Over the years, readers have had different takes on the story but many consider it to be a story about human condition. (Agatucci 4) "Heart of Darkness can sometimes seem like an incredibly dark, depressing story that paints civilization in a very negative light." (4) However much truth their may be to those observations it is the interest in the topic that entices new readers to read this book and study the observations and views of Joseph Conrad. He seems to be a rather cynical person as well for his views, because he seems to believe that without the presence of society to help restrain people then they are all potential of evil. "In Heart of Darkness Conrad hints at some prodigious evil lurking in the soul of mankind; but this is corruption–in its simplest form." (3) It is through his view of the rules of Western Civilization that he has written several of his novels, Heart of Darkness just seems to be his most prominent writing on the subject. In this story he uses Kurtz to represent the common European. "Kurtz is depicted as an upstanding European who has been transformed by his time in the jungle- away from his home, away from any familiar people and food, and away from becoming such a tyrant."(3) So this story is Conrad's view of human condition when removed from the restraints of society and the necessity for such restraints.
Conrad took much interest in the subject of physical and psychological isolation and used his characters to enforce his views . In some of his works Conrad considers the psychological isolation of his characters when they are unable to establish relationships with other people or when they destroy them .(Oneil 253) "In much of his sea fiction, his characters are isolated from the external restraints of Western civilization. Conrad wonders how people respond to their circumstances when there is no law or public opinion to influence them." (253) " Heart of Darkness explores the fundamental questions about human nature: the capacity for ultimate evil; the necessity for restraint; the effect of isolation; and the necessity of relinquishing pride for on's own salvation." (Magill 2789) "From the outset Conrad wrote about characters who had "soft spots," and "hidden plague spots," by which he meant psychological and moral weaknesses that intrude upon their capacity to act in a morally responsible manner." (Kirkpatrick 417) It was through this curiosity that he wrote his tales.
As you read through this story you can get a general idea that Conrad sees that Western civilization's ignorance towards the rest of the world that they consider savage is unjust. He viewed the Western civilization as not having an absolute foundation so he consistently presented his characters as isolated, physically or psychologically and then considers how they can make sense of an existence without inherent sense. (Oneil 253) "For Conrad, there is no inherent meaning in the universe and no inherent truth behind the laws and customs of Western civilization, the only thing that can provide meaning is communion with other human beings whether in the form of relationships with two people or in communities." (253) "In any community physical and psychological safety necessitates mutual resilience and solidarity and so Conrad consistently rejects characters who place ideals or material interests above human relationships." (254) Therefore, his solution to the physical and psychological isolation he sees in the human world can be found in the idea of solidarity, or community.(253) So this novel seems to blur the line between the so called "advanced" society of Europe and the "primitive" society of Africa.(Agatucci 2)
Joseph Conrad's influence for the novel was his own experience in the Congo which he points out as a life changing event for him which helped him realize what he felt was the true nature of the humans of Western civilization. "His experience in the Congo would forever change him; he once remarked, "Before the Congo I was just a mere animal." His Congo experience wreaked havoc on his emotional and physical health, the effects of which stayed with him the rest of his life."(Oneil 249) So it was through his own experience that he retold the story through the characters in his story making each one symbolic for something. For example, he used Marlow as a neutral character who had to explore his own heart of darkness to realize the evil in man. "The symbolic journey into Marlow's own heart of darkness, revealing blindingly the evil of human nature and the human capacity for evil; the irony of the quest is when the truth is revealed not in terms of light but in terms of darkness. For the truth brings not light but rather total darkness(Magill 2789) Basically, he uses this story to interpret his own realizations that he made on his personal journey through his own heart of darkness so to speak.
Through his story, one of his main points seems to be that humans rely on each other to enforce morality and order and therefore need community. When people agree on rules and customs, they, in effect create meaning for their lives. Also, they rely on one another for protection and help. Conrad uses incidents like, a member of a crew to rely on all the other crew members to survive or risk drowning in order to illustrate this human condition.(Oneil 253) As it is shown in the story, Marlow sees rampant amorality and immorality among the Europeans and realizes that few have the innate strength necessary to maintain moral standards without restraints of laws and personal opinions to influence them. (260) "This discovery leads to Marlow's recognizing that Western civilization is not based upon absolute truths but is merely a convenient means for Europeans to organize their social interactions."(260) Also, "Conrad stresses that man's conduct was often less the result of conscious decisions than of dimly understood fears, obsessions, and fixations."(Kirkpatrick 418) It is these restraints made by the society that happen to help maintain order among the citizens and helps decrease conflict among the people.
Within the story, Joseph Conrad used symbolism to show how the journey into the jungle brings out the true darkness of man and corrupts him. "The journey into the heart of the Congo, however, is a symbolic journey into the Darkness central to the heart and soul of humanity, a journey deep into the primeval passion, superstition, and lust." (Magill 2787) Conrad uses this symbolism in different ways throughout the story as he does when Kurtz, whose original purpose of going into the jungle was to educate the natives before he became corrupted by the control he had, writes "Exterminate the brutes!" he is showing the way a white man can exploit the helpless savage. Then again with the futile shelling from the gunboat into the jungle is vividly portrayed as a useless, brutal, and absurd act perpetrated against a weaker culture than that of Kurtz. (2787) He also uses symbolism in other ways through out the story. For example, he uses the color white to symbolize evil, for it represents the immoral scramble for loot by unfeeling Belgian traders in ivory and human skin, the whiteness is then compared to the blackness of the natives whose lives must be destroyed for the sake of the trade. (Gillon 25) These are all made to being showing the effects that the isolation is having on all of the characters.
Conrad also pointed out that there were two different kinds of people involved in the story, and those that came to the realization of the darkness were over come and those who were unaware of it were blissfully ignorant. "Those who, like Kurtz, are aware of the darkness, who hope with conscious intelligence and a human concern for all humanity to bring light into the darkness, are doomed, are themselves swallowed up by the darkness and evil they hope to penetrate." (Magill 2787) Then there were the characters, like the District Manager, who undertook the journey just to rob the natives of their ivory without awareness of the importance of the central darkness, who could survive. Similarly, Marlow, was left to be just an observer without being centrally involved, was able to survive in order to tell the tale that he had learned on the journey. (2787) From this, Marlow realized that on a larger scale, Western civilization was irrelevant and detrimental to the indigenous population.(Oneil 260) It was this awareness of the darkness or rather the evil within civilization that determined whether a person lived or not.
In Heart of Darkness, Kurtz was the main example used in showing the effects of the isolation from society and the results. It was him whose intentions were to go into Africa with ideas of civilizing and improving the Africans were challenged as he ended up raiding the villages and allowed himself to be worshiped as a god by the natives.(Oneil 259) The purpose was to show that he was in isolation and there was nothing or no one, in essence, to keep him on the straight and narrow path. (Agatucci 3) Conrad uses the transformation of Kurtz while questioning the role Europe plays in exploiting Africa. Then he considers how people can maintain fidelity to a cod of behavior without such external restraints as judicial laws and public opinion. (Oneil 259) So in creating the character of Kurtz, Conrad was illustrating the lack of inner strength within the Western Civilizations because they rely on such external powers to keep them in check. "Kurtz goes out equipped with the moral ideals of Western Civilization, but some time after arriving in the Congo, his ideals melt away because he is without external restraints and lacks the inner strength to maintain his ideals; in the end he becomes prey to unchecked desire for power, wealth, and control."(260) Basically, Conrad is pointing out that "Kurtz, a man relieved of all social and civilized restraints, goes mad after committing himself to the total pursuit of evil and depravity." (Magill 2789) Marlow develops a fascination with Kurtz before they even meet, which drives him to enter this mission and stay with it until the very end. As it turned out, they were very similar characters who both came from European society with morals and ideals that have been knocked out from beneath them as they steadily made it deeper into the heart of darkness. At each station, Marlow's ideals were slowly destroyed but the last straw was when his helmsman died in an attack who also happened to be his last connection to civilization, which now left him completely alone. Then Marlow fell into an enlightening depression as he begins to understand the natural cruelty of the world. Kurtz who was identical to Marlow, had remained cut off from civilization for so long that he had been radically changed by the natives. The hut in which he resided in was surrounded by steaks with human heads, all facing inwards from the house and he began practicing sacred rituals with the natives as he became a worshiped figure among them. (Agatucci 5) Apparently, when Marlow finally gets to Kurtz he is intrigued by the change that has taken place within the man and Kurtz tell him of all that he has realized because he has noticed the change within himself as well but he does not want to go back to the Western world. That is when Marlow notices the change in him as he describes it " In vain. In the steadily darkening universe a sinister clearness fell upon his ideas. In the ill illuminating moments of suffering he saw life, men, all things, the whole earth with all her burden of created nature, as he had never seen before." (Gillon 79) "The arrival of Marlow is enough to save the enlightened mind of Kurtz but not enough to save the body from the internal conflict that wreaked within. All that remained for Kurtz was to pass the enlightenment on and then to die." (Agatucci 5) Then as he lay dying his observation as he screamed "The horror! The horror!" suggests his final realization of the consequences of his life.(Conrad 118). It was with the parallel lives of these two characters that Conrad shows the impact of the journey into the darkness and how the isolation has effected each of them, one being in the beginning stages and the other totally immersed in the corruption.
The entire symbolic character of the work is summarized at the end of Marlow's tale when he is forced to lie to Kurtz's wife to preserve her illusion of him; the truth appears to Marlow as an inescapable darkness, and the novel ends with the narrator's own observation of darkness and the lesson that he has learned from the man he knew as Kurtz. (Magill 2789)
"Conrad's tale is in itself a fable, which leaves us with a moral that is very difficult to accept. Heart of Darkness warns us that the world is itself an evil thing, and the civilized population has refused to accept that fact. They create morals to mask the truth that they don't want to see. This masking is what makes us human, but we must always understand that it is only a mask and not the truth, because one day everyone will be faced with the darkness of the true nature of our world. And just like the child who is alone in the dark, one day someone won't be there to turn the light on for us. Then we'll be forced to stare into the heart of the darkness, and it will break us, as it did to Kurtz, or enlighten us, as it did for Marlow." (Agatucci 6)
In conclusion, in the Heart of Darkness, Joseph Conrad illustrated his belief that without the laws and restraints of society then a man would become corrupt and overtaken by greed.