Darkness Consuming

David Innes        

Literary Analysis and Argumentation

Mrs. Lange

10/26/16

Darkness Consuming

         In Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad, Marlow’s desire to be a good man and do good becomes more and more meaningless throughout the story as he is thrown into a world where no absolute goodness exists and the best he can do is choose from a list of sins and evils. This leads both him and the mysterious Kurtz down a darker path then either of them anticipated. And the further down the river they go the deeper they steep themselves in the blood of themselves and the natives. Eventually, the characters become unable to distinguish between the good and the evil until the reader is left wondering if there is any difference at all. Though both Marlow and Kurtz had been infected by the darkness of their hearts to an extent, the difference between them is that Kurtz is unable to cling to his sense of moral goodness and is consumed by darkness so much that he has lost his ability to distinguish between good and evil and eventually dies because of it.

          As Kurtz’s soul becomes ensnared by darkness, Marlow is able to recognize not only Kurtz’s but also his own sins. He was morally stable enough to resist the struggle of his soul and the darkness protruding from his heart. This is displayed when Marlow describe a vision of the struggle between the miniscule amount of good and the overwhelming amount of evil in Kurtz’s heart: "But his soul was mad. Being alone in the wilderness, it had looked within itself, and by heavens! I tell you, it had gone mad. I had—for my sins, I suppose—to go through the ordeal of looking into it myself. No eloquence could have been so withering to one's belief in mankind as his final burst of sincerity. He struggled with himself, too. I saw it—I heard it. I saw the inconceivable mystery of a soul that knew no restraint, no faith, and no fear, yet struggling blindly with itself." This recognition of iniquity and sin is what saves Marlow. Had he not seen his own heart for the dark beast it was then he would have never survived as he did. He would have had the same struggle as Kurtz had. Marlow’s morals were just that much stronger than Kurtz’s: strong enough to pull out from the black hole his heart was spiraling towards. He saw Kurtz and saw what would become of him if he let the greed, corruption and hatred consume him. He saw the soul in its most decrepit, dark, weak state and the struggle that his mind, heart, and soul all posed at once. For not only had his mind gone mad and heart gone cold, but his soul had been destroyed. All he had was a shriveled unhealthy body; a body void of heart, soul and mind, barely under Kurtz’s own control. And Marlow recognized this but he was living in a dream and couldn’t tell what was real or not. This ugly sight was, however, motivation enough for Marlow to save himself. Though he tried in vain to save Kurtz, he unknowingly saved himself. But in the end, Kurtz knows he’s mad. Marlow knows he’s going mad. But the difference between the two is that Kurtz doesn’t realize that it’s the time in the jungle that’s driving him mad and the lack of moral and ethical restraint that has drove him to where he is not. In a sense, he has made himself mad. Marlow, however, realizes that it’s the jungle that is possessing Kurtz and not only runs from the evil that has consumed Kurtz, but is running to a better brighter heart, one that he recognizes as a healthier and morally sound source of salvation. Throughout Kurtz’s and Marlow’s journeys through Africa, they both lose touch with reality: Kurtz in the fantasy of his own power and corruption and Marlow in his dream-like world. However, it’s Marlow’s realization of the evil that dwells not only in the jungle but also in his own heart that saves him in the end from the same fate as Kurtz who was a bit less morally in tune.