Layers of Meaning in Conrad’s Heart of Darkness
The Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad is one of the most intriguing reads one can ever undertake. Complex in its inception and presentation, the Heart of Darkness can be read as a novella (actually if you consider the length and the scope, a novella is something in between a novel and a short story). The layers of meanings and motifs make this book quite an engaging exercise, but the fact remains that every reader carries with him/herself a baggage of pre-learnt schema of ideas and ideologies, which in turn make every reading unique in its character. My meaning would be different from Your meaning — as simple (and complex) as that!
To begin with, Heart of Darkness explores the theme of colonialism and imperialism. With its setting in late nineteenth century, the novella takes Marlow, the protagonist, on a journey from the Outer Station to the Inner Station along the river Congo — a journey that is replete with imagery of cruelty and torture in a white-dominated African territory. This journey, at another level, can be viewed as a philosophical journey wherein Marlow questions his own, Kurtz’s, and in the larger picture the ideas of western/European/white “civilization” itself. Heart of Darkness indeed explores the deepest depths of darkness — be it of civilization, imperialism or of human existence. Conrad lays bare the hypocrisy of the Eurocentric viewpoint in being as cruel and “dark” as the areas or the people of the Third World seen by the Western society. Perceptions are deceptive and the horror of realization is painful — as that of Kurtz in this book.
The motif of madness in Heart of Darkness is another layer where Africa itself is a symbol of physical and mental disorientation. Kurtz’s madness, in fact, is nothing in comparison to that of the Company that has deployed him to carry out imperialistic missions in hitherto-unexplored lands. The sense of adventure and enterprise is there, but not without risks. The illusionary nature of the darkness, the horror, and the journey into the unknown makes it a deeply philosophical work at another level. Madness, in fact, is intertwined with power in Heart of Darkness. Kurtz ends up facing his own demons in the process of trying to control the “darkness” of Africa.
Another layer of this ever-eluding book is the theme of ambiguity. As Marlow’s confusion about aligning with the mean colonial system on the one hand, and with Kurtz’s all-defying nevertheless dark ideology on the other, we as readers are left in a state of ambiguity about everything. Every system, we are made to realize, is fraught with certain unanswered questions. The Heart of Darkness for me borders on to touch the themes of modernistic ideas of nihilism and existential crisis — Conrad seems to be working at blurring the defining lines between sanity and insanity, real and unreal, “civilized” and “uncivilized”. In fact, these lines are porous and blurry. The Heart of Darkness borders on to suggest the meaningless yet inevitable endeavor in the like of the myth of Sisyphus.
The horror is illusionary, yet real. In fact, because it is illusionary — it is all the more horrible!
