Blog: Frederick Karl on Heart of Darkness

In Frederick Karl's Psychoanalytic Criticism on Conrad's The Heart of Darkness, Karl discusses the novella's description of human behaviour after the individual has been enveloped in irrational and wild thoughts, completely devoid of moral restraints. On observing the last words of Kurtz before his death, Karl notes two possible interpretations of Kurtz's will: Marlow's and the reader's. In Marlow's interpretation, Kurtz speaks "The horror! The horror!" to finally comment over the wild immorality of the dark world he has plunged himself into and, in Marlow's opinion, Kurtz shouting of the horror reveals his sense of morality, a distinction and identification of the immorality he saw. If this were true, the question is to what degree did Kurtz distinguish morality from immorality? How blurry was the line? On the other hand, Karl's interpretation is that Kurtz's shouting demonstrates his anguish over the end of his life and that he will not live to continue grasping more power. Unlike the first interpretation, which Marlow would be willing to accept since he himself has a strong sense of morality, this interpretation corresponds well with the character of Kurtz, whose mind has spiraled downwards into irrationality, immorality, and darkness. His megalomania, his obssession with wealth and power, had completely grasped his thoughts until the very end. But, if we were to give Marlow's opinion some consideration on this second interpretation, then the question is, if Marlow did not die, then would his near death experience still have shown him to understand the immorality of his world?