Summary of Joseph Conrad The Heart of Darkness

Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness

Introduction

Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness was written in 1899. Charlie Marlow, the protagonist of this novel reveals his past incidents to a group of men. He recounts his earlier life when he was working for a Belgian trading company in the Congo. 

Marlow is a complicated character in this novel. He plays the role of a guide for the readers. This helps the readers to understand the complex characters, and provides us insight into Africa, colonialism and the Company's activities. He survives to tell the tale on his return to Belgium.

Plot Summary

Marlow joins the Belgian trading company as a river captain. He is sent up to Congo to intercept another company employee, Kurtz. Marlow faces great struggle as he travels towards  the interior of Africa.  

'The brown current ran swiftly out of the heart of darkness, bearing us down towards the sea with twice the speed of our upward progress'

During his journey to Congo river Marlow encounters the inability of the Company's operations. He is shocked to see the brutal treatment of the natives. He is eager to discover the system out of which Kurtz has emerged. He understands the traditional European perception of the African natives. He realises how the natives are treated badly and inferior by the Europeans. Marlow arrives at the central station but gets stuck because his ship requires repair. At that point he comes to know about  Kurtz's illness. He meets the unsavoury manager and his colleague, the bricklayer, who are suspicious of Marlow.

Marlow after repairing his boat continues  his journey with the  manager, cannibals and few agents. The tension builds along the quiet and foreboding river and jungle. At one point they find stacked firewood on the river shore with a note saying it is for them but to be cautious. After going back to their boat the ship is surrounded by fog and they are attacked by natives. The African helmsman is killed but they continue on towards Kurtz.

Finally they reach the Inner Station where they first meet a crazy Russian trader who tells them that he had left the wood and that Kurtz is alive. The Russian trader says that Kurtz has  achieved god-like status with the natives. 

Kurtz's health worsens on the return trip but he confides in Marlow and hands him his personal documents including one on how he thinks the savage natives should be civilised, concluding with the shocking statement:

'Exterminate the brutes!'

 Kurtz dies in Marlow's presence uttering the line:

'The horror! the horror!'

Marlow himself later falls ill and barely survives before finally getting back to Europe where he goes to visit Kurtz's fiancée. She is still in mourning and, totally unaware of the reality of events in the Congo, thinks of him as virtuous and successful. So as not to dispel this myth, Marlow tells her the last words he spoke were her name.