Moral Ambiguity in Heart of Darkness Essay

In _Heart of Darkness_, by Joseph Conrad, the character Marlow, through his action at laws and experiences, armys himself to be morally ambiguous in that he goes on the europiumans malevolent expedition to Africa yet he seems to despise the events he sees there and in that he performs both dreadful and ignoble deeds. These experiences and actions drive Conrads theme of European yield and colonialism debaseding, in this case, Africa. Marlow is a sailor who is traveling through Africa on a steam gravy boat and who works for a company that is attempting to gain riches for Europe. His moral ambiguity is shown by the fact that he is participating in this heinous expedition yet, at the same time, he seems to despise it. Marlow, as he sailed along the coast, saw a man-of-war anchored off the coastshelling the bushThere was a touch of insanity in the proceeding which was not dissipated by somebody on board assuring me earnestly there was a bivouac of natives he called them enemies hidden out of sight somewhere. (pg.18 ).Marlows word choice depicts the corrupting influence of Europe because it speaks of how he saw a man-of-war, a french ship, attack natives who were, in his opinion, unjustly called enemies. What truly shows this to be a corrupting influence, however, is his use of the word insanity to describe the event insanity here is meant to show that this event, caused by Europeans, is unnatural to Africa and disrupts its calm. Next, Marlow spoke of other Europeans who came to Africa such as the devoted bandcalledthe Eldorado Exploring Expedition To tear treasure out of the bowels of the land was their commitwith nomoral purpose at the back of it (pg. 42). The Eldorado Expedition, as Marlow saw it, was the typical devoted European band which he felt was nada but a bunch of dirty thieves -with no regard for the greater good- who, through their actions, would desecrate Africa by ripping away its riches. Finally, Marlow, as he was manner of walking with Kurtzs admirer, saw heads on s constitutesThey showed that Kurtz lacked restraint in the gratification of his various lusts. (pg. 81).Kurtz is a European who was sent by the company to get the treasures of Africa for Europe and to colonize it, but, when Marlow sees what Kurtz does he says that Kurtz isunable to restrain his lust. This, in and of itself, may seem unimportant, but, it infers that all the Europeans going to Africa are driven by lust and the main turn of lust is traditionally corruption, hence, the Europeans going to Africa will do nothing but corrupt it. In addition to utilizing Marlows experience, Joseph Conrad utilizes Marlows conflicting actions in order, not only to reinforce Marlows moral ambiguity, but to further depict the corrupting influence of Europe on Africa. The first thing the Conrad did was have Marlow take the pose of a Buddha preaching in European clothes and without a lotus-flower (pg. 8 ) Here Marlow acts like Buddha, a symbol of some integrity who is en dizzyened and good, which makes it lightheaded that everything Marlow says is true and that his ultimate opinion, that universe that Europe corrupts, is an absolute truth.Next Marlow empathetically said, Nevertheless I think Mr. Kurtz is a remarkable man (pg. 88 ) Marlows action appears to contrast with the perfection given to him by his earlier Buddha pose because he is supporting and admiring Kurtz, the person who took his lust to the extreme and the person who represents the ultimate level of European corruption. Marlow, however, must be right about Kurtzs remarkable nature in some way because he is portrayed as Buddha though, contrary to what one might think at the beginning of the book, this portrayal does not portend moral perfection on Marlows part as shown later in the book. The only way in which Kurtz is remarkable is in his excessive level of lust hence, Marlows statement implies that Europe is a ceaselessly corrupting influence, varying only in the degree of corru ption from person to person. Finally, Marlow, when observing Kurtzs wife, sees, the faith that is in herthat great saving illusion shining with an unearthly glow in thetriumphant darkness (pg 107).Marlows observation shows that in a world of corruption and darkness, the European world, Kurtzs wife deludes herself by creating a world of light and good in her own mind, this fact is necessary in order to understand the importance of the exchange following this observation. The exchange between Marlow and Kurtzs wife begins with Marlow unwisely saying, I heard his very last words (pg. 109) leading to Kurtzs wife asking him to Repeat themin a heart mazed tone (pg. 109) and, although Kurtzs true last words were The horror the horror (pg. 109) Marlow told her that, The last word he pronounced was your name (pg. 109). The importance of this conversation is that it shows the realityof Kurtzs vision, that being the horror, through Marlows noble lie.It was already shown that Kurtzs wife liv ed in an illusionary world, this, combined with Marlow lying to her when she asked for Kurtzs last words, shows that what Kurtz saw of Europe, a horror, was the truth. Conveniently, Marlows act of not shattering Kurtzs wifes illusion contrasts with his support of Kurtz, which caused him to seem vile, thus making it impossible to legitimately make out that Marlow is wholly good or bad, only that he is right. Marlow, through his experiences and actions, is depicted as a moral ambiguity and this ambiguity is the tool with which Joseph Conrad develops his theme of European corruption on other peoples and places.Marlow participates in the heinous European expedition yet his opinion of the events he sees are negative thus demonstrating the corrupting influence of Europe, and his actions, which present him as both enlightened and morally ambiguous, also emphasizes the corrupting influence of Europe through the expression of his opinion. Ironically, his ambiguity is symbolic of the ambigui ty of the Europeans themselves in that go to other places, such as Africa, with intentions akin to enlightening the people they encounter but, despite the fact that they may succeed in enlightening those people, they corrupt them as well.