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Amy Chan

English 12AP

Mrs. Rottura

27 March 2000

The Death of Kurtz

Joseph Conrad’s novella, Heart of Darkness, is critically acclaimed for its

exploration and analysis of the human character through the character of Kurtz. In

particular, his metamorphosis from the brilliant idealist to the active participant in

“unspeakable rites” (Conrad 127) has proved to be an enigma for many critics. Kurtz

was the talented man who lost control when he was placed in “the heart of darkness”.

The unbridled wilderness, free of social laws, proved to be instrumental in the death of

both his ideals and his morality.

When examining the death of Kurtz, one must first understand his character

before his exposure to the jungles of Africa. “Kurtz entered the Congo service with the

‘highest’ ideas and brilliant qualifications...motivated by a sense of pontifical superiority”

(Melnick 125). The man who first introduced the name of Kurtz to Marlowe gave a very

interesting description of Kurtz’s idealism. “‘[Kurtz is] the chief of the Inner Station...He

is a prodigy...an emissary of pity and science and progress...he comes here, a special

being...of the new gang-the gang of virtue’”(Conrad 94). From the above statement,

one can infer that Kurtz was a just man of conscious and compassion. Yet, his idealism

was also the idealism of the white imperialist whose attitude could be seen in the

pamphlet written by Kurtz “before his [Kurtz’s] nerves went wrong” (Conrad 127). This

pamphlet detailed his attitude, along with the attitude of all of Europe, on the white

man’s role in Africa: “[The white man] must necessarily appear to them [savages] in the
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nature of supernatural beings-we [the white man] approach them with the might as of a

deity...By the simple exercise of will we can exert a power for good practically

unbounded” (Conrad 128). This comparison between the white man and a “deity” also

gives the reader an insight on his, and the European man’s, hubris. “He [Kurtz] is the

prototype of the idealistic man. His pamphlet...is charged with naive eloquence about

the role of the white man in raising the natives to a ‘civilized’ state, and presents what is

at first glance an appealing moral position” (Gekoski 84). Thus, Marlowe's observation

that “all Europe contributed to the making of Kurtz” (Conrad 127) reflects the view that

Kurtz was the ideal European man.

At the same time, Kurtz was also the charismatic prodigy who had a natural gift

with art and words. According to Marlowe, Kurtz “was a universal genius” (Conrad157)

who had been a great musician, painter, poet, and journalist with an exceptional talent

with words. For example, in the presence of Kurtz, one always listens and never

speaks (Conrad 132) because of the great ideas that he expresses. Also, his writing,

such as his pamphlet, was “eloquent, vibrating with eloquence, but too high-strung...it

[the pamphlet] was beautiful...he soared and took me [Marlowe] with him. The

peroration was magnificent...made me tingle with enthusiasm. This was the

unbounded power of eloquence-of words-of burning noble words” (Conrad 127-128).

Of course, there is a duality to words in that words can both illuminate and corrupt

(Stewart 361). This becomes apparent later in the story when one sees the corruption

of Kurtz and his use of language to corrupt. Consequently, Kurtz was a knowledgeable

and talented man prior to his exposure to the wilderness.

Upon entering the wilderness, Kurtz began his descent into moral depravation.

The wilderness provided the perfect environment for this degradation, because its
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lawless structure didn’t provide restraints on the intrinsic greed of man. The presence

and value of the ivory then cultivated and exploited man's greed. The white man’s

hunger for ivory, which later became Kurtz’s hunger, was “associated with the colour of

the skeleton heads with which Kurtz adorns his house...[which] is then extended until it

suggest the very essence of Kurtz himself” (Gekoski 80). When Gekoski speaks of

ivory as the essence of Kurtz, he is referring to Marlowe’s description of Kurtz to his

shipmates. “‘This-ah-specimen [Kurtz] was impressively bald. The wilderness had

patted him on the head, and, behold, it was like a ball-an ivory ball’” (Conrad 125). In

this description, the ‘wilderness’ that Marlowe referred to was the greed which “had

caressed him [Kurtz], and…he had withered; it had taken him, loved him, embraced

him, got into his veins, consumed his flesh, and sealed his soul to its own...He was its

spoiled and pampered favourite” (Conrad 125). Kurtz was the favorite, because he had

the most ivory, and this materialism and obsession led to his spiritual death.

His moral decline relative to ivory can be seen in many examples throughout the

story. For example, when another man attained a small amount of ivory, Kurtz

demanded that this man give him the ivory. “‘He [Kurtz] wanted it, and wouldn’t hear

reason. He declared he would shoot me unless I gave him the ivory and then cleared

out of the country, because he could do so, and had a fancy for it, and there was

nothing on earth to prevent him killing whom he jolly well pleased’” (Conrad 136). Also,

Kurtz’s arrogance concerning his fame and success with the ivory business can be

seen through Marlowe’s memories “I [Marlowe] heard him. [Kurtz said] ‘My Intended,

my ivory, my station, my river, my-' everything belonged to him. It made me [Marlowe]

hold my breath in expectation of hearing the wilderness burst into a prodigious peal of

laughter” (Conrad 126). Marlowe then related this success in the ivory business to
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Kurtz’s loss of self. “The thing was to know what he belonged to, how many powers of

darkness claimed him for their own. That was the reflection that made you creepy all

over...He had taken a high seat amongst the devils of the land-I mean literally” (Conrad

126). In the above quote, Marlowe’s powers of darkness are greed, arrogance,

selfishness, and other such deficiencies of character, while the devils of the land refer

to the other white imperialists who follow the idea of ‘survival of the fittest’. “Kurtz gains

his power, indeed his identity and being, from the ivory he covets...matter, not manner,

counts...only power counts...In the jungle...only the strong survive...And the

consequence: corruption of self and death to ‘inferiors’ on a monumental scale” (Karl

128). Finally, Conrad shows his belief in the corrupting power of materialism by relating

Kurtz's ruin with his fascination with ivory.

While the greed generated by the ivory is an integral part of every person, the

laws of society generally repress this behavior. “The mind of man is capable of

anything-because everything is in it, all the past as well as the future...joy, fear, sorrow,

devotion, valour, rage...” (Conrad 109). This idea of a collective unconscious makes it

easier to understand how a person can change so drastically while in the wilderness.

When one enters the wilderness, the wilderness stimulates and releases the primordial

and socially unacceptable part of man. “The heavy, mute spell of the wilderness…

seemed to draw him to its pitiless breast by the awakening of forgotten and brutal

instincts, by the memory of gratified and monstrous passions” (Conrad 149). By

awakening the passions in Kurtz, the wilderness provided Kurtz with the requisite

ingredients for participation in the savage customs that involved "unspeakable rites".

Therefore, Kurtz experienced a transformation while he was in the jungle: “Kurtz has

become pre-Christian, primal energy, demiurge. And he is capable of utterly destroying

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the ethical man” (Haugh 241). He also lost control of his desires and was devoid of

restraint. This was seen in the skeletons that surrounded his house which "only

showed that Mr. Kurtz lacked restraint in the gratification of his various lusts...there was

something wanting in him-some small matter which, when the pressing need arose,

could not be found under his magnificent eloquence” (Conrad 138). This lack of

discretion was permitted because of the massive quantities of ivory that Kurtz

harvested for the European countries. The critic Karl summarizes this concept very

well when he says, “He [Kurtz] is free of civilized taboos. In the Congo, he can do

anything. His only prescription: produce results, send back ivory” (Karl 129).

Finally, Kurtz's relationship with the “savages” indicates his moral attitude during

his time in the Congo. As mentioned before, Kurtz’s idealism was such that he believed

that “each station should be like a beacon on the road towards better things, a centre

for trade of course, but also for humanizing, improving, instructing” (Conrad 104).

However, his treatment and use of the natives did not reflect that idealism. The

previously mentioned pamphlet did reflect this general attitude of the inferiority of the

natives, but his pamphlet also suggested a relationship that would provide the natives

with knowledge, not the one-sided association that later developed between them

“He has charmed...his simple followers into ‘aggravated’ forms of primitive ritual in his

honor... he has incited his people to warfare…robbed of their human dignity...been

responsible for the ruthless execution of so-called rebels…encouraged... the ritual

killing of human beings for sacrifice to a man” (McLaughlan 387).

Kurtz was the demi-god who found faithful followers in the natives, the man who

adopted the terrible customs of the natives, and the one who commanded the natives
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with his very presence. Consequently, the very heart of Kurtz’s perversion can be seen

in his treatment of the natives.

One can also argue that Kurtz, like most men who had entered the wilderness,

gradually became mentally unbalanced during his stay in the Congo. For example, at

the beginning of the story, the reader is introduced to a doctor who measured the

diameter of the head of a man before and after trips into the Congo. “‘I [the doctor]

always ask...in the interests of science, to measure the crania of those going out there

[Africa]...I never see them [changes], and, moreover, [they] take place inside...It would

be interesting for science to watch the mental changes of individuals on the spot, but...’”

(Conrad 76). The doctor then proceeded to question Marlowe's families past history

with mental insanity. This question addresses the question of nature, past family

history, versus nurture, the trials of the wilderness. Thus, Conrad, who also had

entered the Congo for ivory, strongly suggests that men who go into the wilderness

tend to become slightly insane. For example, according to the harlequin, Kurtz “hated

all this [the hunt for ivory], and somehow he couldn’t get away...[Kurtz would] disappear

for weeks; forget himself amongst these people [savages]-forget himself” (Conrad 136).

Kurtz was one such man who was insane, but, according to Marlowe, he was insane in

the soul, not in the mind. “His [Kurtz’s] intelligence was perfectly clear-concentrated it

is true, upon himself with horrible intensity, yet clear...but his soul was mad. Being

alone in the wilderness, it had looked within itself...I [Marlowe] saw the inconceivable

mystery of a soul that knew no restraint, no faith, and no fear” (Conrad 149-150).

When Kurtz’s soul realized its own evil, his idealism turned upon itself. Thus, Kurtz

possessed an insanity of a different nature, an internal nature.

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The physical death of Kurtz can then be related to his spiritual death. “His

[Kurtz’s] terminal sickness is merely the pathological insignia of his soul’s disease”

(Stewart 365). The connection between Kurtz and death and ivory is pervasive from

the moment one meets him to after his death. In the story, one can refer back to

Marlowe’s description of how Kurtz appears like the object of his desires to view the

connection between Kurtz and ivory. “When we first see him he is wasted to the

inanimate matter of his obsession, his face an ivory death mask; the maker of skeletons

and corpses, he is collapsed now to a heap of bones” (Stewart 365). Later, at the

moment of Kurtz’s death, Marlowe once again compares Kurtz to ivory. “‘I [Marlowe]

saw on that ivory face the expression of sombre pride, of ruthless power, of craven

terror-of an intense and hopeless despair’” (Conrad 153). In summary, Kurtz’s physical

condition and disease were related on many occasions to his moral disease.

Many critics agree that Kurtz realized and acknowledged his complete loss of

ideals and morality with his dying words: “The horror! The horror!’” (Conrad154). For

example, the critic Karl believes that “Kurtz has reviewed his life with all its horror and in

some dying part of him has repented” (130). At the end of the novella, Marlowe’s

observation at Kurtz’s deathbed also supported this particular epiphany of Kurtz. “It

[the cry] had candour...conviction...a vibrating note of revolt in its whisper...the appalling

face of a glimpsed truth-the strange comingling of desire and hate...he had stepped

over the edge...it [the cry] was an affirmation, a moral victory paid for by innumerable

satisfactions” (Conrad 155). The fact that Kurtz repeated the statement has also

attracted the attention of some critics. To them, the repetition represents the utter

despondency of Kurtz’s situation at his end. “Both summation and judgment are

comprehended in that single word, repeated Kurtz’s actual words once for each-the
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horror that has been perpetrated, the horror that descends as judgment” (Stewart 366).

Consequently, Kurtz’s last words show that he repented and acknowledged the horror

of his existence in the jungle.

The wild jungles provide the perfect environment for the deterioration of the high

ideals and morals of Kurtz. His situation conveys a message from Conrad to avoid

being materialistic because of the danger that it presents to the most important part of a

person: the soul. “‘Live rightly, die, die...’” were some of Kurtz’s dying words as he

realized the error of his own tragic life. One must always be on guard against his ‘heart

of darkness, because the desire to take the path of Kurtz is very tempting and easy.
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Works Cited

Gekoski, R. A. “Kurtz as the Incarnation of Evil.” Readings on Heart of Darkness. Ed.

Clarice Swisher. San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 1999. 80-86.

Haugh, Robet F. “Heart of Darkness: Problem for Critics.” Kimbrough 239-242.

Karl, Frederick R. “Introduction to the Danse Macabre: Conrad’s Heart of Darkness.”

Joseph Conrad: Heart of Darkness, A Case Study in Contemporary Criticism.

Ed. Ross Murfin. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1989. 123-136.

Kimbrough, Robert, ed. Joseph Conrad: Heart of Darkness. 1963. A Norton Critical

Edition. New York: Norton and Company, 1988.

McLauchlan, Juliet. “The ‘Value’ and ‘Significance’ of Heart of Darkness.” Kimbrough

375-389.

Melnick, Daniel. “The Morality of Conrad’s Imagination.” Joseph Conrad. Modern

Critical Views. Ed. Harold Bloom. Philadelphia: Chelsea House Publishers,

1986. 113-130.

Stewart, Garrett. “Lying as Dying in Heart of Darkness.” Kimbrough 358-374.