with some evil in the Outer Station to more evil in the Central Station and finally to the most evil and corruption at the heart of darkness, the Inner Station. Conrad clearly depicts that there is a darkness in all of us that stems from our hearts and knows no bounds.