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In Joseph Conrad's "Heart of Darkness", the novel is told by Charlie Marlow, who the narrator is actually listening to retell his story about how he traveled up the Congo river into an uncharted portion of Africa. Marlow tells the crew on deck about his adventure using vivid imagery and an unprecedented amount of description that mixes and flows patterns of light and dark descriptions melded together in excruciatingly clear mental scenes. Even part of the beginning of the story foreshadows how depressing and dark the novel is because Marlow opens his mouth with the fact Africa “has been one of the dark places of the earth.” What he means by that is that the place is uncivilized in comparison to England, and it is much more than simply easy to bring about the worst in men and turn them into something only describable as savage. Marlow himself describes how he showed signs of irritation toward the people around him, and he details how even a prosperous man named Kurtz fell from grace and seemed absorbed into the culture of the native people. Kurtz himself talked and interacted enough with the natives of the land to worship him like a god, making his hunger to find ivory all the more insatiable with this newfound profit.
In all honesty, the minor characters create some of the biggest questions in the novel. For example: Why is the actual narrator on this boat with Marlow? What role does the narrator play? Was Kurtz so hell bent on profiting from ivory that he would actually inhibit his ease of access to actually selling it for profit? Was Marlow drunk on power for pressing on despite his helmsman was killed in the attack sent bu Kurtz? The imperialistic setting gives me the sense that everything in this story is old, but it still holds a very deep value.

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7.  What do you think are the strengths of this approach? The weaknesses?

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7.  What do you think are the strengths of this approach? The weaknesses?

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With Conrad's approach to writing a novel, the strength lies in the intensity and the impressively vivid storytelling. The vast majority of the novel takes on a very grim feeling, with a sense of dread around every next possible corner in the story. In addition to the extensive imagery in the novel, Conrad gives the more distinct characters traits such as being clever enough to fool a tribe of people into worshiping him, having such a deep sense of adventure that he keeps going upriver despite his helmsman was just murdered, and being desperate enough for closure that she will believe anything from anyone who was near her dying fiance.
The weakness with the approach comes with the fact it really may turn off those who dislike depressing stories from this novel; however, the intention to keep the dark tone in Heart of Darkness is the entire point.

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6. Consider how this novel might connect to mythic archetypes of rituals and/or sacrifice.

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6. Consider how this novel might connect to mythic archetypes of rituals and/or sacrifice.

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"Heart of Darkness" shows that rituals and sacrifices seemed to be ingrained in human culture. From the shed burning, to the ivory mound, and even the crew's lounging around at the very start of the story, rituals were imagined throughout Conrad's novel. With the many ritualistic events in the novel, Marlow is depicted almost like a man who is documenting this for a television program- merely trying to keep to his own business as these events continue happening around him.

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5.  What archetypal symbols does Conrad employ and do the archetypal meanings contribute to an understanding of the meaning of the book?

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5.  What archetypal symbols does Conrad employ and do the archetypal meanings contribute to an understanding of the meaning of the book?

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Conrad employs a very extensive use of Light versus Dark elements in this book. Throughout "Heart of Darkness", Joseph Conrad uses this style of writing to create a very constant feeling of conflicted forces, as if the very air was fighting between two sides of itself. One line even says "I could see through a sombre gap glittering". This is a clear demonstration of how Conrad uses the light and dark conflicts in color to emphasize the fact that Everything has a good and bad, or light and dark.

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4.  What other archetypal characters can you find in the novel? Consider the lack of named characters. What effect does this have?

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4.  What other archetypal characters can you find in the novel? Consider the lack of named characters. What effect does this have?

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In terms of archetypes, the other characters show slightly less prominence. The manager and his uncle clearly seemed to be very antagonistic, but when viewed from their perspective, every other character is an impedance to them. The question, when posed in their eyes is: Who are the real villains? Each perspective has a different take on this story. The natives show the Archetype of the gullible lackey's, the many unnamed bystanders are their very own archetype, and Kurtz in the end is a mix of an antagonist; a King; and even a grail in his own way.
With the lack of named characters in the story, it creates a more centralized story, where the main characters are the ones that stand out more so than the average story and the entirety of the story's progression relies on their reactions to events. The bigger focus creates an enclosed world that makes it seem as though whatever moment Marlow is telling is the entire universe compressed into that moment. Not another country, not another character missing from the moment, but just whatever is happening at the current point of Marlow's story is what matters most.

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3.  How does an examination of Marlow as archetypal hero enhance our understanding of the novel? Can Marlow be analyzed productively as any other symbolic archetypal figure?

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3.  How does an examination of Marlow as archetypal hero enhance our understanding of the novel? Can Marlow be analyzed productively as any other symbolic archetypal figure?

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Charlie Marlow, when seen as the archetypal hero to this novel, enhances our understanding of "Heart of Darkness" by giving a very organic feeling of being in his situation as he travels along the Congo. His somewhat cynical view of the people as he sees much of the worst in them exemplifies the very fact this story has a very dark mood to it. Marlow breaks up the dark descriptions of his adventure with splashes of bright vocabulary that gives the story more layers in order to create grey areas where white and black descriptions mix. This layered mixture of bright and shadowy words from him makes the story seem to have almost conflicting tones as if devils and angels were taking part in a dog pile of descriptive words. The images created by Marlow's syntax and diction are ones of tension and lights shining on a dark background. With this, the novel almost takes on an odd noir film feeling of black and white conflicting to take center stage in a reader's mind. That in turn creates the very palpable conflict of light and dark forces conflicting. Many grey areas are created by Marlow because he may be the hero archetype in our eyes, but he is flawed and even able to be seen as the villain in Kurtz's perspective. Heart of Darkness is able to show that every human being innately has light, dark, and grey areas. Marlow's telling of his experience lets the reader understand the fact that there was always a small light of hope amidst the very shadowy and foreboding surrounding.
If one sees Marlow as the Clueless Pilgrim/ Adventuring Traveler, it can be concluded that he sees the world with the attempt to maintain an unbiased opinion. If one sees him as a wise man, then one could say that he is a very

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2.  What archetypal imagery, particularly color, may signify in this novel?

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2.  What archetypal imagery, particularly color, may signify in this novel?

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This novel fits something along the white and black lines of a marble cake or grey. The reason for that is because there are obvious light and dark descriptions that capture the audience's attention in different areas of the story, but what happens is that the imagery of white on black in the story creates these very clear mental scenes that have a very conflicting tone, as if emphasizing the fact there has to be more than one answer to any questions that come up.

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1.  Apply the pattern of the archetypal journey, a grail (grail-less?) quest, to Marlow’s journey to the Heart of Darkness. Pay attention to the descriptions of each stage of Marlow’s journey.

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1.  Apply the pattern of the archetypal journey, a grail (grail-less?) quest, to Marlow’s journey to the Heart of Darkness. Pay attention to the descriptions of each stage of Marlow’s journey.

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The journey down the Congo was utterly grail-less. Marlow says himself regarding Mr. Kurtz that he was "Not prepared to affirm the fellow was exactly worth the life we lost in getting to him." Marlow's helmsman meant a good deal to him, even though he didn't know it until he died. The grail in the end was never truly found. In the very beginning, the grail seemed to be exploring Africa upon Marlow's newly acquired ship. About halfway through the story, the new grail seemed to be to travel into the very heart of Africa through the Congo. In the end, the very last grail was supposed to be finding Kurtz, but that ended in disaster. Marlow's journey was much more perilous and annoyance-filled than anyone could anticipate.