Marlow Heart Of Darkness
How does he see them in relation to himself.
Marlow heart of darkness. Heart of darkness summary aboard a british ship called the nellie three men listen to a dude named marlow recount his journey into africa as an agent for the company a belgian ivory trading firm. But like most things in heart of darkness it s really not that simple. Perhaps because of his journeys perhaps because of the temperament he was born with he is philosophical passionate and insightful. Heart of darkness is mostly made up of his story about his journey into the belgian congo.
The narrator s inclusion of marlow s story within his point of view appears as a deliberate attempt on his part. From the get go marlow feels a nameless sense of dread about working for the company. Heart of darkness is a novella by joseph conrad written in 1899. The book talks about a voyage by charles marlow up the congo river as a captain of a steamer.
Charles marlow the narrator tells his story to friends aboard a boat anchored on the river thames. Marlow is a seaman through and through and has seen the world many times over. He is also a master storyteller eloquent and able to draw his listeners into his tale. Heart of darkness is not then marlow s story exclusively.
Marlow the protagonist of heart of darkness. Unlike those who truly confront or at least acknowledge africa and the darkness within themselves marlow does not die but unlike the company men who focus only on money and advancement marlow suffers horribly. If you think the company sounds super sketchy you re right. Marlow is philosophical independent minded and generally skeptical of those around him.
And if we examine it for a moment as the creation of the nameless member of marlow s audience it takes on a different coloration. Heart of darkness 1899 is a novella by polish english novelist joseph conrad about a narrated voyage up the congo river into the congo free state in the heart of africa. So on the surface level marlow is a decent guy who as a product of his times isn t about to start a civil rights movement in the late nineteenth century. Charles marlow describes a character as a papier mache mephistopheles a reference to the faust legend.
Marlow s and kurtz s journey up the congo river in heart of darkness also has similarities to another work by marlowe dido queen of carthage in which aeneas is stranded on the shore of libya and meets the african queen dido.