Scarica temi libro "The heart of Darkness" di Joseph Conrad e più Schemi e mappe concettuali in PDF di Inglese solo su Docsity! Main themes “Heart of darkness” by Joseph Conrad In order to analyze the themes of this novel, we have to know Conrad’s conception of the artist: he believed that the main role of the artist is to reveal the truth. The truth exposed in the Hearth of Darkness lies in three aspects: - the true nature of colonialism - the dark side of human nature - the disillusionment with the civilization The first point is revealed through the experience of Marlow. His observations upon his arrival in Africa show the material iessence of the colonists. Kurtz, in particular, represents the incarnation of colonialism. He went to Congo just to find ivory and therefore to get richer and richer day by day. Kurtz elevated himself into a demigod and because of this power he achieved, every tribe was subjected to him. In order to obtain more ivory, he sought it everywhere unscrupulously and he had no problems killing local people to steal it from them. Kurtz real intentions aren’t altruistic at all: he only cares about wealth. He is a perfect representation of society going mad with a greed for power and wealth and personates imperialism’s will to expand its domain over the earth and all its creatures. The second point his about that dark nature we all have. The entire novel is pervaded by a sense of darkness starting by the setting itself which is often characterized by obscure elements. The entire region is populated by dark-skinned individuals. Finally, also the philosophy behind the novel has a dark base. Marlow’s mission to find Kurtz also represents a journey to the discovery of himself. He’s is following the same path of Kurtz: Marlow is what Kurtz has been, and Kurtz is what Marlow could become. Contact with nature make you connect to your primitive side. Behind the colonists’ desire to constantly gain wealth and expand their territories there’s what Nietzsche called the will of power, which is considered as an attribute of human nature. When colonists get in contact with the wilderness of the jungle their human nature is completely exposed and they get under the control of the will of power. They act like uncivilized men and they make atrocities because they only follow their desire of power, because their dark side has taken control. Here isolated from the rest of their own society, the colonists became corrupted by power and isolation. At the end Kurtz cries “the horror! The horror!”. He realizes the horror he has committed. While society doesn’t even try to convert its methods to less barbaric ones, Kurtz has a moral growth. This means a lot for Marlow who reads in those words an evaluation of society and who understands perfectly their meaning because he saw those horrors. This words are a warning, they are something to live by. Marlow and Kurtz come from the same background but they do not end up the same in the novel. Kurtz falls into the darkness of insanity. Marlow goes to the edge of sanity, looks over the edge, and has enough strength not to go over to the other side. The third point is the disillusioned of civilization. Marlow’s aunt said to him that what drives colonists to africa is the desire to bring there civilization, but Marlow knows that it is only based on profit. African natives biggest weakness is that they’re not technologically advanced and they don’t know what weapons are. This weakness represents for Kurtz the way of his success: he can take advantage from this and
