Contrasting Marlow And Kurtz And The Theme Of Evil In Heart Of Darkness Term paper

While the free essays can give you inspiration for writing, they cannot be used 'as is' because they will not meet your assignment's requirements. If you are in a time crunch, then you need a custom written term paper on your subject (contrasting marlow and kurtz and the theme of evil in heart of darkness )
Here you can hire an independent writer/researcher to custom write you an authentic essay to your specifications that will pass any plagiarism test (e.g. Turnitin). Waste no more time!

Contrasting Marlow and Kurtz and the Theme of Evil In "Heart of Darkness"

It can be said that a certain degree of darkness lies within every person,

but this darkness will not surface unless given the correct environment. The

darkness, however, can emerge and ultimately destroy the person if not checked

by reason. If one's inner darkness does surface, the victim then is given the

opportunity to reach a point in personal growth, and to gain a sense of self-

knowledge from it. That is, when one's darkness appears, one must learn from

this experience how he or she can prevent similar results from occurring in the

future. It is ultimately through self-knowledge that we gain the power to

defeat our inner darkness, and all of its elements. Just as everyone has the

potential for evil within themselves, we too have the potential for true

goodness. In many literary works the author attempts to exemplify the evil

which lies within by showing many characters which have been, or are being

overcome by their inner darkness. In the novel Heart of Darkness by Joseph

Conrad we see how Marlow's journey into his ultimate evil, into his inner self,

can be a positive experience. By contrasting Marlow with Kurtz, who represents

the absolute evil, we can see the two products of an inner evil which has

emerged. Marlow, who defeats his evil, and gains self-knowledge, and Kurtz, who

is defeated by his darkness and falls prey to its wrath. In William Golding's

Lord of the Flies the author points out how easily people can be over taken by

the darkness, how the potential for good can be destroyed by the evil, but

ideally how good will triumph. Through an examination of these two works we can

see how the darkness within, given the correct environment will surface. The

circumstances which eventually cause the appearance of the inner darkness in

these two novels stems from the lack of civility, the true test, or journey

which every life contains, and finally the product of evil which lies in all of

us, either through acts of commission or omission.

When people lack the aspect of civility in their lives they too will lack

the restraints and barriers it has on one's inner evil. Civility, in essence,

provides the basic structure for good. Through laws, structure, and general

order, goodness then, for the most part will be the end product. Therefore a

lack of civility would result in a lack of order, morals, and laws, leaving

chaos to over power. The desolate island in The Lord of the Flies represents a

lack of civility. Without parents, law makers, and guardians the darkness which

surfaces is inevitable. Piggy said in a feared state upon this realization:

"This is an island? Well I think this is an island! That's a reef out in the

sea. That means we are all alone! Perhaps there aren't any grownups anywhere"

(Golding 4). It is clear that the civilization of the modern world is

unavailable on the island. Although Ralph, who represented the aspect of order,

attempts to reach a point of civility, unfortunately was unsuccessful. He said

in his struggle: "We've got to have rules and obey them. After all we're not

savages. We're English, and the English are the best at everything" (Golding

25). Ironically the very group he was talking to broke order and formed the

savage group known as the 'hunters'. Similarly Piggy too represents civility.

He incorporates the conch which to aids in the order of the island. He is very

fearful of the lack of civility and scared by the hunters. He feels that

civility and order, although the ideal route, was going to be crushed, and with

it him: "We can't do this, the savages, they would crush us" (Golding 54). It

is quite obvious how the potential evil in a group of young boys unavoidably

arises due to the lack of restraint and order. When the darkness surfaces Jack

and his group of hunters gain no self-knowledge, and therefore can not reprieve

themselves nor the evil which takes over.

A strong parallel can be drawn between the island in Lord of the Flies and

The Congo in The Heart of Darkness. The Congo in is similarly used to represent

the absence of restraint and order. The effect which is used exemplifies a lack

of civility, which in turn provides the opportunity for the emergence of

darkness. At the beginning of the novel Marlow begins his descent into the

Congo, which presents a dark image of death and suffering.

It was a thing which looked as dead as the carcass of some

strange animal. I came upon more pieces of decaying

machinery, and a stack of rusty rails. To the left a clump

of trees in a twisted shady spot, the ground shook (Conrad 52).

The capacity for evil in the jungle is endless. This is illustrated through the

natives which who go mad and begin killing. Marlow struggles but by realizing

his potential for good, manages to contain his evil. Unfortunately the result

was not the same for many others: "I don't know how this would have struck the

others but to me the evil was unspeakable, but not undefeatable" (Conrad 85).

The Congo and the lack of restraints it represents causes one to lose common

sense. Without common sense the mind is deteriorated. It is also left twisted

and functionally useless in regards to civilized thought or action. The power

of mind in most cases is no match for the lack of order and the lack of reason

for most of the Congo's inhabitants. Kurtz fell victim to this and his mind

became extremely deteriorated due to the lack of order. He eventually finds his

inner darkness come forth and essentially control all his thoughts and actions.

By comparing the two novels it is clear how one's inner darkness will

surface without the restraints of civilization. In the case of Jack and the

hunters, the children are accustom to civility, laws, and order. The fact that

parents and teachers were always placing unwanted rules on them, probably caused

an initial enjoyment of the lack of civility so much that the growing savageness

within grew blindly. The darkness was being to rise. This is shown through

Jack, when asked about the war paint he was wearing replied: "For hunting! Like

in the wars, you know, dazzle paint! We look more savage!"(Golding 71) This

can be compared to the darkness which surfaced in Kurtz and the natives of the

Congo, however their darkness was the result of greed rather than ignorance.

Unlike Jack and the hunters, the greed for money and power by Kurtz allowed his

darkness, which controlled him in the end, to surface. The on going evil

growing in Kurtz was not only a result of the jungle, but it was shown through

it as well. As he gained more darkness the jungle thickened and became

increasingly dangerous: "…as we crept on closer towards Kurtz the snags were

thickining and the water becoming treacherous…" (Conrad 82) If civilized limits

are placed upon society as a whole, the majority of people have the opportunity

to contain the darkness within. If and when it occasionally surfaces then the

knowledge which is gained through a civilized lifestyle will contain, and defeat

the individual's darkness.

It is true that every person must undergo the ultimate test at some point

of his or hers life time. The test between good and evil. This test can be as

simple as small, daily difficulties, or as large as the general principle in

which one bases his or hers life upon. Although many people will fail the test

which are given to them, it is better to attempt the test and fail, than it is

never to...

You should cite this paper as follows:

MLA Style
. EssayMania.com. Retrieved on 25 May, 2012 from
    <http://essaymania.com/44689/contrasting-marlow-and-kurtz-and-the-theme-of-evil-in-heart-of-darkness->

More College Papers

The Meaning of Suffering in Job and The Aeneid essay
The Meaning of Suffering in Job and The Aeneid Chris Phillips Dr. Whalen Throughout Virgil's Aeneid and Job from the Old Testament, great obstacles block the paths of the protagonists. Mental and physical, anguish is placed upon Job and Aeneas. Though both men

Comparison of the Characters in "A Doll's House" and "The Stranger" essay
Comparison of the Characters in "A Doll's House" and "The Stranger" In the real world there exist many different people, of different races and ages, each one unique. Some live secluded lives with few friends and others live very rich and complex lives surrounded by friends and acquaintance

Comparing Henry David Thoreau and Herman Melville's Writings essay
Comparing Henry David Thoreau and Herman Melville's Writings Henry David Thoreau and Herman Melville focused their writings on how man was affected by nature. They translated their philosophies though both the portrayal of their protagonist and their own self exploration. In Moby Di