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benbrainard8 's review for:
Heart of Darkness
by Joseph Conrad
Themes and Perspectives:
This work straddles the end of the Victorian era and the beginning of the modern era in a fascinating way. With regard to the former era it deals with the then common theme of imperialism and this underpins the work. Conrad describes the Victorian reality of European men adventuring far from home whilst European women were quietly tucked away in the domestic background, morally supportive but naive and oblivious to the outer reality, though materially benefiting from it.
However, in a more modern way, Conrad fiercely challenges imperialism and uses it to examine related existentialist issues such as the inner personal conflict between good and evil and the human issues of alienation, confusion, doubt, personal restraint/excess and morality in general. The result is intriguing and shocking. Conrad's view is that to prevent such an existentialist crisis, the individual must exercise self-restraint to avoid giving into basic impulses and going mad.
By the time Heart of Darkness was written the European powers had established colonies across most of the globe, though in the run up to the First World War they were already losing their political and administrative grip. The excesses, abuses and hypocrisy of the imperial system and the individuals within the imperial system are thoroughly explored. Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely, particularly when this is power over the fate of other human beings without the checks and balances of organized society. We are left wondering how to apportion blame towards the system (i.e. the Company) or the individuals within the system (i.e. Kurtz) and to what extent one individual is justified in criticizing another (i.e. Company, Marlow and Kurtz).
This work straddles the end of the Victorian era and the beginning of the modern era in a fascinating way. With regard to the former era it deals with the then common theme of imperialism and this underpins the work. Conrad describes the Victorian reality of European men adventuring far from home whilst European women were quietly tucked away in the domestic background, morally supportive but naive and oblivious to the outer reality, though materially benefiting from it.
However, in a more modern way, Conrad fiercely challenges imperialism and uses it to examine related existentialist issues such as the inner personal conflict between good and evil and the human issues of alienation, confusion, doubt, personal restraint/excess and morality in general. The result is intriguing and shocking. Conrad's view is that to prevent such an existentialist crisis, the individual must exercise self-restraint to avoid giving into basic impulses and going mad.
By the time Heart of Darkness was written the European powers had established colonies across most of the globe, though in the run up to the First World War they were already losing their political and administrative grip. The excesses, abuses and hypocrisy of the imperial system and the individuals within the imperial system are thoroughly explored. Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely, particularly when this is power over the fate of other human beings without the checks and balances of organized society. We are left wondering how to apportion blame towards the system (i.e. the Company) or the individuals within the system (i.e. Kurtz) and to what extent one individual is justified in criticizing another (i.e. Company, Marlow and Kurtz).