Amanda De Jesus

Professor Timmons

English 105

September 24, 2010

“You Will No Doubt Meet Mr. Kurtz”: Conrad’s Heart of Darkness

In Joseph Conrad’s novella, Heart of Darkness, the audience is taken on a journey through Congo, Africa where the main characters are forced to reevaluate their morals and personal judgments. Marlow, one of the main characters, is hired as a seaman to explore the Congo River. However, on his journey he learns about the chief of the Inner Station, Mr. Kurtz, who is well known by both the Europeans and the natives. Mr. Kurtz only companion tells Marlow that “You can’t judge Mr. Kurtz as you would an ordinary man”(56). When a person is put in a difficult situation like in this novel they are subject to change in their personality. We see evidence of this in the character Mr. Kurtz who is a good person but do to his circumstances the worst has been brought out in him. So, Marlow is forced to make his own judgements of Mr. Kurtz based not only on his actions in the Congo but also on his inner thoughts. This leaves Marlow wondering who is Mr. Kurtz? And sets out an adventurous journey to find him. Although there is a type of admiration towards Mr. Kurtz from the natives, most of the Europeans view him as a fascinating abomination.

Europeans who enter Africa see the natives as savages who can not be civilized. Mr. Kurtz however, took the chance and befriended them. The Russian man, Mr. Kurtz only companion said that “He was not afraid of the natives; they would not stir till Mr. Kurtz gave the word. His ascendancy was extraordinary. The camps of these people surrounded the place and the chiefs came everyday to see him. They would crawl...” (58). The natives looked toward Mr. Kurtz for a kind of leadership. He was the only one who took the time to accept them. In return they looked after him and protected him when needed.

In Conrad’s novella, Heart of Darkness, Marlow becomes fascinated with Mr. Kurtz and begins to respect him more than the company. The main reason being because Mr. Kurtz does not use euphemism and tells the truth how it really is. One example was when Marlow was reading his journal: “It was very simple and at the end of that moving appeal to every altruistic sentiment it blazed at you luminous and terrifying like a flash of lightning in a serene sky: ‘Exterminate all the brutes!’”(50). While the company believed that the natives could be “civilized” Mr. Kurtz bluntly conveys that it is impossible and that they should just kill them all. Although Marlow did not agree with killing the natives he had high regards for Mr. Kurtz for telling the real truth. In the end Marlow says that the reason he admired Mr. Kurtz was because “he had stepped over the edge, while I had been permitted to draw back my hesitating foot...that is why I have remained loyal to Kurtz to the last, and even beyond...”(70). Marlow admired Mr. Kurtz because he was not afraid to be honest with himself and everyone else. Even at the cost of his job and sanity.

Mr. Kurtz began to trust Marlow and confided in him the very things that he had never expressed to anyone. Before Mr. Kurtz passes Marlow sits with him:

        Anything approaching the change that came over his features I have never seen before and hope never to see again. Oh, I wasn’t touched. I was fascinated. It was as though a veil had been rent. I saw on that ivory face the expression of sombre pride, of ruthless power, of craven terror- of an intense and hope less despair. Did he live his life again in every detail of desire, temptation, and surrender during that supreme moment of complete knowledge? He cried in a whisper at some image, at some vision- he cried out twice, a cry that was no more than a breath:

‘The horror! The horror!’ (69)
Before passing Mr. Kurtz had his life in the Congo flash before his eyes. He realized too late all the bad decisions he and the company had made. A main one being the way they had treated the natives. He describes it as “‘The horror!’” (69) because of the way they had just barged in on the native’s land and dehumanized them just to gain power for themselves. Mr. Kurtz, even in his last breath continued to try to do right by the natives by acknowledging the fact that what they did was horrible. 

Admiring Mr. Kurtz can be compared to being an abomination in the fact that he became greedy and selfish. Gaining power for the company began to take him over and he lost sight of his well being. Mr. Kurtz became hungry for ivory, the main part of tusks on an elephant, which are very valuable. He became extremely greedy and did whatever means to get what he desired most. The Russian man, Mr. Kurtz friend, says that "‘He declared he would shoot me unless I gave him the ivory and then clear out of the country because he could do so, and had a fancy for it, and there was nothing on earth to prevent him killing whom he jolly well please’”(56). Mr. Kurtz was going to shoot his only friend in order to gain ivory for himself. He became corrupted, selfish, and insane. He no longer cared who he hurt just as long he received what he desired.

As a threat to those who dared to oppose Mr. Kurtz he had their heads cut off and posted on a stake in front of his house:

In fact the manager said afterwards that Mr. Kurtz methods had ruined the district. I have no opinion on that point, but I want you clearly to understand that there was nothing exactly profitable in these heads being there. They only showed that Mr. Kurtz lacked restraint in the gratification of his various lusts...(Russian man57) 

Mr. Kurtz had lost his “backbone”(18) so to speak. In other words he became savage in his thoughts as well as in his actions. He no longer cared about helping the company but more so about gaining power for himself.

Marlow, despite all of omens that he should not be, was fascinated and grew to respect Mr. Kurtz in the end. After meeting Mr. Kurtz fiance he tells her that “‘Intimacy grows quickly out there,’ I said. ‘I knew him as well as it is possible for one man to know another’(74). Although it was only a few days that they known each other, Marlow had felt like it was much longer. Mr. Kurtz had confided in him and allowed Marlow to gain a better understanding of him then most people did. Its almost like moving into college and having to live with a complete stranger for the first time, you begin to get to know them in ways that no one else will. Whether its how they like to eat cereal, or if they snore or not, or in Marlow’s case whether or not they have lost their “backbone”(18).