Theme: European colonization and exploitation of
Africa, Hypocrisy of Imperialism,
Absurdity of evil, Deceit, Brutality, Uncertainty, Hollowness of Civilisation,
darkness in human soul, the wilderness, how darkness changes a person,
psychological degeneration, the
Metaphoric opp. Of the Congo and the Thames river , black people and white
people, good and evil, purity and corruption.
Characterization:
Major
characters:
Marlow:
He had sunken cheeks, a yellow complexion, a straight back, an ascetic back,
and with his arms dropped, the palms of hands outwards resembled an idol, He is
a protagonist, main narrator of the story, a traditional hero, tough, highly
capable, independent thinker, prone to temptation, long term memory.
Mr.Kurtz:
he is a first-class agent, young, gentlemanly, a bit reserved, with a forked
little beard and a hooked nose, he is chief of the inner station, he is a
prodigy, he is an emissary of pity and science and progress, a very important
one in the true ivory-country, He is an evil genius but not an imperialist,
malevolent, ego manic, lawless, a man of great intellect, when his time in
Africa he is transformed from a man of moral principles to a monster.
Minor
characters:
General Manager:
The Head of the Company’s Central station on the river, he is untalented and
unexceptional.
The Russian trader:
A wanderer and trader, he believes Kurtz is a great man beyond any conventional
morality.
The Brick maker:
the general manager’s most trusted agent, a sly, lazy and power-hungry fellow.
Marlow’s aunt:
a well connected and an idealistic woman.
Language
in Heart of Darkness: the language in heart
of darkness at once more sophisticated and ambiguous, the phrases he uses
resound and act as a kind of motif throughout the text. This is a genuinely
poetic use of language, not in the sense of poetic evocation, but in the sense
that language is made to draw attention to it.
Narrative
technique: it was written as a frame story i.e. story within a story.
It is narrated by Marlow, first person narrator and also an unknown narrator.
Settings:
took in the forest, the creek, the mud,
the river-seemed to beckon with a dishonouring flourish before the sunlit face Heart
of darkness is set on a boat, the Nellie on the entirely Thames river and , mysterious,
and darkness.
Atmosphere:
he uses mood and atmosphere to help a portrait called, the journey into the
soul. It is to find one’s self. It pervades the mood or spirit.
Point
of view: The different levels of narration, from the anonymous frame narrator,
the first person narration of the protagonist Marlowe, and the limited periods
of other first person narrations from the minor characters, at different times
add to and contradict the alternative narrations. Through this continual
contrast, readers are manipulated and forced to question their own attitudes
towards colonization.
By SUGANYA.V , Bharathiar University, Coimbatore
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