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Disillusioned Desire

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20 October 2013
Disillusioned Desire In Joseph Conrad’s The Heart of Darkness one of the dominant themes involves notions of civilization. Through the eyes of those who knew him, Kurtz was an intelligent, civilized man but the river, the solitude and unchallenged power can change a person. As Charlie Marlow, the story’s protagonist and narrator, traveles farther down the river, his obsession with Kurtz and the heart of darkness take many forms. Marlow struggles with his intense feeling for the myth of Kurtz and what he really has become.
Marlow becomes fascinated with Kurtz as he hears stories that make Kurtz out to be god-like. Marlow finds himself being drawn toward him upon hearing that Kurtz has turned on civilization for “the depths of the wilderness” (8). Kurtz has the opportunity to head back to civilization. His trading post has had no more supplies for months. He has no reason to stay. Kurtz, even as intelligent as he is, has fallen prey to the solitude of the jungle. Kurtz has powers in the jungle he could never have in a civilized land. Power is a hard thing to give up and Kurtz is lost in it. As they continue up the river, Marlow’s fascination with Kurtz has him imagining the kind of man Kurtz would be and the kinds of knowledge Kurtz would pass on to him. Marlow’s mood changes as he struggles with the idea that Kurtz might be dead and he will not be able to have a conversation with him. His character becomes dejected at these thoughts. “I couldn’t have felt more of lonely desolation somehow, had I been robbed of a belief or had (I) missed my destiny in life…” (19). Marlow has built Kurtz up so much that he feels that missing the chance to meet and talk to him would greatly lessen his life. Further up the river, immediately after being attacked by savages they reach Kurtz’s station. Marlow

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