Heart of darkness: good vs evi

A detailed Summary of Heart of darkness: good vs evi

In the Heart of Darkness, Conrad takes us on a journey into the soul of man. When the character Marlow travels into the jungle of Africa to find Kurtz, he realizes that he is in a place where the rules of society no longer constrain pure human nature, and the frighteningly raw truths about human beings can be observed first hand. Marlow finds that human nature is something unlimited and terrible by observing the effects of such freedom on Kurtz. Marlow finds that human nature is something unlimited and terrible by observing the effects of such freedom on Kurtz. Marlow discovers that human nature is a changeable thing, subject to the constraints placed on it by its environment, but also an entity containing the ability to be good or evil. The temptation of evil, existing the most in an environment devoid of rules, creates an eternal turmoil in the human soul as it struggles between conscience and its tendencies towards evil.

This fight between good and evil, is represented also by the theme of civilization versus savagery. The book implies that civilizations are created by the setting of laws and codes that encourage men to achieve higher standards. It acts as a buffer to prevent men f

rom reverting back to their darker tendencies

Before he dies, Marlow observes on Kurtz's face "the expression of sombre pride, of ruthless power, of craven terror".

Marlow and Kurtz are two opposite examples of the human condition. Kurtz represents what every man will become if left to his own intrinsic desires without a protective, civilized environment. Marlow represents the civilized soul that has not been drawn back into savagery by a dark, alienated jungle. In Kurtz, Marlow sees " the inconceivable mystery of a soul that knew no restraint, no faith and no fear, yet struggling blindly with itself"

All of human nature, evoked from the lack of constraints he found in the wilderness, fought within him until the end, when he sums up his struggles and observations of human nature in two words: "The horror! The horror!" Marlow admires Kurtz for these words, because Kurtz had learned and reached a conclusion on human nature in his last moment of life, and, as Marlow says, "the most you can learn from (life) is some knowledge of yourself..." . Marlow also calls these words "a moral victory" because they show that he had struggled to the end, that Kurtz had not simply resigned to some state between good and evil, but he had been able to judge everything that he had experienced, throwing out one word at the end of his struggle that summed up human nature. This ability was Kurtz's greatness. And his last words had "the appalling face f a glimpse truth - the strange commingling of desire and hate".

Kurtz confides in Marlow near the end of the book, and from him Marlow learns about human nature as he examines Kurtz destroyed soul. Marlow says, "By being alone in the wilderness, it had looked within itself, and... it had gone mad". Marlow observes how Kurt

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Approximate Word count = 1192
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: English