Heart of Darkness
The Heart of Darkness In Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness, Marlow has the ability to critique the hearts of others, but hasn’t been able to understand the motives that lie inside of his own chest. After learning about Kurtz, who is believed to have reached this state of self-awareness, Marlow becomes more and more infatuated with meeting him so that he too can understand his own heart of darkness. ... After traveling to the Inner Station and talking with the Brickmaker, Marlow believes that Kurtz is a man that has reached a state of self-actualization and that Kurtz is the only man that can help him discover his own heart. ... By his actions towards the Intended, Marlow frees himself from Kurtz’s view of the world, and is able to understand his own heart. Although Marlow never discovered the key to his own Heart, he learned from the death of Kurtz that life can be doesn’t have to be thought as futile, because the man that believes this lives in darkness. Understanding the heart’s of other individuals is important to men, but is not nearly as significant as understanding one’s own heart and the motives that hide within. After arriving at the Central Station, the Manager describes Kurtz to Marlow, which provokes his fascination and begins his journey into the heart of darkness. ... When describing the Manager as one who “inspired uneasiness”(71) and as one with smile that is like a “door opening into a darkness,”(72) certain aspects of Marlow’s character can be seen. Marlow’s deep analysis of others gives him little time to analyze his own heart. Marlow believes that every man has a unique darkness inside of him that cannot be understood by any other person.