Moral Ambiguity in Heart of Darkness Essay

In _Heart of Darkness_, by Joseph Conrad, the case Marlow, through his fills and experiences, shows himself to be moralisticly ambiguous in that he goes on the atomic number 63ans malevolent hostile expedition to Africa yet he seems to turn down the events he sees there and in that he performs both noble and meanspirited deeds. These experiences and actions drive Conrads theme of europiuman twine and colonialism corrupting, in this case, Africa. Marlow is a sailor who is traveling through Africa on a steam sauceboat and who works for a beau monde that is attempting to gain riches for Europe. His moral equivocalness is shown by the fact that he is kick downstairsicipating in this heinous expedition yet, at the same time, he seems to despise it. Marlow, as he sailed on the coast, see a man-of-war anchored off the coastshelling the scouringThere was a touch of madness in the proceeding which was not dissipated by somebody on board assuring me earnestly there was a camp of natives he called them enemies hidden out of fix somewhere. (pg.18 ).Marlows word choice depicts the corrupting influence of Europe because it speaks of how he saw a man-of-war, a French ship, attack natives who were, in his assent, unjustly called enemies. What truly shows this to be a corrupting influence, however, is his use of the word insanity to describe the event insanity here is meant to show that this event, caused by Europeans, is affected to Africa and disrupts its calm. Next, Marlow spoke of other Europeans who came to Africa such as the devoted bandcalledthe eldorado Exploring Expedition To tear treasure out of the bowels of the land was their desirewith nomoral purpose at the back of it (pg. 42). The Eldorado Expedition, as Marlow saw it, was the typical devoted European band which he felt was zipper but a bunch of dirty thieves -with no regard for the coarseer replete(p)- who, through their actions, would desecrate Africa by ripping away its riches. Finally, M arlow, as he was walking with Kurtzs admirer, saw heads on stakesThey showed that Kurtz lacked restraint in the gratification of his various lusts. (pg. 81).Kurtz is a European who was sent by the company to get the treasures of Africa for Europe and to colonize it, but, when Marlow sees what Kurtz does he says that Kurtz isunable to restrain his lust. This, in and of itself, may seem unimportant, but, it infers that all the Europeans going to Africa are driven by lust and the main function of lust is traditionally corruption, hence, the Europeans going to Africa volition do nothing but corrupt it. In addition to utilizing Marlows experience, Joseph Conrad utilizes Marlows conflicting actions in order, not only to reinforce Marlows moral ambiguity, but to further depict the corrupting influence of Europe on Africa. The first thing the Conrad did was have Marlow take the pose of a Buddha preaching in European clothes and without a lotus-flower (pg. 8 ) here Marlow acts like Buddha, a symbol of someone who is enlightened and good, which makes it clear that everything Marlow says is dead on target and that his ultimate opinion, that being that Europe corrupts, is an absolute truth.Next Marlow empathetically said, even so I think Mr. Kurtz is a unparalleled man (pg. 88 ) Marlows action appears to contrast with the perfection given to him by his earlier Buddha pose because he is supporting and admiring Kurtz, the person who took his lust to the extreme and the person who re bring outs the ultimate take aim of European corruption. Marlow, however, must be right about Kurtzs singular nature in some way because he is portrayed as Buddha though, contrary to what one might think at the beginning of the book, this portrait does not portend moral perfection on Marlows part as shown later in the book. The only way in which Kurtz is remarkable is in his excessive level of lust hence, Marlows statement implies that Europe is a ceaselessly corrupting influence, varyin g only in the horizontal surface of corruption from person to person. Finally, Marlow, when observing Kurtzs wife, sees, the faith that is in herthat great saving illusion shining with an unearthly glow in thetriumphant iniquity (pg 107).Marlows observation shows that in a world of corruption and darkness, the European world, Kurtzs wife deludes herself by creating a world of light and good in her own mind, this fact is necessary in order to understand the importance of the exchange following this observation. The exchange between Marlow and Kurtzs wife begins with Marlow unwisely saying, I heard his very last words (pg. 109) confidential information to Kurtzs wife asking him to Repeat themin a snapper broken tone (pg. 109) and, although Kurtzs true last words were The standoff the horror (pg. 109) Marlow told her that, The last word he pronounced was your name (pg. 109). The importance of this conversation is that it shows the veracityof Kurtzs vision, that being the horro r, through Marlows noble lie.It was already shown that Kurtzs wife lived in an illusionary world, this, combined with Marlow lying to her when she asked for Kurtzs last words, shows that what Kurtz saw of Europe, a horror, was the truth. Conveniently, Marlows act of not smashing Kurtzs wifes illusion contrasts with his support of Kurtz, which caused him to seem vile, consequently making it impossible to legitimately argue that Marlow is wholly good or bad, only that he is right. Marlow, through his experiences and actions, is depicted as a moral ambiguity and this ambiguity is the tool with which Joseph Conrad develops his theme of European corruption on other pecks and places.Marlow participates in the heinous European expedition yet his opinion of the events he sees are negative thus demonstrating the corrupting influence of Europe, and his actions, which present him as both enlightened and morally ambiguous, also emphasizes the corrupting influence of Europe through the expres sion of his opinion. Ironically, his ambiguity is symbolic of the ambiguity of the Europeans themselves in that go to other places, such as Africa, with intentions akin to edifying the people they encounter but, despite the fact that they may succeed in enlightening those people, they corrupt them as well.