Joseph Conrad's Heart Of Darkness

"Without feelings of respect, what is there to distinguish men from beasts?" (Confucius). This quote by Confucius states the idea that, deep down, there is not much separating man from beasts and man is naturally "dark" when removed from civilization. Throughout history, man has had the dark opinion that there is no being that is superior and that they are good, all-knowing beings; yet, due to the blindness to the truth around man, they do not know that this is false. Conrad uses this idea to emphasize that man's conscience is within the darkness, leaving man blind to the truth surrounding them. Man believes that, when doing something they wish to accomplish, it is the truth and it is good; but, in reality, when this false theory is taken

One main character development is caused by the debauchery of Kurtz's behavior. In the novel, Kurtz is introduced by minor characters as a "prodigy" who is "the guidance of the cause entrusted to us by Europe" (Conrad, 22). Although this may be the way Kurtz was early on in his mission with the company, he became involved in ivory trade, eliciting the greedy side of Kurtz. Kurtz eventually becomes so driven by greed that he loses his grasp of humanity and becomes a savage. Furthermore, there is another character that displays significant character development. Marlow, the main character, experiences a shift in priority. In the beginning of the novel, Marlow's goal is to travel to Africa with the company and to aid the natives in civilization; but, not long after, Marlow becomes interested in Kurtz. When Marlow discovers his affinity for Kurtz, he says he is "seduced into something like admiration" (Conrad, 50). Marlow cannot focus on anything other than finding Mr. Kurtz and decides to make this quest his priority, so he becomes besieged by his own selfishness, leading him into the darkness. Through these two character developments, it is shown that when society, civilization, and conscience are subtracted from the equation and darkness remains, it is easy for man to succumb to the darkness

An example of a conflict within the book would be Marlow versus himself. The longer Marlow is in the Congo, the worse his judge of morality becomes and his feeling of disgust, guilt, or horror toward evil become numbed. He no longer feels the horror that he originally felt when surrounded by the evil actions of the company or the way the natives were being treated, and he is frequently battling with himself over it. For example, when Marlow sees heads propped up on sticks outside of Kurtz's home, and rather than becoming blanch, his response was, "I was not so shocked as you may think," proving that Marlow's conscience has become defiled, and the between the conflict of Marlow versus self, the dark part of his conscience has won (Conrad, 52). Although Marlow is aware that this is not a good thing, and he knows that he should feel worse, he still does not feel the way he would have felt previous to the dark side of his conscience overcoming the light side. Furthermore, another example of conflict would be Kurtz versus himself. Kurtz's inner conflict drives him from civility to savagery. In fact,