Heart of darkness

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Heart Of Darkness
Conrad, the author, says that the need for adventure was the reason why Kurtz traveled to Africa, aside from the fact that he wanted to “complete great acts of humanizing, improving and instructing.” This attribute shows that before he had tasted power, he was kind and hoped to be a good cause for change, and this could be the reason why Marlow had great admiration for him even before meeting. However, this did not happen as he decided to exploit the people’s loyalty to him as he encouraged manslaughter, all of which were acts of human slaughter.
Marlow considers Kurtz to be a remarkable man from other people’s opinion of him. In his thoughts, he felt that the man was a gifted being for he was eloquent and could easily and freely express his mind. Marlow explains Kurtz’s greatness as a ruler over the Africans. He says that he found Kurtz frail from sickness and this shows that despite thinking of himself as being a demigod, he was indeed only human like the rest of them.
Marlow hides the truth about Kurtz’s tyrant nature from his fiancée. The author displays Kurtz as a man capable of loving when Marlow goes to visit Kurtz’s fiancée to tell her about his death. Marlow informs her that before he died, his last words were her name. It shows that despite being a tyrant back in Africa where he ran an ivory company, he was capable of loving. Marlow chooses to hide the actual details about Kurtz’ terrible deeds in Africa and decides to let the woman live in the illusion of Kurtz’s humanness.

His exact words before death after reflecting on his adventures indicates attributes of human and salvation. He says “The horror! The horror!” (Conrad 33). According to Marlow, this soul reflection was an act of personal salvation and only proved to show that Kurtz was human.

Works Cited
Conrad, Joseph. Heart Of Darkness. 1st ed. Charlottesville, Va.: University of Virginia Library, 1996. Print.