The theme of darkness in The Heart of Darkness

A detailed Summary of The theme of darkness in The Heart of Darkness

It has been said that although Conrad may not have been "the greatest novelist, he was certainly the greatest artist every to write a novel". I feel that this is an apt description of Conrad's writing style in Heart of Darkness (1902), as he paints many verbal pictures by using expressive words and many figurative descriptions of places and people. An extensive use of words relating to colour, is evident throughout the novella. The idea of darkness (and light) is emphasized from the title of the novella, and continues to play an important role throughout in the story .

My opinion is that Conrad felt that using "darkness" as a recurring theme throughout the story would be an effective tool because of the many connotations of darkness. Darkness can, for example, represents evil, the unknown, mystery, sadness or fear. Also important is the way darkness and light can be used to represent two opposite emotions or concepts. Light vs. dark can, for example, represent good vs. evil, the civilized vs. the uncivilized, illusion vs. reality or assumption vs. fact.

We know from the start of the novella that the darkness that Conrad refers to is symbolic, because, while the silent narrator aboard The Nellie comments on the many lights e

Nigerian novelist, Chinua Achebe attacked Heart of Darkness as racist. He felt that Conrad used the darkness to symbolise the negative character of Africa, and objected to the novel as a manifestation of "white racism over Africa" (Achebe, 1975). I do not agree with this view of the novella as a purely racist piece of literature. I feel that, although Conrad did live in a time when some forms of racial prejudice were so commonplace that they seemed almost natural, he wrote the novella essentially as "an expose of imperialist rapacity and violence" (Cedric Watts). Several times throughout the novella he refers to colonialism and white racists negatively. Early in the novella, Marlowe comments that "The conquest of the earth... which mostly means taking it away from those who have a different complexion or slightly flatter noses than ourselves, is not a pretty thing when you look into it to much", thereby condemning imperialism. He also invokes our sympathies in the "black shadows of disease and starvation" and his descriptions of the senseless violence which he witnesses.

Because they are women, Marlowe's aunt and Kurtz's Intended still focus on light because the truth of the universe is hidden from them by the effects of civilisation. Marlowe says that the Romans were "man enough to face the darkness", thereby insinuating that one had to be a man to be able to confront the darkness. This was probably society's stock belief at the time of the writing of the novella. Although the reality is that colonial Africa is a place of savagery and brutality, Marlowe's aunt is thrilled that he is going there. She represents him to the Company as an "emissary of light", thus stressing the idea that he would contribute to the bringing of light to the dark Africa.

When Marlowe meets with the Intended, he says that "no manipulation of light... could have conveyed the delicate shade of truthfulness upon those features", thus intimating that the look on

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Approximate Word count = 1318
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: English