Ultimate Meaning of Heart of Darkness

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An Essay on The Ultimate Meaning of Heart of Darkness Florence H. Ridley wrote an essay on Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness, in which the themes and motifs of the novel are analyzed. In Ridley's essay The Ultimate Meaning of "Heart of Darkness", the writer relates the opposites in the story through quoting other critics. According to Ridley, Heart of Darkness is depicted through balance of the opposites. The main opposite themes and motifs discussed in Ridley's essay are; civilization versus savagery, restraints versus the absence of restraints, and finally light versus darkness. This essay will discuss these themes to give a point of view towards Ridley’s arguments. According to Ridley, Kurtz is the opposite of Marlow and not his parallel “In this difference, later emphasized by the two men’s (opposite) reaction to Kurtz’s intended, lies the heart of the novel”. We can see from the novel that Ridley’s argument is reasonable. Marlow is an intelligent hard worker, he is independent in his thoughts, he remains western, and capable of doing things he wants to do. Marlow gets ill in Africa and he recovers. We finally find Marlow working on his steamship. Opposite to Marlow, Kurtz's intelligence is that of Dr Faustus and Heathcliff. Kurtz symbolizes the evil genius character, which focuses only on money and advancement. We are introduced to Kurtz at the beginning of the story as a scholar, artist, and the most successful agent of the company. Finally, and before his death, Kurtz becomes the heart of darkness. Ridley also discusses the theme, restraints versus the lack of restraints “when civilization is absent, work can constitute a saving grace." Marlow's restraints made him leave the company because of corruption. Marlow had morals and work ethics. Unlike Kurtz and other westerns in the novel that totally didn't have any restraints and unleashed their id.
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