Conrads Heart of Darkness: Kurtz's Words Before Died - Essay Example

Heart of Darkness What is The horror! The horror! (Conrad 154) that Kurtz relates to Marlowe before he dies? Conrad’s Heart of Darkness takes a rather roundabout view of the descent of Kurtz as from a remarkable man to nothing more than a savage. Even as a savage, the dying words used by Kurtz are quite enigmatic and can be given several different layers of meaning depending on the viewpoint taken by the reader. As noted by Oates (1997) the entire book itself, “is a rare symbolist work with roots in historical authenticity (Oates, 1997, Pg.1)”. As to the quote itself, it can be seen as the horror which Kurtz faced while living in a savage land away from all which he considered civilized. It may even be his own cognition and knowledge about his mortality and eminent death. It can also be seen as a change in himself which made him understand that he was not the man his fellow Europeans thought he was at him. While we get to know quite a lot about the change which takes place within Kurtz, it is difficult to see the change manifest itself except where Kurtz realizes the horror in himself and his surroundings. However, there is evidence within the book which shows that the realization of this horror as a change in Kurtz was a gradual process which started as soon as Kurtz arrived amongst the natives. Undoubtedly, the European masters who had sent Kurtz into the heart of darkness had a very high opinion of him and certainly did not consider him to be anything like the savages he had been sent to govern. The first we hear of Kurtz is that he is “a first-class agent (Conrad, 1902, Pg. 27)” and that he is “a very remarkable person (Conrad, 1902, Pg. 27)”. Kurtz is well known amongst the community he mingles with and is famous within the company with respect to outperforming all other ivory agents. We know that Kurtz is likely to have a strong career and the way he is going he would soon be in the administrative group of the company. On page 32, we get more details about him and his position within the company when Kurtz is said to be, “an exceptional man, of the greatest importance to the Company (Conrad, 1902)”. However, we also find out that Mr. Kurtz is said to be ill in some way even though his performance has not decreased significantly. More important than the words which were reportedly said by Kurtz or even the words which were directly spoken by him, an insight into the horror of what he experienced can be understood through the painting which he created. The painting is described as, “a small sketch in oils, on a panel, representing a woman, draped and blindfolded, carrying a lighted torch (Pg. 36)”. It would be easy enough to see that the blindfolded woman represents the innocence and virtue which western civilization holds for Conrad as well as Marlow and Kurtz which cannot see the path it is treading on. At the same time, the light of civilization is being gently taken into the heart of darkness where it is unlikely to survive on its own. Kurtz himself could be represented by the lady he painted and his knowledge about civilization itself can be seen as the light being carried by the woman since he is said to be “an emissary of pity and science and progress, and devil knows what else (Pg. 36)”. In the second section of the book, the readers get to know a little more about Kurtz as his notes are discussed showing that he is either descending into madness or is looking at the horror of being away from civilization for an extended period of time. The notes made by Kurtz begin show that he certainly considers himself to be better than everyone else since Kurtz considers white men to be “supernatural beings (Pg. 72)” in comparison to the savages. Additionally, Kurtz is said to be better than many of the other people who are working on the river for the company which makes him a superman amongst other individuals. The horrifying change in Kurtz becomes very clear as he goes on to write that his version of civilization should be forcibly brought to the natives because the whites and other people like him “exert a power for good practically unbounded (Pg. 72)”. Of course, this all descents into complete madness and a sign of futility as Kurtz scrawls at the end of his notes regarding the natives that the white folk should “exterminate all the brutes! (Pg. 72)”. However, it does seem that a very long time had passed between the points where he had very noble sentiments regarding the natives as opposed to his wish of killing each and every one of the natives. This fall from grace to a horrifying state is clearly visible to Marlow as well as the readers when Marlow eventually gets to meet Kurtz near the end of his journey as Kurtz lay dying. The words exchanged between them come across as little more than Kurtz ranting due to the illness which has completely taken hold of his mind and body. The readers are told that he wanted to do progressive things and wanted to be a great reformer who could be credited with bringing civilization to the region he was in. However, he was easily defeated by the darkness which surrounded him and his own inability to recognize a different form of civilization which was as valid as the western civilization he was coming from. This overpowered his genius and caused a conflict within that led him to say “The horror! The Horror! (Pg. 100)” just before dying. Lost in an idealistic and perhaps unnatural viewpoint of life, he is simply unable to resist the lure of the darkness which makes him worse than the savages which he was sent out to pacify. He might have been a powerful man within his company but he eventually turned out to be very weak when it came to having a real understanding about the conflicts which he had to appreciate in terms of his own civilization and the civilization he was placed in. This unbearable horror was the eventual cause of his death and the reason why he cried out the horror before he died. Word Count: 1,088 Works Cited Conrad, Joseph. Heart of Darkness. New York: Penguin, 1902. Oates, J. Introduction to Heart of Darkness. Signet Classics, 1997 Read More