Heart Of Darkness Kurtz Character Analysis Essay

Heart of Darkness One’s last words that linger in the dying of the light embody a conclusion to the great riddle that is life. In Heart of Darkness, by Joseph Conrad, Marlow’s obsession with the character Kurtz can be inferred by his relentless efforts to reach the Inner station. However, in this passage, the author reveals Marlow’s admiration for Kurtz’s moral strength rather than his utter obsession for his character. Marlow believes that life and death are both parts of a battle with which men have to wrestle and hope to gain “knowledge” themselves. In fact, Kurtz regains Marlow’s loyalty with his last words, “The horror!”, when he fights with death. As seen in this passage, Marlow admires Kurtz’s last efforts to separate himself from the other Europeans who have lost …show more content…
Even though Marlow’s unrealistic depiction of Kurtz has been shattered by Kurtz’s cruelty, he believes that Kurtz achieved a “moral victory” in the battle with death. In a contest “without clamour, without glory, without the great desire, without the great fear of desire,” Kurtz achieved what Marlow fears he may not be able to do: “He had something to say. He said it.” In his final moments, Kurtz realized the cruelty of his own actions and, in this realization, weakly speaks the words “The horror!” When Marlow came within “ a hair’s breath” of death, he faced the humiliation that he might have nothing to say; therefore, Kurtz’s final “pronouncement” is of so much value to Marlow that it keeps him “loyal to Kurtz to the last.” Marlow believes that life is a riddle which baffles all men and that death is an adversary that every men must wrestle with. Conrad’s use of metaphor to depict Kurtz’s final struggle with life highlights the importance of Kurtz’s “moral victory” to Marlow. The notion of defeat or victory in the “unexciting contest” of life emphasizes that Marlow admires the strength Kurtz shows in his final