Marianna Ford
English 105
Professor Timmons
September 18, 2010
Power without Restraint: Conrad Reveals the Dark Side of Man’s Heart
Joseph Conrad’s novella Heart of Darkness highlights the harsh realities of Europe’s colonization in Africa and how power without restraint can turn even the most civilized into savages. While navigating a steamboat through the heart of the Congo jungle to find Kurtz, Marlow meets native savages who turn out not to be so savage and finds that the civilized Europeans are not quite as civilized as perhaps they once were. Unchecked authority in a vast “God-forsaken wilderness” can show the true motives of the heart of a man in command (13). Power without restraint reveals the dark side of man’s heart who is not subordinate to the civil pressures of society or to the authority of another human being.
In the beginning of the book it is apparent that the European men have been influenced negatively by power without restraint and by the preeminent jungle. Early on in Marlow’s journey of becoming a captain of a steam boat in the Congo he finds he has received the job due to the passing away, or better described as murder of, the last captain, Fresleven. Months after Marlow has already received his appointment, he is cruising down the river and decides to investigate deeper into Fresleven’s death. He finds out Fresleven had already been in the Congo for two years when he claimed a bargain involving two black hens with a native chief went bad (9). He resolved to attack the chief with a stick and was in return killed by another villager with a spear between his shoulder blades. Marlow addresses the brawl between the two men with a cynical tone saying “he had been a couple of years already out there engaged in the noble cause, you know, and he probably felt the need at last of asserting his self-respect in some way” (9). In the early twentieth-century Europe it was obviously not considered civil or acceptable in any manner to settle a bargain, especially for two hens, through violence and ultimately death. So then why would a civilized European man resort to such an action? The cause is found in the freedom of his business and in his use of authority without limitations.
An indication that man has been pushed outside the boundaries of civility due to unrestrained power is when he commits an action without any clear or reasonable explanation or motive. Marlow tells of a trek he had taken with the natives on one of the many paths between Deal and Gravesend. Along the way he encountered a white man camping beside the path with an armed group of Zanzibaris, native Africans from the east coast (20). Marlow depicts the group as “hospitable and festive,” which was not a common sight in such a cruel and “God-forsaken wilderness” (20, 13). The white man declares himself and his group as upkeepers of the road. Marlow assesses the group and the man’s claims: “Can’t say I saw any road or any upkeep, unless the body of a middle-aged negro, with a bullet hole in the forehead upon which I absolutely stumbled three miles farther on may be considered as a permanent improvement” (20). The combination of an unusually jolly party of men and the lack of reason for the murdered negro gives cause and inclination that the white man camping along the path took advantage of his unrestrained power.
While Marlow is on his expedition to find Kurtz he makes a stop to talk with the manager, one of the many men who have been affected by the unchecked power and immense wilderness for too long. Upon his arrival Marlow surveys the manager as a man of average looks and qualities except for his eyes which have an extra component: a harsh, brutal, and cold component. Marlow tries to describe the manager’s expression but admits it is unexplainable; all he can illustrate of the man’s features is the stealth and unconsciousness in his lips (21).The manager had worked in the Congo since he was a youth and was the only work he had ever done. Marlow concedes that there was not anything special or genius about this manager but that he was without a doubt “great” (22). In thought of this manager Marlow says “it was impossible to tell what could control such a man. He never gave that secret away. Perhaps there was nothing within him. Such suspicion made one pause—for out there there were no external checks” (22). Marlow was not quite able to put his finger on what made this man great yet also incredibly eerie at the same time. The manager had far too long been disconnected from society, from civility. He had let unrestrained power control him taking away his emotion, leaving him with “nothing within him” as Marlow describes (22).
Authority without boundaries can tempt a man to actions that do not seem fit for the situation. Upon the extensive journey to Kurtz’s inner post of the Congo Marlow and his crew find him to be in grave condition and near to death. Disappointed due to his ill state, Marlow pulls from his external fixations on the mystery of Kurtz to his own internal struggles of having been a part of an “unsound method” and feeling as though he was buried in “unspeakable secrets” (62). As he is sinking deeper into these thoughts, the Russian interrupts his introspection to give insight on a specific action of Kurtz. The Russian confides in Marlow that as a fellow seaman it is only right that he inform him of an action committed by Kurtz. The Russian was cautious to explain that it is in Marlow’s best interest that he know but he intends to protect Kurtz reputation. Marlow agreed that upon his learning of the information he would guard his status. Near the beginning of the voyage to the inner station, Marlow’s steamboat had been mysteriously sunk without explanation, but it soon became clear as to the means that the boat had been sunk. Marlow tells of when the Russian enlightens him about previous actions of Kurtz’s: “He informed me, lowering his voice, that it was Kurtz who had ordered the attack to be made on the steamer…‘he [Kurtz] thought it would scare you away’ (63). The typical civilized European man would not sabotage his own people. Kurtz had been unsupervised and all powerful within his station for too long, leading him to commit actions that are out of the realms of civilized. Kurtz was a savage.
The International Society for the Suppression of Savage Customs gave Kurtz the opportunity to write a report for the society’s future guidance. Marlow had been impressed with the piece of writing for its length of seventeen pages and the eloquence it had be produced with (49). In response to the newly obtained perspective of Kurtz and how his “nerves went wrong,” Marlow reflects back to the report: “He began with the argument that we whites, from the point of development we had arrived at, ‘must necessarily appear to them [savages] in the nature of supernatural beings—we approach them with the might of a deity’” (49-50). Any man in a position of authority who refers to himself or his race as a “deity” will undoubtedly sow disaster in the wake of his rule. No individual man should have, or think he has, the power, control, or dominance of a deity.
Irrational stunts that no other man has control over is a signal that unrestrained power has driven a man from his civility; his sanity. Still not fully informed of who Kurtz is, Marlow listens to all the Russian has to say about this Mr. Kurtz. The Russian appears to have this admiration and great concern for Kurtz especially since he has become sick once again and is in grave condition. He keeps reiterating that you cannot “judge” Kurtz as you would an “ordinary” man; the Russian defends Kurtz’s reputation (56). Marlow is completely convinced that Kurtz is no ordinary man when the Russian reveals an experience he had with him: “‘He [Kurtz] declared he would shoot me unless I gave him the ivory and then cleared out of the country because he could do so, and had a fancy for it, and there was nothing on earth to prevent him from killing whom he jolly well pleased’” (56). Only a leader who has been cut off from society, given power without limitations, and has turned to savagery would threaten to shoot a man for a small lot of ivory or kill because “he had a fancy for it” (56). Kurtz is a prime example of a how a person ruling with unchecked power can abuse his sovereignty. He turned from civility to barbarity.
A village under the rule of a leader whose power is unrestrained will reflect how he has managed his people. Marlow came to find that Kurtz’s approach to leadership was less than humane. In conversation with the Russian about Kurtz’s fatal condition, Marlow observes the posts of a decayed fence with rounded tops. The closer Marlow and the Russian draw near to the poles the more clear it becomes that the rounded tops of the posts are not “ornamental but symbolic” (57). Marlow described what he saw: “striking and disturbing-food for thought and also for vultures if there had been any looking down…there it was black, dried, sunken, with closed eyelids—a head that seemed to sleep at the top of that pole” (57). Kurtz took the heads of the “rebels” and placed them at the tops of posts as a warning to any other person who would dare to resist his rule (58). Kurtz proves that without the pressures of society and civilization on a man, he will abuse his power, resulting in unfair treatment to those under his rule.
Authority without limits or checks gives a leader the freedom to rule however he may desire. This kind of power of reveals the true condition of a man’s heart. Kurtz and other men of control in the Congo were given the opportunity to lead with unrestrained authority ultimately exposing their hearts. While this novella was written in the late 1890’s its message of the effects of unrestrained power are still relevant to today’s society and leaders. The real side of a man’s or woman’s heart will be shown when they are presented with the opportunity to rule with unchecked power. It is obvious to see that when Kurtz was given the opportunity to rule an inner station of the Congo, that he took advantage of his control and influence and in due course revealed the true of his heart. Unrestrained power under the control of a leader with a heart of darkness will eventually lead to destruction as Kurtz best exemplified.
Work Cited
Conrad, Joseph. Heart of Darkness. Ed. Paul B. Armstrong. W. W. Norton: New York, 2005.
