Heart of Darkness centers
around Marlow, an introspective sailor, and his journey up the Congo
River to meet Kurtz, reputed to be an idealistic man of great abilities.
Marlow takes a job as a riverboat captain with the Company, a Belgian
concern organized to trade in the Congo. As he travels to Africa
and then up the Congo, Marlow encounters widespread inefficiency
and brutality in the Company’s stations. The native inhabitants
of the region have been forced into the Company’s service, and they
suffer terribly from overwork and ill treatment at the hands of
the Company’s agents. The cruelty and squalor of imperial enterprise
contrasts sharply with the impassive and majestic jungle that surrounds
the white man’s settlements, making them appear to be tiny islands
amidst a vast darkness.
Marlow arrives at the Central Station, run by the general
manager, an unwholesome, conspiratorial character. He finds that
his steamship has been sunk and spends several months waiting for parts
to repair it. His interest in Kurtz grows during this period. The manager
and his favorite, the brickmaker, seem to fear Kurtz as a threat
to their position. Kurtz is rumored to be ill, making the delays in
repairing the ship all the more costly. Marlow eventually gets the parts
he needs to repair his ship, and he and the manager set out with a
few agents (whom Marlow calls pilgrims because of their strange habit
of carrying long, wooden staves wherever they go) and a crew of
cannibals on a long, difficult voyage up the river. The dense jungle and
the oppressive silence make everyone aboard a little jumpy, and the
occasional glimpse of a native village or the sound of drums works
the pilgrims into a frenzy.
Marlow and his crew come across a hut with stacked firewood, together
with a note saying that the wood is for them but that they should
approach cautiously. Shortly after the steamer has taken on the
firewood, it is surrounded by a dense fog. When the fog clears, the
ship is attacked by an unseen band of natives, who fire arrows from
the safety of the forest. The African helmsman is killed before Marlow
frightens the natives away with the ship’s steam whistle. Not long
after, Marlow and his companions arrive at Kurtz’s Inner Station,
expecting to find him dead, but a half-crazed Russian trader, who
meets them as they come ashore, assures them that everything is
fine and informs them that he is the one who left the wood. The
Russian claims that Kurtz has enlarged his mind and cannot be subjected
to the same moral judgments as normal people. Apparently, Kurtz
has established himself as a god with the natives and has gone on
brutal raids in the surrounding territory in search of ivory. The
collection of severed heads adorning the fence posts around the
station attests to his “methods.” The pilgrims bring Kurtz out of
the station-house on a stretcher, and a large group of native warriors
pours out of the forest and surrounds them. Kurtz speaks to them,
and the natives disappear into the woods.
The manager brings Kurtz, who is quite ill, aboard the
steamer. A beautiful native woman, apparently Kurtz’s mistress,
appears on the shore and stares out at the ship. The Russian implies
that she is somehow involved with Kurtz and has caused trouble before through
her influence over him. The Russian reveals to Marlow, after swearing
him to secrecy, that Kurtz had ordered the attack on the steamer
to make them believe he was dead in order that they might turn back
and leave him to his plans. The Russian then leaves by canoe, fearing
the displeasure of the manager. Kurtz disappears in the night, and
Marlow goes out in search of him, finding him crawling on all fours
toward the native camp. Marlow stops him and convinces him to return
to the ship. They set off down the river the next morning, but Kurtz’s
health is failing fast.
Marlow listens to Kurtz talk while he pilots the ship,
and Kurtz entrusts Marlow with a packet of personal documents, including
an eloquent pamphlet on civilizing the savages which ends with a scrawled
message that says, “Exterminate all the brutes!” The steamer breaks
down, and they have to stop for repairs. Kurtz dies, uttering his
last words—“The horror! The horror!”—in the presence of the confused
Marlow. Marlow falls ill soon after and barely survives. Eventually
he returns to Europe and goes to see Kurtz’s Intended (his fiancée).
She is still in mourning, even though it has been over a year since
Kurtz’s death, and she praises him as a paragon of virtue and achievement.
She asks what his last words were, but Marlow cannot bring himself
to shatter her illusions with the truth. Instead, he tells her that
Kurtz’s last word was her name.
