Heart of Darkness LitChart

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Heart of Darkness
European writers portrayed the colonialism and imperialism of
INTR
INTRO
O European nations from Africa to the Far East in the late 19th
and early 20th century.
BRIEF BIOGRAPHY OF JOSEPH CONRAD
Jozef Teodor Konrad Korzeniowski was an orphan by the age of KEY FACTS
12; his mother and father both died as a result of time the
family spent in exile in Siberia for plotting against the Russian • Full Title: Heart of Darkness
Tsar. At seventeen, he traveled to Marseilles and began to work • When Published: 1899
as a sailor. Eventually, he began to sail on British ships, and • Literary Period: Victorianism/Modernism
became a British citizen in 1886, at the age of 29. It was about
• Genre: Colonial literature; Quest literature
this time he changed his name to the more British-sounding
Joseph Conrad and published his first short stories (he wrote in • Setting: The Narrator tells the story from a ship at the mouth
English, his third language after Polish and French). For the of the Thames River near London, England around 1899.
next eight years, Conrad continued to work as a sailor (even Marlow's story-within-the-story is set in an unnamed
European city (probably Brussels) and in the Belgian Congo in
spending time commanding a steamship in the Belgian Congo),
Africa sometime in the early to mid 1890s, during the colonial
and continued to write. He published his first novel (Almayer's era.
Folly) in 1894. In 1896, Conrad married Jessie George. He
• Climax: The confrontation between Marlow and Kurtz in the
quickly won critical praise, though financial success eluded him
jungle
for many years and both he and his wife suffered serious
illnesses. He wrote his best-known works in the years just • Antagonist: Kurtz
before and after the turn of the century: Heart of Darkness • Point of View: First person (both Marlow and the Unnamed
(1899), Lord Jim (1900), and Nostromo (1904). Conrad died in Narrator use first person)
1924.
EXTRA CREDIT
HISTORICAL CONTEXT Heart of the Apocalypse. Heart of Darkness is the source for
the movie Apocalypse Now. The movie uses the primary plot
During the last two decades of the 19th century, European
and themes of Heart of Darkness, and shifts the story from
nations battled each other for wealth and power. This battle
Africa to Vietnam to explore the hypocrisy, inanity, and
caused the "scramble for Africa," in which European countries
emptiness of the American war effort there.
competed to colonize as much of Africa as possible. While the
colonizing Europeans claimed to want to "civilize" the African
continent, their actions spoke otherwise: they were interested
solely in gaining wealth and did not care how they did it, or who
PL
PLO
OT SUMMARY
was killed. One of the most brutal of the European colonies in The Narrator describes a night spent on a ship in the mouth of
its treatment of the native Africans was the Belgian Congo, the the Thames River in England. Marlow, one of the men on board,
property of the Belgian King Leopold I. In 1890, Joseph Conrad tells of his time spent as a riverboat pilot in the Belgian Congo.
worked as a pilot on a steamship in the Belgian Congo, and
With the help of his well-connected aunt, Marlow gets a job as
Heart of Darkness is at least in part based on his experiences
pilot on a steamship on the Congo River in Africa for a
there.
European business outfit called the Company. First he travels
to the European city he describes as a "whited sepulcher" to
RELATED LITERARY WORKS visit the Company headquarters, and then to Africa and up the
Joseph Conrad's novels reside in the transition period between Congo to assume command of his ship. The Company
Victorianism, with its strict conventions and focus on polite headquarters is strangely ominous, and on his voyage to Africa
society, and Modernism, which sought to explode old he witnesses waste, incompetence, negligence, and brutality so
conventions and invent new literary forms to convey human extreme that it would be absurd if it weren't so awful. In
experience more fully. Conrad's work was instrumental in this particular, he sees a French warship firing into a forest for no
effort, particularly his experimentation with the use of time and discernible reason and comes upon a grove where exploited
non-chronological narratives. Heart of Darkness also fits black laborers wander off to die. While at the Company's Outer
squarely into the genre of colonial literature, in which Station, Marlow meets the Company's Chief Accountant. He
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mentions a remarkable man named Kurtz, who runs the
Company's Inner Station deep in the jungle. CHARA
CHARACTERS
CTERS
Marlow hikes from the Outer Station to the Central Station, Marlow – One of the five men on the ship in the Thames. Heart
where he discovers that the steamship he's supposed to pilot of Darkness is mostly made up of his story about his journey into
recently sank in an accident. In the three months it takes the Belgian Congo. Marlow is a seaman through and through,
Marlow to repair the ship, he learns that Kurtz is a man of and has seen the world many times over. Perhaps because of
impressive abilities and enlightened morals, and is marked for his journeys, perhaps because of the temperament he was born
rapid advancement in the Company. He learns also that the with, he is philosophical, passionate, and insightful. But Marlow
General Manager who runs Central Station and his crony the is also extremely skeptical of both mankind and civilization, and,
Brickmaker fear Kurtz as a threat to their positions. Marlow to him, nothing is simple. As the Narrator describes him: "to
finds himself almost obsessed with meeting Kurtz, who is also him the meaning of an episode was not inside like a kernel but
rumored to be sick. outside, enveloping the tale which brought it out only as a glow
Marlow finally gets the ship fixed and sets off upriver with the brings out a haze." The one thing Marlow does seem to believe
General Manager and a number of company agents Marlow in as a source of simple moral worth is hard work.
calls Pilgrims because the staffs they carry resemble the staffs Kurtz – The fiancé of his Intended, and a man of great intellect,
of religious pilgrims. The trip is long and difficult: native drums talent, and ambition who is warped by his time in the Congo.
beat through the night and snags in the river and blinding fogs Kurtz is the embodiment of all that's noble about European
delay them. Just before they reach Inner Station the steamship civilization, from his talent in the arts to his ambitious goals of
is attacked by natives. Marlow's helmsman, a native trained to "civilizing" and helping the natives of Africa, and can be seen as
steer the ship, is killed by a spear. a symbol of that civilization. But in his time in Africa Kurtz is
At Inner Station, a Russian trader meets them on the shore. He transformed from a man of moral principles to a monster who
tells them that Kurtz is alive but ill. As the General Manager makes himself a god among the natives, even going so far as to
goes to get Kurtz, Marlow talks to the Russian trader and perform "terrible rites." His transformation proves that for all
realizes that Kurtz has made himself into a brutal and vicious of his talent, ambition, and moral ideas, he was hollow at the
god to the natives. When the General Manager and his men core.
bring Kurtz out from the station house on a stretcher, the Gener
Generalal Manager – The head of the Company's Central Station
natives, including a woman who seems to be Kurtz's mistress, on the river. Untalented and unexceptional, the General
appear ready to riot. But Kurtz calms them and they melt back Manager has reached his position of power in the Company
into the forest. because of his ability to cause vague uneasiness in others
The Russian sees that the General Manager has it in for him, coupled with an ability to withstand the terrible jungle diseases
and slips off into the jungle, but not before telling Marlow that year after year. The General Manager has no lofty moral
Kurtz ordered the attack on the steamship. That night, Marlow ambitions, and cares only about his own power and position
discovers Kurtz crawling toward the native camp. Marlow and making money.
persuades Kurtz to return to the ship by telling him he will be The Russian T Trrader – A wanderer and trader who wears a
“utterly lost" if he causes the natives to attack. The steamer multi-colored patched jacket that makes him look like a
sets off the next day. But Kurtz is too ill to survive the journey, harlequin (a jester). Through some miraculous stroke of luck, he
and gives his papers to Marlow for safekeeping. His dying has ended up alone in the jungle along the Congo and survived.
words are: "The horror! The horror!" Marlow believes Kurtz is He is naïve and innocent and believes Kurtz is a great man
judging himself and the world. beyond any conventional morality. He even nursed Kurtz back
Marlow also falls ill, but survives. He returns to the sepulchral to health on a number of occasions though Kurtz once
city in Europe and gives Kurtz's papers to the relevant people. threatened to shoot him. Of all the white men in the Congo,
The last person he visits is Kurtz's Intended (his fiancé). She only the Russian refrains from trying to assert control over the
believes Kurtz is a great man, both talented and moral, and asks jungle.
Marlow to tell her Kurtz's last words. Marlow can't find it in Narr
Narrator
ator – One of the five men on the ship in the Thames, he is
himself to destroy her beautiful delusions: he says Kurtz's last the one who relays to the reader Marlow's story about Kurtz
words were her name. and the Congo. He is insightful, and seems to understand
On the ship in the Thames, Marlow falls silent, and as the Marlow quite well, but otherwise has little personality. He does
Narrator stares out from the ship it seems to him that the seem to be affected by Marlow's story.
Thames leads “into the heart of an immense darkness." The Brickmak
Brickmaker er – The General Manager's most trusted agent.
A sly, lazy, power-hungry fellow who despite his title seems to
have never made a brick, the Brickmaker cares only about his

own advancement and therefore sees Kurtz as a threat. He
also thinks that Marlow and Kurtz are somehow allied within THEMES
the company. Marlow describes the Brickmaker as a "papier-
In LitCharts each theme gets its own color and number. Our
mâché Mephistopheles."
color-coded theme boxes make it easy to track where the
The Gener
General
al Manager's Uncle – The uncle of the General themes occur throughout the work. If you don't have a color
Manager, and the head of the Eldorado Exploring Expedition. printer, use the numbers instead.
Like his nephew, the uncle has come to Africa to make his
fortune. He is generally untalented, and his expedition 1 COLONIALISM
disappears in the jungle.
Marlow's story in Heart of Darkness takes place in the Belgian
Kurtz's Intended – The woman in Europe to whom Kurtz is
Congo, the most notorious European colony in Africa for its
betrothed to be married. She is incredibly idealistic about both
greed and brutalization of the native people. In its depiction of
Kurtz and the colonization of Africa. She continues to mourn
the monstrous wastefulness and casual cruelty of the colonial
Kurtz as a great man even a year after he dies.
agents toward the African natives, Heart of Darkness reveals the
Marlow's Aunt – A well-connected and idealistic woman, she utter hypocrisy of the entire colonial effort. In Europe,
helps Marlow get the job as a steamer pilot for the Company. colonization of Africa was justified on the grounds that not only
She is extremely idealistic about the European colonization of would it bring wealth to Europe, it would also civilize and
Africa, seeing it as a beautiful effort to civilize the savages. educate the "savage" African natives. Heart of Darkness shows
Director of Companies – One of the five men on the ship in the that in practice the European colonizers used the high ideals of
Thames who listen to Marlow's story. colonization as a cover to allow them to viciously rip whatever
wealth they could from Africa.
La
Lawy
wyer
er – One of the five men on the ship in the Thames who
listen to Marlow's story. Unlike most novels that focus on the evils of colonialism, Heart
of Darkness pays more attention to the damage that
Accountant – One of the five men on the ship in the Thames
colonization does to the souls of white colonizers than it does
who listen to Marlow's story. He is not the same as the Chief
to the physical death and devastation unleashed on the black
Accountant.
natives. Though this focus on the white colonizers makes the
Fresle
reslevven – A steamship pilot who got into a silly argument that novella somewhat unbalanced, it does allow Heart of Darkness
cost him his life. His death opened the position into which to extend its criticism of colonialism all the way back to its
Marlow was hired. corrupt source, the "civilization" of Europe.
Doctor – A medical man in the sepulchral city who is interested
in how the Congo drives men crazy. 2 THE HOLLOWNESS OF CIVILIZATION
Swede – A steamship captain who has nothing but disdain for Heart of Darkness portrays a European civilization that is
the "government chaps" who care only about money. hopelessly and blindly corrupt. The novella depicts European
Chief Accountant – A Company employee at the Outer Station society as hollow at the core: Marlow describes the white men
who wins Marlow's admiration simply by keeping himself he meets in Africa, from the General Manager to Kurtz, as
impeccably groomed. (Do not confuse him with the Accountant empty, and refers to the unnamed European city as the
on the ship in the Thames.) "sepulchral city" (a sepulcher is a hollow tomb). Throughout the
The F
Foreman
oreman – A man who helps Marlow repair the steamship. novella, Marlow argues that what Europeans call "civilization" is
superficial, a mask created by fear of the law and public shame
The Pilgrims – Company agents that Marlow gives the derisive that hides a dark heart, just as a beautiful white sepulcher hides
nickname Pilgrims because they carry long wooden staves the decaying dead inside.
wherever they go.
Marlow, and Heart of Darkness, argue that in the African
The Helmsman – A coastal native of Africa trained to man the jungle—"utter solitude without a policeman"—the civilized man
helm of a steamship. He works for Marlow until he's killed. is plunged into a world without superficial restrictions, and the
African W
Woman
oman – A savage and stately African tribeswoman mad desire for power comes to dominate him. Inner strength
who seems likely to have been Kurtz's lover. could allow a man to push off the temptation to dominate, but
The Gener
General
al Manager's servant – A native boy who has grown civilization actually saps this inner strength by making men
insolent because he works for the General Manager. think it's unnecessary. The civilized man believes he's civilized
through and through. So when a man like Kurtz suddenly finds
himself in the solitude of the jungle and hears the whisperings
of his dark impulses, he is unable to combat them and becomes
a monster.

3 THE LACK OF TRUTH of Africans is based on a foundation of racism. Marlow, and
Heart of Darkness plays with the genre of quest literature. In a Heart of Darkness, take the rather patronizing view that the
quest, a hero passes through a series of difficult tests to find an black natives are primitive and therefore innocent while the
object or person of importance, and in the process comes to a white colonizers are sophisticated and therefore corrupt. This
realization about the true nature of the world or human soul. take on colonization is certainly not "politically correct," and can
be legitimately called racist because it treats the natives like
Marlow seems to be on just such a quest, making his way past
objects rather than as thinking people.
absurd and horrendous "stations" on his way up the Congo to
find Kurtz, the shining beacon of European civilization and
morality in the midst of the dark jungle and the "flabby
rapacious folly" of the other Belgian Company agents.
SYMBOLS
But Marlow's quest is a failure: Kurtz turns out to be the Symbols appear in red text throughout the Summary and
biggest monster of all. And with that failure Marlow learns that Analysis sections of this LitChart.
at the heart of everything there lies only darkness. In other
words, you can't know other people, and you can't even really WOMEN
know yourself. There is no fundamental truth.
Marlow believes that women exist in a world of beautiful
illusions that have nothing to do with truth or the real world. In
4 WORK this way, women come to symbolize civilization's ability to hide
In a world where truth is unknowable and men's hearts are its hypocrisy and darkness behind pretty ideas.
filled with either greed or a primitive darkness that threatens
to overwhelm them, Marlow seems to find comfort only in THE SEPULCHRAL CITY
work. Marlow notes that he escaped the jungle's influence not
because he had principles or high ideals, but because he had a The white sepulchral city symbolizes all of European
job to do that kept him busy. civilization. The beautiful white outside evokes the lofty ideas
and justifications that Europeans use to justify colonization,
Work is perhaps the only thing in Heart of Darkness that Marlow
while the hidden hollow inside the sepulcher hides the
views in an entirely positive light. In fact, more than once hypocrisy and desire for power and wealth that truly motivate
Marlow will refer to work or items that are associated with the colonial powers.
work (like rivets) as "real," while the rest of the jungle and the
men in it are "unreal." Work is like a religion to him, a source of
support to which he can cling in order to keep his humanity. DARK AND WHITE
This explains why he is so horrified when he sees laziness, poor Darkness is everywhere in Heart of Darkness. But the novella
work, or machines left out to rust. When other men cease to do tweaks the conventional idea of white as good and dark as evil.
honest work, Marlow knows they have sunk either into the Evil and good don't really apply to Heart of Darkness, because
heart of darkness or the hollow greed of civilization. everyone in the novella is somehow complicit in the atrocities
taking place in Africa. Rather, whiteness, especially in the form
5 RACISM of the white fog that surrounds the steamship, symbolizes
blindness. The dark is symbolized by the huge and inscrutable
Students and critics alike often argue about whether Heart of
African jungle, and is associated with the unknowable and
Darkness is a racist book. Some argue that the book depicts
primitive heart of all men.
Europeans as superior to Africans, while others believe the
novel attacks colonialism and therefore is not racist. There is
the evidence in the book that supports both sides of the QUO
QUOTES
TES
argument, which is another way of saying that the book's actual
stance on the relationship between blacks and whites is not The color-coded and numbered boxes under each quote below
itself black and white. make it easy to track the themes related to each quote. Each
Heart of Darkness attacks colonialism as a deeply flawed color and number corresponds to one of the themes explained
enterprise run by corrupt and hollow white men who in the Themes section of this LitChart.
perpetrate mass destruction on the native population of Africa,
and the novel seems to equate darkness with truth and PART 1 QUOTES
whiteness with hollow trickery and lies. So Heart of Darkness
The conquest of the earth, which mostly means the taking it
argues that the Africans are less corrupt and in that sense
away from those who have a different complexion or slightly
superior to white people, but it's argument for the superiority

flatter noses than ourselves, is not a pretty thing when you look regrets, the longing to escape, the powerless disgust, the
into it too much. surrender, the hate.
•Speak
•Speaker
er: Marlow •Speak
•Speaker
er: Marlow
•Related themes
themes: Colonialism, The Hollowness of Civilization, •Mentioned or related char
characters
acters: Kurtz
Racism •Related themes
themes: Colonialism, The Hollowness of Civilization,
•Theme T
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code: Racism
•Theme T
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1 2 5
1 2 5
The word 'ivory' rang in the air, was whispered, was sighed. You
would think they were praying to it. A taint of imbecile rapacity When one has got to make correct entries, one comes to hate
blew through it all, like a whiff from some corpse. By Jove! I've those savages—hate them to the death.
never seen anything so unreal in my life. And outside, the silent
wilderness surrounding this cleared speck on the earth struck •Speak
•Speaker
er: Chief Accountant
me as something great and invincible, like evil or truth, waiting •Related themes
themes: The Hollowness of Civilization, Work, Racism
patiently for the passing away of this fantastic invasion.
•Theme T
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code:
•Speak
•Speaker
er: Marlow
2 4 5
•Related themes
The Lack of Truth
•Theme T
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code: I let him run on, this papier-mache Mephistopheles, and it
seemed to me that if I tried I could poke my fore-finger through
1 2 3 him, and would find nothing inside but a little loose dirt, maybe.
•Speak
•Speaker
er: Marlow
The old river in its broad reach rested unruffled at the decline •Mentioned or related char
characters
acters: The Brickmaker
of day, after ages of good service done to the race that peopled
•Related themes
themes: The Hollowness of Civilization
its banks, spread out in the tranquil dignity of a waterway
leading to the uttermost ends of the earth... Hunters for gold or •Theme T
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pursuers of fame, they all had gone out on that stream, bearing
2
the sword, and often the torch, messengers of the might within
the land, bearers of a spark from the sacred fire. What
greatness had not floated on the ebb of that river into the Do you see him? Do you see the story? Do you see anything? It
mystery of an unknown earth!...The dreams of men, the seed of seems I am trying to tell you a dream—making a vain attempt,
commonwealth, the germs of empires. because no relation of a dream can convey the dream-
•Speak
•Speaker
er: Narrator sensation, that commingling of absurdity, surprise, and
bewilderment in a tremor of struggling revolt, that notion of
•Related themes
themes: Colonialism being captured by the incredible which is the very essence of
•Theme T
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code: dreams...no, it is impossible; it is impossible to convey the life-
sensation of any given epoch of one's existence—that which
1 makes its truth, its meaning—its subtle and penetrating
essence. It is impossible. We live, as we dream—alone.
In some inland post feel the savagery, the utter savagery, had •Speak
•Speaker
er: Marlow
closed round him—all that mysterious life of the wilderness
•Mentioned or related char
characters
acters: Kurtz
that stirs in the forest, in the jungles, in the hearts of wild men.
There's no initiation either into such mysteries. He has to live in •Related themes
themes: The Lack of Truth
the midst of the incomprehensible, which is detestable. And it •Theme T
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has a fascination, too, which goes to work upon him. The
fascination of the abomination—you know. Imagine the growing 3

'And this also,' said Marlow suddenly, 'has been one of the dark there was in you just the faintest trace of a response to the
places of the earth. terrible frankness of that noise, a dim suspicion of there being a
meaning in it which you—you so remote from the night of first
•Speak
•Speaker
er: Marlow
ages—could comprehend.
•Related themes
themes: Colonialism, The Hollowness of Civilization
•Speak
•Speaker
er: Marlow
•Theme T
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code:
•Related themes
1 2 Racism
•Theme T
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code:
Once, I remember, we came upon a man-of-war anchored off 1 2 5
the coast. There wasn't even a shed there, and she was shelling
the bush. It appears the French had one of their wars going on
thereabouts. Her ensign dropped limp like a rag; the muzzles of The reaches opened before us and closed behind, as if the
the long six-inch guns stuck out all over the low hull; the greasy, forest had stepped leisurely across the water to bar the way for
slimy swell swung her up lazily and let her down, swaying her our return. We penetrated deeper and deeper into the heart of
thin masts. In the empty immensity of earth, sky, and water, darkness.
there she was, incomprehensible, firing into a continent. Pop,
•Speak
•Speaker
er: Marlow
would go one of the six-inch guns; a small flame would dart and
vanish, a little white smoke would disappear, a tiny projectile •Related themes
themes: Colonialism
would give a feeble screech—and nothing happened. Nothing •Theme T
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could happen.
1
•Speak
•Speaker
er: Marlow
•Related themes
"I tell you," he cried, "this man has enlarged my mind."
•Theme T
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code:
•Speak
•Speaker
er: The Russian Trader
1 2
characters
acters: Kurtz
•Related themes
themes: The Hollowness of Civilization
PART 2 QUOTES
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In a few days the Eldorado Expedition went into the patient
wilderness, that closed upon it as the sea closes over a diver. 2
Long afterwards the news came that all the donkeys were dead.
I know nothing as to the fate of the less valuable animals. They,
no doubt, like the rest of us, found what they deserved. I did not It was a distinct glimpse: the dugout, four paddling savages, and
inquire. the lone white man turning his back suddenly on the
headquarters, on relief, on thoughts of home—perhaps; setting
•Speak
•Speaker
er: Marlow
his face towards the depth of the wilderness, towards his
•Related themes
themes: Colonialism, The Hollowness of Civilization empty and desolate station.
•Theme T
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code:
•Speak
•Speaker
er: Marlow
1 2 •Mentioned or related char
characters
acters: Kurtz
•Related themes
Racism
It was unearthly, and the men were—No, they were not
inhuman. Well, you know, that was the worst of it—the •Theme T
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suspicion of their not being inhuman. It would come slowly to
1 2 5
one. They howled and leaped, and spun, and made horrid faces;
but what thrilled you was just the thought of their
humanity—like yours—the thought of your remote kinship with It was very simple, and at the end of that moving appeal to
this wild and passionate uproar. Ugly. Yes, it was ugly enough; every altruistic sentiment it blazed at you, luminous and
but if you were man enough you would admit to yourself that terrifying like a flash of lightning in a serene sky: "Exterminate
all the brutes!"

•Speak
•Speaker
er: Marlow, Kurtz irresistibly fascinating. It echoed loudly within him because he
•Related themes
themes: Colonialism, The Hollowness of Civilization, was hollow at the core.
The Lack of Truth, Work, Racism •Speak
•Speaker
er: Marlow
•Theme T
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code: •Mentioned or related char
characters
acters: Kurtz
1 2 3 4 5 •Related themes
•Theme T
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PART 3 QUOTES 1 2
I heard a light sigh and then my heart stood still, stopped dead
short by an exulting and terrible cry, by the cry of inconceivable
triumph and of unspeakable pain. 'I knew it—I was sure!' . . . She "The horror! The horror!"
knew. She was sure. I heard her weeping; she had hidden her
•Speak
•Speaker
er: Kurtz
face in her hands. It seemed to me that the house would
collapse before I could escape, that the heavens would fall upon •Related themes
themes: The Hollowness of Civilization, The Lack of
my head. But nothing happened. The heavens do not fall for Truth
such a trifle. •Theme T
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acker
er code
code:
•Speak
•Speaker
er: Marlow, Kurtz's Intended 2 3
characters
acters: Kurtz
•Related themes
"Mistah Kurtz—he dead."
Truth
•Theme T
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acker
er code
code: •Speak
•Speaker
er: The General Manager's servant
characters
acters: Kurtz
2 3
•Related themes
The Lack of Truth
I was within a hair's-breadth of the last opportunity for •Theme T
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pronouncement, and I found with humiliation that probably I
would have nothing to say. This is the reason why I affirm that 1 2 3
Kurtz was a remarkable man. He had something to say. He said
it. . . . He had summed up—he had judged. "The horror!" He was
The offing was barred by a black bank of clouds, and the
a remarkable man.
tranquil waterway leading to the uttermost ends of the earth
•Speak
•Speaker
er: Marlow flowed sombre under an overcast sky—seemed to lead into the
characters
acters: Kurtz heart of an immense darkness.
•Related themes
themes: The Hollowness of Civilization, The Lack of •Speak
•Speaker
er: Narrator
Truth •Related themes
•Theme T
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code: Truth
•Theme T
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2 3
2 3
There was something wanting in him—some small matter
which, when the pressing need arose, could not be found under
his magnificent eloquence. Whether he knew of this deficiency
SUMMARY AND ANAL
ANALYSIS
YSIS
himself I can't say. I think the knowledge came to him at The color-coded and numbered boxes under each row of
last—only at the very last. But the wilderness found him out Summary and Analysis below make it easy to track the themes
early, and had taken vengeance for the fantastic invasion. I throughout the work. Each color and number corresponds to
think it had whispered to him things about himself which he did one of the themes explained in the Themes section of this
not know, things of which he had no conception till he took LitChart.
counsel with this great solitude—and the whisper had proved

PART 1 Yet Marlow adds that The practice of conquest and
conquest is never pretty and colonialism is always ruthless.
The Narrator describes the The opening establishes a dark
usually involves the powerful But the noble idea motivating
scene from the deck of a ship tone. Water is often a symbol of
taking land from those who conquest, such as civilizing the
named Nellie as it rests at the unconscious, so the
look different and are less savages, can be so beautiful it
anchor at the mouth of the "interminable waterway"
powerful. Conquest, Marlow hides the ruthlessness even from
River Thames, near London. connecting civilized England to
says, is redeemed only by the the conquerors.
The five men on board the the rest of the world implies that
ideas behind them, ideas that
ship—the Director of England's civilization is just a 1 2 5
are so beautiful men bow
Companies, the Lawyer, the veneer over the dark heart all
down before them.
Accountant, the Narrator, and men share. That the characters
Marlow, old friends from their in the ship are known by their Marlow then reminds the Marlow makes it clear he doesn't
seafaring days—settle down to jobs and not their names hints at other men that he once served usually ask people for favors,
await the changing of the tide. the hollowness of civilization: as captain of a freshwater instead going by "his own road
They stare down the mouth of their selves have been swallowed riverboat, and begins to tell his and on his own legs" because of
the river into the Atlantic by their roles. story. As a young boy, he had a his belief in the honesty and
Ocean, a view that stretches passion for maps and unknown importance of work. He is not
like "the beginning of an 2 4 places. As he grew older many comfortable relying on others to
interminable waterway." of those places become known, do his work for him, and sees it as
and many he visited himself. a possibly dangerous and
In silence they watch the The Narrator's thoughts about
Yet Africa still fascinated him, definitely shameful thing to do.
sunset, and the Narrator conquest and colonialism are
especially its mighty river, the
remembers the fabled ships conventional and romantic: that 4
Congo. After years of ocean
and men of English history great men go out with great
voyages in which he had
who set sail from the Thames dreams and build great empires
"always went by [his] own road
on voyages of trade or to the greater glory of the world.
and on [his] own legs," Marlow
conquest, carrying with them
1 asks his aunt to use her
"The dreams of men, the seed
influence help him get a job as
of commonwealths, the germs
a steamship operator for the
of empire."
Company, a continental
Suddenly Marlow interrupts But Marlow takes an opposite European trading concern in
the silence. "And this also," view: he sees England itself as Africa.
Marlow says, "has been one of once one of the savage places,
The Company hires him The absurd story of Fresleven's
the dark places of the earth." and imagines how that savagery
immediately: it has an open death foreshadows Marlow's
He imagines England as it must warped its conquerors. The
position because one of its absurd experience in the jungle,
have appeared to the first implication is that hidden behind
captains, a Dane named where colonialist white men go
Romans sent to conquer it: a its civilization England has a
Fresleven, had recently been insane and clash with the
savage, mysterious place that "dark" heart.
killed. After some time in the exploited natives, producing
both appalled and attracted violence and more absurdity.
1 2 3 jungle, the normally mild-
them, that made them feel
mannered Fresleven had
powerless and filled them with 1 2 5
started hitting the native chief
hate.
of a village with a cane over a
Marlow observes that none of Marlow believes that a devotion disagreement regarding two
the men on the boat would feel to efficiency, a devotion to work, black hens, and was
just like those Romans, protects a man from being accidentally killed by the
because the men on the boat corrupted by powerlessness and chief's son. The natives, in fear,
have a "devotion to efficiency," hate. immediately abandoned their
while the Romans wanted village.
simply to conquer. 2 4

Marlow travels to the A sepulcher is a tomb, and hides At the mouth of the Congo, The pilot, a man who works,
unnamed European city where in its heart either emptiness or Marlow gets passage for thirty condemns the colonialists who
the Company has its death. miles from a small steamer care not about work, but about
headquarters. He describes piloted by a Swede. The Swede money. The pilot's question
the city as a "whited 2 mocks the "government chaps" about what happens to such
sepulcher." at the shore as men who will people in the jungle is more
do anything for money, and foreshadowing.
At the Company's office, More foreshadowing of what
wonders what happens to such
Marlow is let into a reception Marlow will soon experience in 1 2 4
men when they get further
area presided over by two colonial Africa. The women in
into the continent.
women, one fat, one slim, both black seem to symbolize fate or
of whom constantly knit black death, the head of the At last they reach the Note Marlow's horror at the
wool. There, Marlow examines Company's "plumpness" covered Company's Outer Station, a inefficiency of the station and the
a map of Africa filled in by by a "frock coat" implies greed chaotic and disorganized place. rusting of machinery. The "lusty
various colors representing masked by civility, and the doctor Machinery rusts everywhere, devils" are the desires that move
the European countries that explicitly says that Africa drives black laborers blast away at a men to act badly, but without
colonized those areas. He Europeans crazy. cliff face for no reason. deception. The "pretending"
briefly meets the head of the Marlow comments to the men devils move men to fake their
Company (a "pale plumpness 1 2 on the Nellie that he had long noble intentions for greedy ends.
in a frock coat"), then is known the "lusty devils" of
directed to a doctor. While violence and greed that drive 1 2 4
measuring Marlow's head, the men, but in Africa encountered
doctor comments that in "a flabby, pretending, weak-
Africa "the changes happen eyed devil of a rapacious and
inside" and asks Marlow if his pitiless folly."
family has a history of insanity.
Marlow then stumbles upon Marlow sees the death of the
Marlow has a farewell chat Earlier Marlow said that the what he calls the Grove of natives with the same horror as
with his aunt, who sees her beautiful idea behind Death, a grove among the the rusting machinery. It's a
nephew as an "emissary of colonization masks the ruthless trees that is filled with weak tragedy to him, but not a human
light" off to educate the practice of colonialism. Well, his and dying native laborers, who tragedy.
African natives out of their aunt clearly buys the idea, and in are living out their last
"horrid ways." Marlow points doing so establishes women as moments in the shade of the 1 2 5
out to his aunt that the symbols of civilization's inability ancient trees.
company is run for profit, not to see its hollow corruption.
At the station, the Chief The Chief Accountants
missionary work, and
1 2 3 5 Accountant impresses comments both introduce Kurtz
expresses amazement to his
Marlow with his good as a remarkably talented fellow
friends on the boat how out of
grooming. One day the Chief and also convey the backbiting
touch women are with the
Accountant mentions that and politics going on under the
truth.
further up the river Marlow surface in the Company. Marlow
Marlow boards the steamer Marlow goes to Africa because as will probably meet Mr. Kurtz, a admires the Chief Accountant's
that will take him to the mouth a boy he had a passion for station head who sends in as grooming because such hygienic
of the Congo with a sense of unknown places. He wanted to much ivory as all the others habits involve disciplined work,
foreboding. To Marlow on the know the unknown. But Africa put together and who "will be a especially in the midst of the
steamer, the forested coast of resists being known, and makes somebody in the [Company] chaos of Outer Station.
Africa looks like an colonialists do ridiculous, hollow Administration before long."
impenetrable enigma, inviting things like shoot at forests. He asks Marlow to tell Kurtz 1 2 3 4
and scorning him at the same that all is satisfactory, saying
time. He occasionally sees 1 2 3 he doesn't want to send a
canoes paddled by native letter for fear that rivals at the
Africans, and once sees a Central Station will intercept
French ship firing its guns into it.
the dense forest at invisible
"enemies."

Just then a dying "agent' from Yet beneath the Chief Marlow is immediately taken The General Manager is the
up country" is brought into the Accountant's civilized exterior, to see this General Manager, embodiment of the "pretending"
Chief Accountants quarters he's filled with the sense of who is thoroughly devils Marlow mentioned earlier.
for lack of other space, which "powerlessness and hate" that unremarkable in intelligence, His main trait is that he doesn't
gently annoys the accountant. Marlow earlier described leadership, and unskilled at die! He's defined by his lack of
When, a while later, there is a infecting the Roman conquerors even maintaining order. identity. In other words, he's
"tumult" of noise as a caravan of England. Marlow believes the General hollow.
of pilgrims and natives comes Manager holds his position
into the station, the Chief 1 2 5 through two traits: he inspires 1 2
Accountant comments, "When vague uneasiness in others,
one has got to make correct and unlike any other
entries, one comes to hate Europeans he's resistant to all
these savages—hate them to the tropical diseases.
death."
The General Manager explains The General Manager's interest
A few days later Marlow joins The absurd inefficiency and why he took the steamship that Marlow had earlier heard of
a caravan headed the two waste of the colonial effort just onto the river before Marlow, Kurtz implies the Manager's
hundred miles upriver to keeps growing... its pilot, arrived: Kurtz, the concern at Kurtz influence and
Central Station. After a fifteen- Company's best agent, is sick. power in the Company. The
day trek through the jungle 1 2 4 The General Manager takes Manager's perfect guess about
during which the only other special interest when Marlow the time needed to fix the ship
white man fell ill and many of mentions he heard Kurtz's implies he did purposely sink it.
the native porters deserted name mentioned on the coast.
rather than carry the sick man, The General Manager 1 2
Marlow reaches the Station. estimates that it will take three
...and growing... until it's clear months to repair the ship, and
At the station, Marlow is
that the colonial effort isn't turns out to be almost exactly
greeted by the first man he
about building anything, and isn't right.
sees with news that the ship he
was supposed to pilot has motivated by a central civilized Marlow sets to work fixing the Men who do no work strike
sunk. Apparently, the General idea. It's motivated by greed, ship and watches the absurd Marlow as "unreal" and without
Manager had suddenly which is bound to produce happenings of Central Station, substance. Work provides a
decided to try to reach Kurtz inefficiency and waste. where the various company reality one can cling to.
at the Inner Station with an agents (employees) do no
inexperienced pilot at the helm 1 2 3 work, stroll about aimlessly, 1 2 4
of the steamship. The and dream of ivory and wealth.
steamship promptly sank. Marlow describes the place as
"unreal."
Marlow, on the Nellie, says Marlow's guess foreshadows the
that though he can't be sure, General Manager's negative
he suspects that it's possible feelings about Kurtz.
the General Manager wanted
the steamship to sink. 1 2

One night a shed bursts into The General Manager's concern Though he hates lies because By doing the thing he hates most
flame. As Marlow approaches for Kurtz is obviously faked. He they have a "taint of death" in the world—lying—in order to
he sees a laborer being beaten has to try to save the sick Kurtz and telling them is like "biting faster fix the steamboat and get
for setting the blaze and because it would look bad if he something rotten," Marlow to Kurtz, Marlow shows a sudden
overhears the General didn't, but as long as he has an pretends to have as much sense of allegiance to the moral
Manager talking with another excuse (the sunken steamship) to influence in Europe as the Kurtz. Marlow's lie also
man about Kurtz, saying they avoid helping Kurtz, he'll take it. Brickmaker thinks he has in foreshadows a lie he will tell later
should try to "take advantage The Brickmaker has a job he order to get the Brickmaker to to Kurtz's Intended.
of this unfortunate accident." never does: the essence of speed up the arrival of the
The General Manager departs, hollowness, hypocrisy, and rivets needed to fix the 3
and Marlow ends up in a inefficiency. steamship. Marlow has an idea
conversation with the other that the faster the steamship is
man, a young "agent" whose 1 2 3 4 fixed the better it will be for
responsibility it is to make Kurtz.
bricks (which he never does)
Suddenly, Marlow breaks off Marlow despairs about the
and whom the other agents
telling his story in order to try inability for one man to explain
think is the General Manager's
to explain to the men sitting on himself to another. The novel
spy.
the ship in the Thames how emphasizes this point ironically:
Marlow follows the The revelation that Kurtz is hard it is to get across his when Marlow takes comfort that
Brickmaker back to his backed by the same people who experiences, though he is at least the men on the Nellie
quarters, which are much nicer are close to Marlow's Aunt comforted by the fact that his know and see him, the fact is
than any but the General indicate that Kurtz isn't like the fellows on the ship, men who that the men actually can't see
Manager's. As they talk, other agents. Rather than hide see and know him, can at least him at all..
Marlow realizes the his greed behind false civility, "see more than I could then."
Brickmaker is trying to get Kurtz seems actually to be a man The Narrator observes that it 3
information from him because profoundly dedicated to ethics was now so dark they couldn't
Marlow's Aunt's contacts in and morality. Marlow begins to see Marlow at all.
the Company are the same see Kurtz as an antidote to the
Marlow resumes his story. Here Marlow explicitly describes
people who sent Kurtz to evils and hollowness of
When the Brickmaker leaves, why he values work. Note that
Africa. The Brickmaker bitterly civilization.
Marlow boards his broken the "reality" and "chance to find
says that Marlow and Kurtz yourself" that work provides
1 2 3 steamship, which he has come
are both "of the new gang—the directly address Marlow's
to love after putting in so much
gang of virtue" meant to bring discomfort with the lack of truth
hard work to rebuild it.
proper morals and European in the world and his growing
Marlow says of work: "I don't
enlightenment to the colonial sense of the hollowness of
like work... but I like what is in
activities in Africa. civilization.
the work—the chance to find
The Brickmaker, whom Mephistopheles is a devil. Papier- yourself. Your own reality."
Marlow now calls a "papier- mâché is a craft that produces Marlow tells his foreman 2 3 4
mâché Mephistopheles," hollow structures. A "papier- they'll soon have rivets. The
continues to speak about mâché Mephistopheles" is two of them do a little dance of
Kurtz, and asks Marlow not to therefore a hollow devil, and a joy.
give Kurtz a wrong impression heck of an insult.
But weeks pass and the rivets It's no coincidence the Eldorado
of him. Marlow realizes that Expedition is named after a
2 don't come. Instead, a group of
both the General Manager mythical city made of gold. In
"pilgrims" calling itself the
and the Brickmaker see Kurtz Marlow's eyes, the pilgrims
Eldorado Exploring Expedition
as a threat to their dreams of themselves are unreal, just
arrives, led by the General
advancement. hollow vessels for their greed.
Manager's uncle. They are all
greedy, cowardly, and without
any sort of foresight or 1 2
understanding of work.

Without rivets, Marlow can't What he's heard of Kurtz makes A few days later the General Marlow isn't just bitter: he really
do any work either. He has lots Marlow ponder if perhaps Manager's uncle and his thinks the donkeys are more
of time to think, and begins to civilization isn't hollow, if Eldorado Expedition head into valuable. Donkeys work and
wonder about Kurtz's morals, perhaps there is some truth, if the jungle. Marlow later heard aren't hollow, as opposed to the
and about how Kurtz would maybe colonialism can match that all their donkeys died, but Eldorado men.
act if he did become general the beautiful idea behind it. never heard what happened to
manager. the "less valuable 2 4
1 2 3 4 animals"—the men.
After three months of work, Marlow prefers the cannibals for
PART 2 Marlow finishes repairing the the same reason he prefers the
Some time later, as Marlow The Uncle's advice that the ship. He immediately sets off donkeys: they're primitive and
rests on his steamship, he General Manager just hang the upriver with the General simple, so they aren't hollow.
overhears the General trader since there are no Manager, a few pilgrims, and (Though the depiction of the
Manager talking with his authorities around is the thirty cannibals as crew. cannibals as simple is racist and
Uncle about Kurtz. They are ultimate sign that civilization is Marlow prefers the cannibals, condescending.)
annoyed that Kurtz has so hollow. The Uncle is saying that who don't actually eat each
much influence in the acting in a civilized way isn't a other and of whom he says, 1 2 4 5
Company and sends back so deeply held conviction or "They were men I could work
much ivory. The General inherent human characteristic, with."
Manager also mentions a but rather just an act designed to
The trip is long and difficult. By commenting on his own sense
trader who lives near Kurtz avoid punishment.
Marlow describes the jungle of kinship with the "primitive"
and is apparently stealing
2 as a "thing monstrous and natives, Marlow is implying that
Company profits. The uncle
free" and the natives as beings all men have aspects of the
advises the General Manager
"who howled and leapt and primitive within them. He
to take advantage of the fact
made horrid faces." Yet believes that work provides
that there's no authority
Marlow feels some connection escape from this "inner truth."
around and just hang the
to the "terrible frankness" of
trader. 2 3 4 5
the natives, knowing that he
They next discuss the rumors The General Manager here has some of that primitiveness
that Kurtz is sick. Kurtz was exposes his own disregard, and in his own heart. He is thankful
supposed to return to the Kurtz's support, for any of the that his work keeping the ship
Central Station along with his moral reasons for colonization, afloat occupies his attention
latest batch of ivory, but such as civilizing the natives most of the time, and hides the
apparently came halfway down given by Europeans. (Of course, "inner truth."
the river and then turned back. the condescending idea that the
Still, Marlow tells the other By saying the distinguished men
The General Manager angrily natives needed to be civilized by
men on the Nellie, he often has on the Nellie perform "monkey
mentions Kurtz's conviction Europeans at all would be
a sense of the "mysterious tricks," Marlow is saying that
that the stations should be considered racist today).
stillness" watching him at his primitivism also exists in the
focused as much on
1 2 5 "monkey tricks, just as it heart of civilization. When the
humanizing and civilizing the
watches you fellows man tells Marlow to be "civil,"
savages as on trade. The
performing on your respective Heart of Darkness makes the
General Manager's uncle point that civilization prefers the
tight-ropes for—what is it? half
replies that the General mask of proper behavior to the
a crown a tumble?" One of the
Manager should trust the truth. This self-deception is what
men on the Nellie warns
jungle, implying that tropical makes civilization hollow.
Marlow to "try to be civil."
disease will eventually kill
Marlow responds, "I beg your
Kurtz. 2 3
pardon. I forgot the heartache
that makes up the rest of the
price." Then he continues with
his story.

Fifty miles from Kurtz's The book is "real" to Marlow in a A little over a mile from Inner The conflict between conquerors
headquarters at Inner Station, way that nothing else is because Station, a tiny island in the and conquered masked by the
the ship comes upon a hut with to produce what he takes to be middle of the river forces beautiful ideas motivating
a stack of firewood outside. the code must have taken great Marlow to choose the western colonialism erupts into full view,
They stop to collect the and concentrated effort. It must or eastern fork of the river. He as natives and Europeans fight to
firewood, and discover a note have taken work. Everything else chooses the western, which kill.
that says "Wood for you. is absurd to the point of turns out to be quite narrow.
Hurry up. Approach meaninglessness: "Hurry up. Just as Marlow spots snags 1
cautiously." It is signed illegibly, Approach cautiously." Those ahead that could rip the
but with a name too long to be commands are mutually bottom out of the boat, arrows
"Kurtz." The General Manager exclusive. shoot toward the steamship
concludes the hut must belong from the jungle. Marlow
to the trader he wants to hang. 2 4 orders his helmsman, a
Inside the hut, Marlow tribesman from the coast, to
discovers a technical book on steer straight.
sailing that seems to have code
The pilgrims open fire into the The "civilized" colonists blind
written on it. He is astonished,
bush, putting out smoke that themselves.
and calls the book
blocks Marlow's vision.
"unmistakably real." 1 2 3
Eight miles from the Inner Marlow's desire to continue A shotgun blasts just behind Even in the battle, the absurdity
Station, the General Manager shows his obsession with finding Marlow: the helmsman has of the colonial effort is always
orders Marlow to anchor the Kurtz. Like other seekers in other dropped the wheel and started visible: here it's in the African
ship in the middle of the river quests, Marlow believes that shooting out the window. helmsman fighting against other
for the night. Marlow wants to Kurtz will have (or be) some sort Marlow jumps to take the Africans, and neglecting his job
continue on to meet Kurtz, but of answer. wheel and avoid the snag to do it. The disaster of
knows that stopping is the ahead. The helmsman falls colonialism is also always near
safer thing to do. 3
back from the window, a spear the surface, as in death the
The morning reveals a thick The white fog surrounding and in his side. Blood fills the ridiculous helmsman suddenly
white blinding fog enveloping blinding the steamship while pilothouse, soaking Marlow's becomes a tragic figure.
the ship. A roar of screaming natives scream outside is a shoes. Marlow pulls the ship's
marvelous symbol. The white fog steam whistle, which terrifies 1 2 3
natives breaks the silence,
then cuts off. Frightened hides from view the dark jungle the attacking natives and
pilgrims hold their rifles at the and black natives screaming drives them off. A pilgrim
ready, but can't see anything. outside, just as the "whited wearing "pink pyjamas" comes
The cannibals want to catch sepulcher" of civilization blinds with a message from the
and eat the men on the itself from the primitive darkness General Manager and is
riverbank. Marlow realizes the at its own heart. aghast to see the dead
cannibals must be incredibly helmsman.
hungry, and marvels at their 1 2 3 5
Marlow realizes Kurtz is With Kurtz dead, Marlow's quest
restraint in not turning on the probably dead and feels an for truth and a civilization that
white men on the ship. The intense disappointment at the isn't hollow is likely over.
General Manager authorizes thought. Marlow then tells the
Marlow to take all risks in pilgrim to steer and flings his 2 3
going upstream, knowing full bloody shoes overboard.
well that Marlow will refuse to
take any. After two hours, the
fog lifts and the steamship
continue upstream.

Suddenly, Marlow once again The men on the ship live in Everyone on board assumes The absurdity and incompetence
cuts short his story in order to civilization, and so are blind to the Inner Station has been of the colonial agents
address the men who are on the meaninglessness and overrun and Kurtz killed. The immediately resurfaces.
the Nellie in the Thames. He hollowness at its heart. The loss pilgrims are happy, though,
tells them they couldn't hope of Kurtz, to them, is nothing, that they probably killed so 1
to understand his despair at because they have no idea what many savages with their rifles.
thinking he would never get to that loss entails: the possibility of Marlow, however, is certain all
meet Kurtz, since they live in meaning and wholeness. the pilgrims shot too high, and
civilization with "a butcher killed no one.
round one corner, a policeman 2 3 4
When they arrive at Inner Some critics have argued that
round another."
Station, Marlow and the other the Russian serves little purpose
After a long silence, Marlow Kurtz is alive! Awesome! Right? men on the ship are amazed to in Heart of Darkness beyond
says that Kurtz wasn't dead, Wrong. Had Kurtz just died, discover it in perfect shape. telling Marlow what happened to
and launches into a series of Marlow's quest would have They are met onshore by a Kurtz. However, the Russian's
thoughts about him. Marlow ended, but his hope for an white man wearing clothes multicolored and patched
says Kurtz saw everything, answer would have lived on. But covered in colorful patches. harlequin jacket bears a striking
including his Intended (his Marlow makes it clear that Kurtz Marlow thinks the man looks resemblance to the map of Africa
fiancé) as a personal didn't just live, he abandoned his like a harlequin (a clown or Marlow saw in the Company's
possession. Marlow explains morals and became a monster jester). The man knows that headquarters. And the fact that
that Kurtz, in the solitude of (as shown in his scrawl across his the steamship has been he's worked for various colonial
the jungle, transformed from a idealistic treatise). In other attacked, but says, "it's all powers and survived years in the
man of European words, Marlow looked to Kurtz to right" now. As the General jungle alone also signals a kind of
enlightenment to a man who provide an answer, and the Manager and pilgrims go to connection to and comfort with
presided over "unspeakable answer Kurtz provided is that all get Kurtz, the harlequin comes colonial Africa.
rites" and accepted sacrifices men have darkness in their on board and speaks with
made in his honor. Marlow hearts. Marlow. The man explains that 1
recalls a magnificent, if he's a twenty-five year old
impractical, treatise that Kurtz 1 2 3 5 Russian sailor who deserted
wrote called On the and through a series of
Suppression of Savage Customs adventures working for
in which Kurtz argues that various colonial powers ended
white men, as veritable gods up wandering through the
next to the natives, have the Congo alone for two years.
responsibility to help them.
When the Russian says that Both the Russian and the
Later, though, across this
the hut with the stacked wood Natives seem to adore and revere
treatise calling for idealism and
was his old house, Marlow Kurtz. The question, of course, is
altruism, Kurtz scrawled
returns the book about sailing why? It's not clear yet, but
"Exterminate all the brutes."
to him. The Russian in his joy Kurtz's eloquence connects to
Marlow returns to the dead Marlow mourns the helmsman tells Marlow that the natives the hollowness of civilization.
helmsman, saying that Kurtz as a fellow worker. attacked the ship because they Eloquence is a talent for speech,
was a remarkable man, but don't want Kurtz to leave. It's but one can speak about
wasn't worth the lives they lost 4 soon clear to Marlow that the anything, whether noble or
in trying to find him. Marlow Russian also has fallen under monstrous.
mourns his helmsman deeply. the spell of Kurtz's amazing
The man had "done something, eloquence. The Russian says 2 3
he had steered." about Kurtz: "This man has
enlarged my mind."

PART 3 The Russian mentions that Here's another instance of
when the native chiefs came to Marlow's condescending
Marlow stares at the Russian Here's the Russian's secret. He's
see Kurtz they crawled up to preference for the simplicity of
in astonishment, and thinks the only white man in colonial
him. This information disgusts the "savage" natives to the
that the Russian "surely wants Africa not looking for money or
Marlow, who comments that corrupt and complicated civilized
nothing from the wilderness power. Without the will to
in contrast "uncomplicated men.
but space to breathe in" and dominate, he seems safe from
savagery was a positive relief,
that "if the absolutely pure, corruption. 1 2 3 5
being something that had the
uncalculating, unpractical
1 2 3 right to exist—obviously—in
spirit of adventure had ever
the sunshine."
ruled a human being, it ruled
this ... youth." The Russian can't understand The naïve Russian can't see past
Marlow's scorn at Kurtz's Kurtz's eloquence to the
Meanwhile, the Russian begs Kurtz talked of "everything." Of
savage actions. He says that hollowness within.
Marlow to take Kurtz away course, talking of everything is a
the Company abandoned
quickly. He tells of his first lot like talking of "nothing." Note 2 3
Kurtz, who had such
meeting with Kurtz, in which that the color white, the color of
wonderful ideas.
Kurtz "talked of everything" blindness in Heart of Darkness, is
and the Russian only listened. the result of every color brought The pilgrims come out of the Kurtz, the epitome of civilized
Since then, he says he's nursed together into one. house bearing Kurtz on a man, has transformed himself
Kurtz through two illnesses, stretcher. Marlow describes into a god to the natives. He even
even though Kurtz had once 2 3 Kurtz as looking like "an looks like a god: "an image of
threatened to shoot him over animated image of death death carved out of ivory." The
some ivory. carved out of ivory." The lure of power and domination
natives swarm forward. The was too great for him too resist.
Kurtz, the Russian says, is a Here is Marlow's first solid
Russian whispers to Marlow
god to the local tribesman, evidence that Kurtz has 2 3
that if Kurtz says the word,
who adore him. They help him abandoned his morals. (When
they'll all be killed. Kurtz
as he raids the jungle and Marlow earlier told the men on
speaks (Marlow can't hear him
other tribes for ivory. This the Nellie that Kurtz became a
from so far away), and the
comes as troubling news to monster, he was flashing forward
natives melt back into the
Marlow, who had expected in his narrative.)
jungle.
that Kurtz, with his morals,
would trade for ivory, not take 3 Along the shore of the river Kurtz was so transformed by the
it by force. near the ship the natives jungle he even betrayed his
gather. Among them, next to Intended.
The Russian says that Kurtz When he described the Roman
the ship a "savage and superb"
can't be judged as other men conquerors in England at the 2 3
African woman paces back and
are. He adds that Kurtz beginning of Heart of Darkness,
forth. The Russian's comments
"suffered too much. He hated Marlow imagined them as
about her imply that she was
all this and somehow couldn't appalled and attracted by its
Kurtz's mistress.
get away." Marlow, meanwhile, savagery. The same is true for
lifts binoculars to his eyes and Kurtz, who both "hated all this" Inside the cabin, an argument Somehow Kurtz still sees himself
looks at the building where he and spiked heads to stakes. His erupts between Kurtz and the as a man of great ideas, just as
thinks Kurtz is lying ill. He's hollow civilized core, for all its General Manager. Kurtz civilized Europeans continue to
startled to see that what he outward beauty, couldn't hold accuses the General Manager see colonialism as noble while it
thought were fence posts are out against the jungle's "inner of caring less about Kurtz abuses the Africans and steals
actually spiked human heads. truth." himself than about the ivory their wealth.
Marlow tells the men on the Kurtz has, and also says the
Nellie that for all Kurtz's 2 3 General Manager with his 1 2 3
magnificent talent, eloquence, "piddling notions" is
and learning, he was hollow at interfering with Kurtz's grand
the core, and the jungle filled plans.
that hollowness.

The General Manager exits Marlow has a choice to make Marlow goes to sleep, but This is the climax of Heart of
from the cabin. He tells between the General Manager's wakes suddenly just after Darkness. With the words "You
Marlow that Kurtz is very ill "pretending" devil of false civility, midnight. As he looks around will be lost," Marlow forces Kurtz
and that Kurtz's "unsound and Kurtz's "lusty" devil of he notices Kurtz has to battle in his own soul, to
methods" ruined the district monstrous domination. He disappeared. On the bank of choose between his savage
for the company. Marlow chooses Kurtz, perhaps for the the river, Marlow finds a trail monstrousness and his civilized
comments that Kurtz's same reason he prefers donkeys through the grass and realizes dreams of advancement and
methods couldn't be and savages to Europeans. In Kurtz must be crawling. He accomplishment. Kurtz
"unsound" because he seemed Kurtz, though there was catches up to Kurtz just before ultimately chooses civilization.
to have had "no method at all." monstrousness, there was no lie. he reaches the native camp. He chooses the impractical and
Yet Marlow is more disgusted The jungle filled Kurtz's Marlow realizes that though idealism of his treatise "On the
by the General Manager's fake hollowness, but not the General he's stronger than Kurtz, all Suppression of Savage Customs"
show of sadness at Kurtz's Manager's. Kurtz has to do is call out and over his later brutish scrawl,
demise than with Kurtz's the natives will attack. Kurtz, "Exterminate all the brutes."
atrocities, and says that Kurtz 2 3 realizing the same thing, tells
is still a remarkable man. This him to hide. Marlow says, "You 1 2 3
loses Marlow whatever favor will be lost, utterly lost." Kurtz
he'd held in the General pauses, struggling with himself.
Manager's eyes. Marlow watches him, and
realizes that Kurtz is perfectly
When Marlow is alone, the The Russian disappears into the
sane in his mind, but his soul is
Russian approaches. He has jungle, going off alone as no other
mad. Kurtz's soul, Marlow
decided to slip away, correctly European colonist would. That
says, "knew no restraint, no
sensing that he's in danger European, though, would be
faith, and no fear." Yet in the
from the General Manager thinking of himself as in conflict
end Kurtz allows Marlow to
and his men, and seeing with the jungle because, as a
support him back to the ship.
nothing more that he can do colonist, his goal is to dominate
for Kurtz. But before and subdue the jungle. But the The next day the ship departs. The pilgrim's pointless gunfire, a
departing he tells Marlow that Russian has no such dreams, and Kurtz, in the pilothouse with product of their colonialist greed
it was Kurtz who ordered the so is safe and unafraid. Marlow, watches the natives and the savage desire to hurt and
native attack on the steamship and his mistress come to the dominate, puts out a smoke as
in order to scare the General 1 shore. Marlow spots the blinding as the white fog.
Manager away and thereby be pilgrims getting their rifles and Civilization continues to blind
allowed to remain at his pulls the steam whistle. All the itself.
station. The Russian gets natives but the woman
Marlow to give him some disperse. The pilgrims open 1 2 3 5
supplies and disappears into fire, blocking Marlow's vision
the night. with the smoke.
As they travel swiftly Another example of false civility:
downstream, the General the General Manager doesn't
Manager is pleased. After all, care that Kurtz is going to die as
soon Kurtz will be dead and long as he can't be blamed for it.
the General Manager will be Kurtz, meanwhile, wavers
secure in his position without between monstrous savagery
having to do a thing. Marlow is and belief in the ideals of
often left alone with Kurtz, civilization that his actions have
who speaks in his magnificent proved hollow.
voice and with his magnificent
eloquence about his moral 2 3
ideas, his hopes for fame in
Europe, and his desire to
"wring the heart" of the jungle.

The steamship soon breaks In Kurtz, an enlightened A representative of the The same greed visible in the
down, which doesn't surprise European surrounded by the Company comes to get Kurtz's Company agents is visible in the
Marlow. But Kurtz becomes brutal primitivism of the natives papers from Marlow, who Company representative. Note
concerned he won't live to see and the greed of the Company offers him only On the how Marlow protects Kurtz's
Europe. He gives Marlow his agents, Marlow saw the Suppression of Savage Customs reputation.
papers, fearful that the possibility of an answer to his (with the scrawled
General Manager might try to own despair about the darkness "exterminate all the brutes 1 2 3
pry into them, and one day of men's hearts on one side and torn off" torn off). The
tells Marlow that he is "waiting the hollowness of civilization on representative wanting more,
for death." Marlow is pierced the other. And Kurtz does wanting something more
by the expression on Kurtz's provide an answer, of sorts: there profitable, storms off.
face "of somber pride, of is no answer, only despair, only
Kurtz's cousin soon shows up. Kurtz seems to have just
ruthless power, of craven horror.
The cousin, a musician, tells reflected people back at
terror—of an intense and
2 3 Marlow that Kurtz was himself themselves. Another indication
hopeless despair." Suddenly
a great musician, then leaves that he was more surface than
Kurtz cries out in a voice not
with some family letters self.
much more than a breath: "The
Marlow gives him.
horror! The horror!" A short 2 3
while later, the General
Manager's servant appears Soon after, a journalist stops The journalist's assertion that
and informs everyone: "Mistah by. He says Kurtz wasn't a Kurtz could convince himself of
Kurtz—he dead." great writer, but was a great anything further supports the
speaker. He could have been a idea of Kurtz's hollowness. He
Soon after, Marlow himself Marlow's esteem for Kurtz's great radical political didn't care what his ideals were,
falls ill. He calls his struggle statement is part of his general leader—he could electrify a as long as he was passionate
with death "the most respect for work. Through the crowd. Marlow asks what about them.
unexciting contest you can corruption of his ideals, Kurtz party Kurtz would have
imagine," and is embarrassed saw the world as it was. And like belonged to. The journalist 2 3
to discover that on his the helmsman who "had done says any party: Kurtz could
deathbed he could think of something, he had steered," convince himself of anything.
nothing to say. That's why he Kurtz did something, he judged: He takes On the Suppression of
admires Kurtz. The man had the horror! Savage Customs for publication.
something to say: "The
horror!" Marlow's describes 2 3 4 At last, Marlow works up the Marlow's aunt established
Kurtz's statement as a moral nerve to go to see Kurtz's women in H of D as symbols of
victory paid for by "abominable Intended and give her the last society's blindness to its own
terrors" and "abominable of his letters. When she lets hollowness. Kurtz's Intended
satisfactions." Marlow into her house he further supports this symbolism:
notices that though it's a year she is completely clueless about
Marlow returns to the The people in the city, who have Kurtz's true nature.
after Kurtz's death, she is still
"sepulchral city" in Europe, never seen the jungle, can't see
dressed in mourning black. She
where his aunt nurses him the hollowness of their
praises Kurtz as the best of all 2 3
back to health but can't soothe civilization. They can't see the
men.
his mind. The people of the city horror.
seem to him petty and silly.
2 3

Marlow, full of pity, does not Though Marlow knows Kurtz's Marlow, on the Nellie still at Marlow's story, though, forces
dispute her claims. Finally, the triumph lay in his understanding anchor in the Thames, goes the Narrator to see civilization's
Intended asks to hear Kurtz's of men's pretty delusions about quiet. The Narrator looks off dark heart. The Narrator's
last words. This is the question themselves, he can't bring into the distance, and says that connection of that darkness to
Marlow's been dreading. He himself to make Kurtz's Intended the Thames seems to lead to the Thames indicates he now
pauses, then tells her that see the dark reality. And Marlow the "uttermost ends of the realizes his former romantic
Kurtz's last words were her knows that if he, who sees earth," seems to lead "into the ideas of colonialism were
name. She cries out that she civilization's hollowness, can't heart of an immense darkness." symptoms of civilization's self-
knew it and begins to weep. bring himself to reveal the delusion.
Marlow feels only despair, darkness beneath, then
knowing he failed to give Kurtz civilization's blindness is 1 2 3
the justice he deserved. But he complete.
just couldn't get himself to tell
the Intended the truth—it 3 HOW T
TO
O CITE
would have been too dark. It's easy to cite LitCharts for use in academic papers and reports.
MLA CIT
CITA
ATION
Florman, Ben. "Heart of Darkness." LitCharts. LitCharts LLC, 22 Jul
2013. Web. 26 Oct 2016.
CHICA
CHICAGO
GO MANU
MANUAL
AL CIT
CITA
ATION
Florman, Ben. "Heart of Darkness." LitCharts LLC, July 22, 2013.
Retrieved October 26, 2016. http://www.litcharts.com/lit/heart-
of-darkness.

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