The two characters from the book Heart of Darkness, Marlow and Kurtz have an interesting relationship. Kurtz is one of the best agents of the Company, who works in Africa, deep inside the undiscovered jungle. Marlow, who is a British mariner, is obsessed with Africa, and this is the ground why he ends up on a steamboat in the center of Africa. He has the occupation to go up on a river to see a adult male named Mr. Kurtz. Marlow ‘s relation to Kurtz goes through several developments. When he foremost hears about him, he talks and thinks about the adult male with apathy. By and large, he is non interested in him. But by the clip he hears about the narrative Kurtz turning back into the jungle, Marlow thinks different about him. This is the first clip he sees Kurtz as a lone white adult male among black work forces.
By the clip the soft-shell clam became ready to get down, Marlow was acquiring more and more aroused about seeing and talking with Kurtz. As Marlow said, the boat “ crawled towards Kurtz – entirely ” ( page 104. line 11 ) . When Marlow eventually meets Kurtz, his worship turns into hatred. He begins to see him as a incapacitated selfish adult male who chases dreams of acquiring powerful and rich. He even might believe approximately him as barbaric, because he puts caputs on sticks. This is when he stops look up toing him. Even though, there is a point when he does show a certain esteem for Kurtz once more, for the words he uttered on his decease bed: “ The horror! The horror! “ ( page 147. ) . Marlow thinks that these words might be the consequence of confronting himself, when Kurtz eventually realised the atrocious nature of his ain.
Despite his feelings for Kurtz, Marlow still declares that he knew Kurtz “ every bit good as it is possible for one adult male to cognize another ” ( page 154. ) . There is an interesting portion following this, when Marlow is asked whether he admired Kurtz. He starts to reply but gets disrupted, so we ne’er get to cognize his reply. Another interesting point is, that Marlow and Kurtz are quiet similar, and possibly Marlow recognized this. It made him afraid that he is similar to an insane adult male, who is greedy for power and profusion. Both work forces come from an upper middleclass white household. Both have powerful connexions which establishes them a strong topographic point in the Company. A really of import common characteristic between the two work forces is that they are described as Gods, at least in their ain environments. Kurtz is admired by the black indigens at his station, and Marlow is sort of a God for the work forces on the soft-shell clam. Conrad even compares Marlow to Buddha: “ he had the airs of a Buddha sermon in European apparels ” ( page 69. ) . Both are obsessed with something: Marlow is obsessed with Africa and happening Kurtz, while Kurtz is obsessed with geting every bit much tusk as possible.
As a affair of fact, Mr. Kurtz was good at his occupation. His station entirely acquired more tusk than the other Stationss together. This proves – harmonizing to his fiancee – that he has all the aspiration and personal appeal to accomplish great things. Still, we can non be certain that – at least at the terminal when we eventually acquire to cognize him personally through Marlow – he is absolutely sane. Puting caputs on sticks might be adequate to state “ this adult male is huffy ” . But beyond that, we can presume that the unwellness of Kurtz is the physical realisation of his mental lack. His last words on his decease bed demo how hollow and cruel he truly was.
Another interesting point is the relation between Kurtz and the indigens. As mentioned before, Kurtz was like a God to the black people. On one manus, this is a bit dry as when the indigens heard about the white work forces coming up the river, they merely attacked their soft-shell clam. They knew they were coming for Kurtz, so they attacked the boat to maintain him with them. We can non be certain whether they attacked on Kurtz ‘s order, but if they attacked on their ain, so Kurtz is a captive of his ain land. He can order mass violent deaths of those who rebel against him, but he can non walk off freely. On the other manus, if Kurtz ordered the onslaught, this is another illustration of his lunacy.
When speaking about sarcasm and Kurtz being a God, we have to advert the relation between Kurtz ‘s tallness and his name. With a modest German cognition – and as Marlow tells us – we know that Kurtz means short or small in German. In the narrative, Mr. Kurtz is described as a tall individual. In this point of position, his god-like tallness is made smaller by his name.
Marlow ‘s and Kurtz ‘s relation to the black work forces is rather different. While Kurtz enjoys being treated like a God, moving like a God and utilizing up the indigens, Marlow is different with the inkinesss. Although he does nil against the horror scenarios of black bondage he sees, he does some things to demo compassion. He treats his ain slaves decently. When his steersman dies on the boat, he throws his organic structure into the H2O devising sure he is non eaten by his man-eaters. But why does he experience sorrow for the Africans? At the beginning of the book Marlow says: “ And this besides has been one of the dark topographic points of the Earth ” ( page 67. ) . We are kindly to bury that one time Europe was a dark and barbarian topographic point excessively, but Marlow must hold known that. Thingss get more complicated when Marlow is treated like a barbarian himself. After speaking to the director at the first station, he is non given a place or any nutrient. His reaction to this was that “ I was acquiring barbarian ” ( page 89. ) unable to discourse as normal civilized adult male would make. At this point, it seems that instead educating the barbarians, Marlow is get downing to go like them.
Last but non least, it is of import to advert Marlow ‘s point of view about lying. We get to cognize him as person who hates prevarications. Even though, he does lie two times. Both were for good agencies and in extraordinary fortunes, still, they are prevarications. The first prevarication was that he allow the brick shaper think he had more influence in the company than he really had. Marlow thought this would assist Kurtz, as we can read on hypertext transfer protocol: //www.cyberessays.com/English/48.htm “ Some saw him as the following Director of the
Company, and some were seeking to happen a ground to hang him. If Marlow was considered powerful, he might be able to assist Mr. Kurtz. This is an extraordinary ground for stating a prevarication. ” The 2nd clip, he lied to Kurtz ‘s fiancee. His purposes were to maintain the image she had in her head about Kurtz, because in the two old ages when she was separated from her fiancee, she built up a image, where Kurtz was a adult male to be admired. Marlow merely merely did non desire to destruct this image. As a decision, it is the best to mention the last lines from the above mentioned place page ‘s article: “ Marlow disfavor prevarications, and merely tells them in extraordinary fortunes. When he does lie, it is for the interest of others, non himself. This shows that he is a sort human being. ”
