Discovery of Selfhood in Joseph Conrad’s Novel Heart of Darkness

Pages:160-161
Kum. Sheela Malik1 and Narender Kumar2 (CMJ University, Shillong, Meghalaya1, Pt.N.R.S.Govt College, Rohtak2

This research in an attempt to study the various aspects of conrad’s writings which make his vision existential. Iwe) have been taken heart of Darkness in this study. Canrad has projected the phenomenon of psychic decomposition in the presentation of his vision in these novels. An attempt has also been made here to analyse Conrad’s perception of the human predicament in the universe and also the existential dimensions of his vision of life. Conrad’s life and works are inseparable Conrad’s life and works are inseparable Conrad’s “powerful personality” was “a personality at once simple and complex.” Heart of Darkness is a novel which clearly show the influence of psychology and psychiatry which were emerging as full fledged sciences at the time when this novel was written. Heart of Darkness embodies Marlow’s existential consciousness in searching for Kurtz. Its characterization of Kurtz and Marrow’s it reaches a philosophical level which reveals a truth about human existence like many of his heroes, he was lonely and was seeking independence. Henry James Marlow, is the narrator reminiscing about his adventures in the Congo as a boat captain, he also remember the terrible treatment of the native people by self-seeking company agent, Mr. Kurtz. The primitive culture of central Africa offers Kurtz a kind of release from the moral restraints of the civilized world as a result he has follow his own “ego-ideal” to realize himself. Douglas Brown observes in him a kind of “maniacal assertion of the self against traditional morality integrity in human dealing and low”1 Kurtz like Camus’s Clamence in The Fall claims that every things belong to him Marlow describes the attitude of Kurtz “my ivory, oh yes I heard him, my intended my ivory, my station, my rivers, my everything belonged to him.” This the stage when he realizes the all absorbing power of self-the all absorbing power of self- the self of man god or a superman: he lives in the continuity of “I, I, I”. So does Kurtz live in the perpetual self transcendence of “my, my, my” . But Kurtz’s claims that every things belongs to him is a mere ‘trifle’; he is ignorant that he himself has been claimed by the God forsaken wilderness’, with this kind of self assertion Kurtz zealously dedicated himself to him mission like a ‘for itself’ and attains glory- the position of ‘man-God’ a messiah of progress and civilization in the eyes of the natives. We are never total the secret of Kurtz’s degradation or the nature the ‘Abominable satisfactions’ which he has been enjoying. Mr. Kurtz has become part of the darkness of the conge. Having lived in the heart of Darkness, Mr Kurtz has become a dark, sinister person who would eventually be claimed of the powers of darkness. It is the conversion of Mr. Kurtz from a civilized and “enlightened man into a superstitious and brutal individual”, which tends emphasis to the literal darkness of the Congo2.