Answer ONE of the following questions with 200-250 words:
1) How does Conrad's Heart of Darkness radically cast in doubt epistemological and ethical certainties that were believed by his Victorian predecessors?
2) If the focus on the unconscious can be said to be one of the main characteristics of modernist literature, how is this reflected in Conrad's Heart of Darkness?
3) In Heart of Darkness, certain characters are flat, while certain characters are round. Give us at least one example of each type of character. Explain the reason why they are flat or round.
69 comments:
Mia 49902028
I chose the third question to answer.
In my opinion, Marlow is round because in the beginning he has a great ideal to work in Congo Africa, however, he finds out dark sides of the company which he worked at, that the civilization is kind of barbarism. Marlow criticizes British colonialism to Africa, but at the same time it seems that he worships Kurtz subconsciously, even though Kurtz is so evil. He is a complex character that changes his mind during the tour.
Also, Kurtz is round because in the end he dies with his last words:” The horror! The horror! ” It shows that he reflects that what he did in the heart of darkness, although it is too late. He changes his mind in the end of the book.
Who is a flat character? I think it is Kurtz’s fiancée because she doesn’t change in the end, and she is so simple. She is still in mourning when Marlow visits her. It is ridiculous that one year passed she is still so sad, and believes Kurtz was loyal to her, being proud of him. In the end, Marlow doesn’t tell her the truth, that what Kurtz’s real last words are. So I guess the unnamed fiancée must love and believe Kurtz ever forever and live in a dream world.
1. Conrad’s Heart of Darkness leads readers to the inside of the imperialism and shows the hidden truth in the imperialism to readers. Those white people think that they are civilized and the people in Africa are barbarians. They arrogantly intrude into their country without permission to carry out their duty. I think this is a kind of barbarian. Unlike what the white people they think of their Imperialism and colonization which is full of civilizing, cultural and educational meaning, they make use of the Imperialism to loot, which is brutal and actually just the shortcut to enrich themselves. In Heart of Darkness, we can see many scenes of slavery and torture that reveals the inhuman side of imperialism. We can’t help but query what the justice is and how it can be so hypocritical. People are treated unequal and what is called the legal trade is totally not equal. It’s full of violence, cheats and exploitation. For example, Kurtz gets the ivory by force not trade, which is obvious, not a civilized person will do. In addition, Conrad uses many contrasts between invaders and the African such as how they dress and so on. Under the surface of the imperialism, it is darkness and hypocrisy and it leads Kurtz to the corruption. Even Kurtz’s last words” The horror! The horror! ” reveals how dreadful is one’s corruption under the imperialism.
Kimlake 49902004
3. I want to take the Intended as the example of the flat character and Kurtz as the example of the round character. Despite the fact that the Intended appears at last few pages, I can tell that she doesn’t change at all. Through reading those pages, I can see that she loves and trusts Kurtz fully from the beginning to the end without any doubt. She is totally ignorant of Kurtz’s changes. In addition, she also admires him deeply. Just as how Marlow describes her, it is as if she can mourn and be faithful to Kurtz forever. That is why I regard her as a flat role in Heart of Darkness. As for Kurtz, he wants to civilize the Africans at first. However, after he goes to Africa, he becomes degenerate. He exploits much ivory there, and he makes people there worship him and treat him as a god. He even writes down that “Exterminate all the brutes!” When he is near death, he leaves his last words, “The horror! The horror!” This is another transition. In the end, he seems to reflect on what he has done and reveals his regret. Thus, I consider him to be a round character.
Yi-Chia Hu 49802010
1.Conrad deconstructed the values of imperialism held by his Victorian predecessors by using original literary techniques that exposed the ugliness of English empire’s lofty intention to civilize undeveloped countries. For example, Conrad depicted the Congo River as “an immense snake uncoiled, with its head in the sea…” (2333). Conrad used the animal imagery “snake” to describe the Congo River, creating an ominous atmosphere of Marlow’s journey in the very beginning. Later, when Marlow madly came to Bruzzels to apply for his job, there were two women sat behind the door, “one fat and the other slim, sat on straw-bottomed chairs, knitting black wool” (2335). Conrad created the eerie feeling of the two witch-like women, foreshadowing the inauspicious venture of Marlow. After Marlow sailed on the river, Conrad used personification to describe the wilderness in a surreal way. The wilderness was described as “patient” (2352), like a beast ambushing in the dark, waiting to devour everything. The air in the forest was “warm, thick, heavy, sluggish” (2352), making the readers hypnotized by the obscure forest. Conrad also used symbols in the story as well. Mr. Kurtz’s fiancée symbolized the ignorant people in the colonial countries. On the other hand, Mr. Kurtz symbolized the active colonialists, who engaged their entire lives in colonization, and witnessed horror and morbidity of it but could not leave. Conrad used his brilliant literary techniques such as animal imagery, foreshadow, personification, and symbol to demonstrate his doubt against the epistemological and ethical certainties held by the Victorian predecessors.
410002003 Amy SUN
I choose question NO.3 to answer.
I think Marlow is one of round characters. In the beginning, Marlow is so ambitious, and wants a great exploration. One sentence can reveal his ambition: “the biggest, the most blank, so to speak－that I had a hankering after.” However, after met Kurtz, Marlow found the dark side of human nature, and cruelties of imperialism.
Another round character is Kurtz, although is not a complete round character. He is the idealist in the beginning, and he is also a talented man. But when he started his business, little by little, he lost his original intention, and became an avaricious businessman just want to gain. At last, before he died, he said: The horror! The horror!
I think general manager is one of flat characters, and why? He always gives Marlow uncomfortable feelings, and he inspired uneasiness, seemed like to keeping everyone to over his control.
Another flat character is chief accountant. Marlow suddenly saw this white man who was in gorgeous suit, and gave him a surprise. But why this man wore the suit in the wilderness? This white gives me an impression that a lot of imperialists suddenly burst into a wilderness and say to those indigenous people: let us to tell you what the civilization is! But actually is they just want to plunder the recourses and reveals they’re the best human beings in the world.
Angela 49902030 said
I chose the first question to answer.
Conrad uses lots of contrasts and ironies to cast in doubt epistemological and ethical certainties that were believed by his Victorian predecessors. For example, Marlow’s aunt and Kurtz’s fiancée firmly believe those who go to barbaric place to civilize savageries are patriots. Also, they believe that imperial expansion is the contribution to civilization. In fact, it is the vilest scramble. The belief of civilization became an excuse. Conrad also uses characters to expose the dark side of civilization such as the greedy, aggression and hypocrisy. For instance, Kurtz had a noble desire to civilize African savage people at first but power and greedy eventually made him became madness. His action of taking ivory went on brutality. Furthermore, he tried to establish himself as a god. Lack of self-restraint is the biggest reason that made him like this. On the contrary, Marlow mentioned those primeval men who seem rude and barbarous but in reality they have self-control not to hurt others. So how can we surely define which one is civilized? It also mentioned that a center of trade should be a place to instruct people. However, we can see that the manager’s torture and his pitiless attitude toward those African natives who is suffered and almost dying was obviously disobeyed work ethic which imperialism emphasized on.
Pansy 49902042
I chose the first question.
In the Victorian period, the white people conquer other countries to maintain the power and gain large amount of profits. European claim to civilize the barbarians in Africa and trade with local people, in fact, it is robbery and cheat. The white gets profits cruelly. In Heart of Darkness, Conrad describes the miraculous appearance of the Company’s chief accountant, and contrasts him with the black to criticize imperialism. The black in Africa becomes prisoners. They are under violence and some of them dying native laborers. However, the Company’s chief accountant maintains his elegance although the environment around him falling apart. It is a big irony. Moreover, Conrad against Imperialism through condensed Kurtz’s invasion by Marlow, also. For example, Kurtz becomes the leader of the tribe by violence. He uses the ruthless method to make everyone respect him－hanged the heads who against him outside his house to warn people.
Besides, Conrad contrasts two different images of women. One is Kurtz’s fiancée, the Victorian dream girl; the other is the savage woman, his mistress in the jungle of Africa. Kurtz’s fiancée is a Victorian woman, angel in the house, who stays at home to be protected and doesn’t know anything. On the contrary, the savage woman is wild and powerful. The Africa woman needs not to be protected by others, and she even seems to have huge influence on Kurtz. I think that Conrad broke the limitation of women in Victorian period by molding this savage woman.
Question 3
For me, Marlow is a round character compares to Kurtz’s fiancé. We read the story from almost Marlow’s point of view. We can know his feeling and what he is thinking. Also, we see his changes from a man who looking forward to go to Congo to a man never wants to go back. Follow his feelings in the story makes me feel that I am him and that makes the character round. On the other hand, Kurtz’s fiancé seems flat. Maybe it is because she doesn't appear until the end of the story, but I think the main reason is that it only shows one side of her. She is a woman who believes that her fiancé is a hero and always love her best. We can’t see if she feel doubt or other feelings about Kurtz. She has one believe and one way to talk. The character of Kurtz’s fiancé is just simple, innocent, and clueless about Kurtz which makes the character flat.
Celia 49902066
I choose the question no.3.
In Heart of Darkness, I think Marlow and Kurtz are round characters. In the beginning, Marlow is a person has a great passion of navigation. After he enters to Congo, he finds the darkness side of human. Although he even adores Kurtz but he learns the truth of human inner side was greed and savage. At the end of the story, he was lying to Kurtz’s intended; I think it is a kind of human instinct despite it is a good motive of the fact. And the other main character Kurtz is a symbol of imperialism. He use civilized manner to loot. In some ways, he becomes a kind of madness as evil surrounding in his mind until in the end of his life, he realizes the reality was “‘The horror! The horror! ’ ”.
In my opinions, the Russian trade and Kurtz’s fiancée are performed the character of flat. The Russian trade shows his glamour of youth and audacity, and loyalty of Kurtz throughout the story. And Kurtz’s fiancée represents her innocent and faithfulness to Kurtz even thought he was dead, she still belief that he was the great person in the world. These are the reasons in my attitude of flat and round in this novel.
Mario 49902064
I would like to answer question number 2. In the story “Heart of Darkness” has reflected mainly on feelings, memories and the wishes. Eventually in this modernist literature unconscious have to do with position and violence too. The unconscious can be presented into symbols and myth that related to the human culture. The symbolic is a representation of an exploration of the hidden self and human’s capacity for evil. And Kurtz is one of them. In this novel Kurtz represent the shadow because his personality is very dangerous and threatening. He represents the dark side of humanity. Addition unconscious may also appear in disguised form, like in language, creative art and human neurotic behavior. For example, the shadow and the darkness are represent the symbolic of unconscious. The human soul hides and represses all those feeling and motivations when they are too much of a burden for the consciousness to bear. It also can be reflected as the expression from dream and imagination. Another example about the mythical allusions is the most effective because through the collective unconscious it can share the same feeling and attitude as they are transported along with Marlow into his dream like fantasy.
Q3:
Wesleigh Liao-69804001
A round character is a major character in a work of fiction who encounters conflict and is changed by it. Round characters tend to be more fully developed and described than flat characters. Marlow is a complicated, round character in Heart of Darkness. He travels into the Congo to find Kurtz who he doesn't know, but begins to admire him nonetheless. Marlow comments to his listeners on The Nellie that "The point was in [Kurtz] being a gifted creature, and that of all his gifts the one that stood out pre-eminently, that carried with it a sense of real presence, was his ability to talk, his words - the gift of expression, the bewildering, the illuminating, the most exalted and the most contemptible, the pulsating stream of light, or the deceitful flow from the heart of an impenetrable darkness" (79). In this one comment, Marlow reveals much about his character. Although he entered Africa with at least an inkling that imperialism was a positive thing, he quickly learned the truth: that it was driven by greed and lust alone. Marlow is torn by that "deceitful flow", because he recognizes what it is, but cannot distance himself from it. At the end, he becomes part of the "deceitful flow" by lying to Kurtz's intended, despite the fact that he had a good motive.
On the contrary, I would say that Marlow's aunt and Kurtz's fiancé are two flat characters. Because in Heart of Darkness,women are depicted as objects to be owned, dressed up in riches and displayed as proof of a man's success, status and wealth. They are also shown as representing an unrealistically idealistic version of the world and the nature of imperialism. Both Marlow’s aunt and Kurtz’s fiancé continue living in a dream world that they never know the real life outside their bubbles.
Here are my opinions on question 3:
Kurtz is quite a round character. A clever man filled with ambition. At first, he went to Congo as an imperialist and tried to “civilize” the savages like the other white people from the west. However, he had changed and lost himself in robbing ivories and conquering the land, from a musician, a painter, a humanist, to a hollow sham. Like the paragraph described (p.1940, line 16 from the bottom)”The wastes of his weary brain obsequiously round his undistinguishable gift of noble and lofty expression. My Intended, my station, my career, my ideas- these were the subjects for the occasional utterances of elevated sentiments. The shade of the original Kurtz frequented the bedside of the hollow sham, whose fate it was to be buried presently in the mould of primeval earth. But both the diabolic love and the unearthly hate of the mysteries it had penetrated fought for the possession of that soul satiated with primitive emotions, avid of lying fame, of sham distinction, of all the appearances of success and power.” His soul was eaten, piece by piece, by his greed and the jungle. At the end, he realized and cried out before he died, ‘The horror! The horror!’ (p.1941, line 12 from the bottom), but it was too late.
The accountant represents the western empire and never loses focus on the profits. He always looks clean and civilized on the outside, but heartless on the inside. Therefore, he is a flat character in this story.
I’d like to answer the third question.
Take Kurtz for example, he’s the main character who has a great powerful influence in “Heart of Darkness”. Although Kurtz is not only regarded as a talented leader of pilgrims and aboriginals in African, but also adored by the Russian trade, as well as his fiancée, he, nominally an idealist, reveals not only the dark side of imperialism, but also his heart. Through the journey, we can easily become aware of how Kurtz’s personality gradually changes, from a respectful figure, a greedy mad man to an empty-handed person full of regret. Therefore, Kurtz turns out to be a round character, which is fully developed so that readers can learn his temperament, background, motives, and other features. Contrast to a round character, a flat character is two-dimensional and uncomplicated but is pertinent to the story, like an auxiliary. Kurtz’s African mistress, who can’t take her eyes off Kurtz, would be one of the flat characters. Obviously, she forms a strong attachment for Kurtz, who has mesmeric charisma and also understands the power of using words. It seems that she can do anything for Kurtz, including playing a role of bridge between Kurtz and the natives around the station. However, she still remains an enigma; all we can know about her is looks and unchanged affections for Kurtz.
Tavia 49902065
I choose the first question to answer.
Conrad Heart of Darkness cast in doubt epistemological and ethical certainties that were believed by his Victorian predecessors in many ways .First, the moral and scientific certainties of the 19th were showing similar strains to those exposed in colonialism. For example, “They were nothing earthly now-nothing but black shadows of disease and starvation, lying confusedly in the greenish gloom.”The uncertainties caused by a growing feeling that ethical behavior is both relative and contingent are reflected in the moral confusion in the novel. Second, Conrad's Heart of Darkness is a moral journey in search of an ethical response to the felt at the cusp of two centuries. The staging posts of this journey take the reader through the various attitudes held towards Imperialism. Third, it is a psychological journey into the heart of the subconscious. Civilization and therefore civilized behavior are externally regulated. Once that regulatory pressure is removed there is no constraint and man is shown in all his appalling inhumanity to man. The outer station is the super ego. It is manned by those whose behavior, although cruel, is still governed by the expectations of Europe. Everything is proved to be hollow. The "truth" that Marlow seeks ultimately does not exist. After penetrating the impenetrable he is left disillusioned and defeated; he reverts to relying on a system of beliefs and social mores he knows to be false in preference to the horror of acknowledging the alternative.
Vera 49902038
I chose to answer the third question.
In Heart of Darkness, Marlow is a round character. At first, getting Kurtz back was just his job. However, after Marlow heard how people admire, compliment and be jealous of Kurtz, Marlow started to wonder what kind of person Kurtz was and began to be eager for talking to Kurtz. During the process of finding Kurtz, Marlow started to find out the civilization and restraint of whites and cannibals and he had to admit or at least he knew the truth within his heart that cannibals had civilized and restrain side and white people were out of restrain by their greed. Marlow thought that the Russian trader was ridiculous to adore Kurtz so much, but as soon as Marlow listened to Kurtz spoke, he became like the Russian trader too. Even though Marlow knew that Kurtz was driven by his instinct and greed, and he judged Kurtz, yet Marlow still thought that Kurtz had great side. In the end of Heart of Darkness, Marlow not only chose to protect the intended and Kurtz’s reputation, he also chose to protect the lie in Congo. Marlow is a complicated and round character, because he has an independent mind, he can see and struggle toward the truth, and he can criticize and suspect the validity of imperialism.
Kurtz's intended is a flat character. She never changed before and after Kurtz died. She strongly believed that Kurtz still loved her no matter what and Kurtz was a great man. She lived in her own world and denied the truth. Kurtz’s intended represents the dream and value that Europeans want to bring to Africa. And her denial represents Europeans’ denial of their oppression to Africa.
Bradshaw 49902006
3. Marlow is flat because he is the one who remains sympathetic and hold conservative attitude of the “civilization”. In addition, he sees clearly about the real purpose of civilization. When he first goes down the river, he notices that the whole empire is saturated in an odd mood. Then, he gets to the agency, he also feels the same way, while others may only feel the examinations are quite normal, and all they care about is to make a fortune. When he finally arrives in Congo, he finds that everything is different from he has thought. Marlow regards there as hell and he feels quite disappointed of the so-called “civilization.” Marlow remains the same throughout the novella. In the end, in order not to break the Kurtz’s fiancee’s illusion, Marlow tells her that her name is Kurtz’s last word.
Kurtz is round. In the beginning, he doesn’t even shows up, which makes the readers hard to understand his characteristics. In the novella, he is first portrayed as someone who gets high reputation in Congo, and all the native people think of him as a demi-god. As the plot goes, when Marlow gets closer to him, it seems can assume that Kurtz is one who tributes his soul to devil so that he has such reputation and always regard civilization is his most lofty job. However, when he dies, the last word spoken out of his mouth dramatically changes the way everyone think of him.
Qiana49902068
3)Ans. Marlow is a round character. At the beginning of the story, Marlow was portrayed as an image of good person. First, on the page 2329, “resembled an idol”. Second, on the page 2354, “mine is the speech that cannot be silenced”. what silence inside his mind that is a sound of civilization. In the Darkness of Heart, civilization is symbolize bright and good; and barbarism is dark and evil. So that means Marlow is a person who have good and virtue characteristic. But afterward, he chose to be loyal to Kurtz that such an evil nightmare. This is page 2376, “I should be loyal to the nightmare of my choice” and page 2378, “I accepted this unforeseen partnership”. As for reader, on the one hand Marlow has been portrayed as a good person; on the other hand he chose to be loyal to the dark forces. We can see his inner contradiction for good and evil, so which side he stands that was not described clear. This is one of the main features to round character.
Next, Kurtz’s Intended is a flat character. She was portrayed as a simple mind person and was portrayed as a person who is single-minded for love. On the page 2383, “She seemed as though she would remember and mourn for ever…”. Although Kurtz had passed away for 1 year, she could not forget Kurtz and still loved him. on the page 2384, “I have been very happy-very fortunate-very proud…”. Even though the fact that she has become a widow, she still think that she is a happiness person because she used to be Kurtz’s fiancee. From two examples above. Intended is a sorrowful widow who is single-minded to kurtz’s love. Besides, she seems a non-reality character, including her very deep love and unchangeable love to Kurtz. Therefore, from her significant characteristics, we can know she is a flat character in this novel.
Helen 49902002
3. In Heart of Darkness, I think Kurtz’s fiancée is a flat character. She doesn’t change at all and she never undergoes any conflicts in her life. She is in mourning as though she will mourn forever, in my opinion; she will definitely mourn for him eternally. She is like an angel always living in her fantasy and she is too naïve to endure the immense darkness of her fiancé. She not only builds up an ideal image of Kurtz but also absolutely clings and devotes to it. In the story she is an important role to emphasize the round character-Marlow’s change. At beginning Marlow has a passion to explore Congo; during his voyage he encounters many people including Kurtz who he admires. However, he finally understands the brutalism of civilization and colonialism that Europeans do in Africa. I think the Congo River charms him a lot as well as shiver him because of the reality in the ivory trading company. After his return from Africa, facing such a poor and pure woman Marlow cannot reveal the darkness as well as truths to the Intended who is so ethereal. Although he knows the real Kurtz, if he told her Kurtz’s true last words, her heart would collapse. It is a very dramatic conflict when he tells her a lie in the end.
Tavia 49902065
I choose question1 to answer
I have posted a comment before, but that is not my answer, my computer had some error. So the pervious article is my reference only.
And the following is my answer.
Conrad cast in doubt epistemological and ethical in many ways. I think it is about Civilization. In heart of Darkness Marlow was determined to be the skipper of a river steamboat so he started his journey. But he was in doubt about the civilization. He saw the darkness side of it. His journey was like travelling back to the earliest beginnings of the world. But he thought he was “the speech that cannot be silenced”. He was representing the sound of the civilization. But many things around him were not like that. He felt that everything is horror. People behavior was cruel, evil, selfish and destructive there. He found many powers of darkness in the stories. But the epistemological and ethical certainties that were believed by his Victorian predecessors were altruistic, noble, unselfish and humanitarian. He thought that Mr Kurtz had the power to charm and honor. And it is also about Imperialism. Conrad was against imperialism. It is because Mr Kurtz used the forces of darkness to own everything that he had. And it is included his intended, ivory, station and river. There also had colonialism. He saw many slaves there. It is the attitudes of pain, abandonment, and despair. He said that the salve like the shackled form of a conquered monster. And he wanted to be the nature of supernatural beings appears to them. So I can see that he didn’t agree the people’s there and he must faithfulness to the civilization.
Astra 49902058
In Victorian’s epistemological and ethical beliefs, European is the center of the world. To illustrate their image of ideal, the European is like the chief accountant in Heart of Darkness, being always “spotless white, neat and clean.” And the Victorian predecessors think themselves as noble and have this kind of duty to purify (whiten) the world – especially the deep Africa, the heart of darkness. However, in Conrad’s Heart of Darkness, what the white people do is damaging to the area; the behaviors they act are not longer based on this sacred purpose but all out of greed, fame and the advantages they could get from the natives, which is out of the Victorian beliefs that – in Conrad’s book, the white people (the European) are portrayed as more brutal and barbaric than the African (the black). It makes the idea of Imperialism reveal its hypocrisy.
Also, the death of Kurtz can be seen as the collapse of Imperialism. It shows Conrad’s viewpoints about Imperialism, which is critical and skeptical. This kind of suspect towards Imperialism is opposite to the Victorian’s epistemological and ethical beliefs.
I choose the question 3. I think the Marlow was flat because he never changed his attitude from the beginning to the end. He doubted the imperialism is correct or not. In Victorian period, everybody regarded the viewpoint was good for their nation. But for African, it was unfair. They were exploited, deceived or plundered of their property. Marlow do not follow the main stream and he used the objective sight to see the world. Another flat character was Kurtz’s fiancée. Until Kurtz dead, she also believed that all Kurtz did was right and loved her forever. No one dared to tell her the truth. In fact, Kurt had a mistress in Africa so that he wasn’t loyal to his fiancée. His fiancée was fidelity, refined, pure and naïve.
I think the round one is Kurtz. In the beginning, he was an idealist and he had very good dream of his own. After, he became greed and commercial mentality. He loved power and abandoned his philanthropic ideals. He started to exploit and rob form Africans. Money and power blinded his eyes and made his life changed a lot. Everyone is easy to be seduced by some secularities but you can choose what road is right.
Question 3
I think that Marlow is a round character. In the story, Marlow is the main narrator. The most part of the points in the story that we know are his viewpoints. In the beginning of the story, Marlow take a job as a riverboat captain in Congo Africa and meets Kurtz. He is curious about Kurtz. Before he enters Congo, he adores Kurtz. But he becomes disappointed after he enters the Congo. He finally realizes that Kurtz is not the man who he heard. He starts to know the darkness of human. Even if the idealist like Kurtz would become corruption. Through Marlow’s viewpoints, we can know his changing of view. I think that another round character is Kurtz. In the beginning, he is an idealist. Hope to complete his great acts in Congo. But wealth can let people become corruption. We can see that he abandons his philanthropic ideals and submits to greed. But in the end of his life, he finally realizes the reality. His last words “The horror! The Horror! ”
Compared the both characters. I think that Kurtz’s fiancée is a flat character. Her innocent image is representing her smooth life. She believes Kurtz is a good person. Believing Kurtz is a loyal person and never betrays her. She never changes in the story. She resolutely believes her belief.
I would like to answer question two. Searching for a definition of one's unconscious mind I found that it can be seen as the source of dreams and the automatic thoughts that appear without any reason, or the forgotten memories that can still be accessed in the mind, and the things that we have learned so well that we do without even thinking. I think that there are a lot of places in the Heart of Darkness that reflects the focus on the unconscious mind. The whole novel depicts a spiritual self-growth of Marlow, with Marlow discovering his self at the very end. I think the result of his maturing appears in his action of sitting Buddha-like. It is telling us that he embarked on a spiritual journey like Buddha did. The scene appeared three times in the novel, once at the beginning, another in the middle, and the last one at the end of the novel. The darkness of the African forest bosom is a suggestion of the darkness in every men's heart. It is the evil thoughts, unacceptable desires that are repressed by Marlow and Kurtz.
I would like to choose question three to answer.
In my opinion, Marlow is a round character because his attitude and mind has changed during the process of his sailing to the Congo River. In the beginning, he was very ambitious and was eager to explore the part that he never knew. However, as time went by, his ambition and enthusiasm has diminished gradually since he saw the brutality of exploitation in the heart of darkness. He started to doubt the truth of imperialism even if imperialism is regarded as the right way to civilize the barbarian place in Victorian era. He became suspicious and skeptical to what seems innocent.
In the aspect of flat character, a typical example is Kurtz’s fiancée. She never changes at all in the story. She is so simple, naïve, pure and fidelity. She is royalty to Kurtz’s. Even when Kurtz died, she still believed that Kurtz was doing something great and noble to the Company. After a year since Kurtz died, she was still in mourning. So Marlow didn’t tell Kurtz’s fiancée the truth about what Kurtz did when he was alive and Kurtz’s last word “The Horror! The Horror! ” Marlow lied to Kurtz’s fiancée that Kurtz’s last word is her name.
Cindy 410002052
I choose question 3 to answer
I think the example of round character is Kurtz. He was an idealist in the beginning, because he thought he is the symbol of civilization and want to moralize those barbarians. However, he changed to become a greed man for gaining more and more ivories, and looting what he wanted. I think maybe it was the human's fear of unknown wilderness to hoodwink his conscience. He did not has a sense of security in this area, so he needed to do something to protect himself. Owing to far away from the civilized world, he lost his moral judgment slowly. He changed a civilized person into a savage. Finally,“The horror! The horror,”he said. He faced the darkness of human heart. He realized the ugly of the dirty heart.
Another, I think the example of flat character is Kurtz's fiancee. Although she just appeared in the last part of novel, she did not change herself at all. She always had her great esteem for Kurtz, and had her crazy faith in what Kurtz done. She loved him very much and was proud of him, because she thought whatever mission that Kurtz done is honorable, and it was a pity that we lost him. I think she is so simple that she will believe what Kurtz said to her.
I would like to answer the second question.
From my point of view, how the unconscious be reflected in the story, Heart of Darkness, is by the character, Marlow. In the story, Marlow went to Congo with great desire and ambition. However, his personal experience in Congo against his original imagination. What he saw in Congo made his moral basis decline and shocked his thought of colonialism . Although Marlow realizes how evil and dark in Congo, he still had fascination with Kurtz who is the one claims to do the ”work of civilization” actually is a kind of barbarian behavior. In my opinion, I regard Marlow’s moral decline and fascination with Kurtz as his unconscious about imperialism's inevitable evil corruption.
In addition, in Heart of Darkness, Conrad use a lot of imaginations to let reader comprehend how evil and dark colonialism in Congo. Take “patient wilderness” for example, it symbolizes people would be deeply influenced
by entering and staying in Congo. Besides, other imaginations such as voracious and treacherous jungle, sorrowful river and ominous woods and so on, are all reflect the unconscious about imperialism's inevitable evil.
Aere 49902056
I choose the third question to answer.
I think Marlow is a flat character. The story is narrated by the first person of him; there are many things about Marlow’s view, thought, and speculation. We examine Marlow’s changes of mind from these expressions, but I think Marlow keeps the same principle from beginning to end. He wouldn’t change his attitude no matter how people influence him when he makes a decision on something. For fist example, when he is appointed as river streamer, he please his aunt write a recommendation letter; the manager is always suspicious of somebody backing behind him and gives him flatter. However, Marlow just neglects him and does what he should do. Second, although all crew on boat know his respect for Kurtz and he’s on the Kurtz’s side, he never explains innocence with Kurtz and accepts all words. Moreover, he keeps promise with the Russian firmly; regardless of the law or Kurtz’s fiancée, who knows Kurtz the most. Even we as audience don’t know the truth of Kurtz’s last words and truth. On the other hand, the round character is Kurtz, because in first he holds an ambitious ideal when he reaches Africa. However after, he is influenced by the environment and reality, state of his mind changes, he becomes greed and snobbish. He robs ivory and enslaves locals from Africa where he firstly has a dream. Actually many of his subordinates know his character, so they apparently really respect him, but privately are scared of and scorns him.
Lily 49902009
I chose question number 2 to answer.
Unconscious reveals first in Marlow’s persistence of going to this blank space on the map, that is Congo. To him this place is like a mystery that is not just some blank spot on the map, but a heart of an unknown land or even an unknown world. There is so much to be discovered and it is an unconscious world worth looking. It is this unconsciousness that makes him so desperate to explore this place, so eager to find an answer. Maybe the civilized world can’t bring out the true self of his.
When Conrad starts to portray the forests, the unconsciousness appears again. In the forests, everything you know will fall apart because none of it is applicable. Once you enter, the area will suck you in, suck out all the things you once took for granted, and forcing one to take off the civilized part and face the naked, inner self, and the most prime humanity. It is the instinct that responses to the forests. The forests not only represent unconsciousness, but also represent the journey for Marlow to find his true self.
Another reflection is (Marlow’s connection with Mr. Kurtz. Mr. Kurtz appeared to conquer the wildness, but the truth is that he was eaten alive by the wildness. And the darkness in Heart of Darkness does not just mean the unconsciousness, but also the darkness of all mankind.
410002023 Eric
I choose to answer question NO.2
In fact, Heart of Darkness is a typical modernist work. Ironic to say, most characters in this story are unconscious. For example, Marlow still tries hard to go to Africa, even though he knows there is so dangerous and difficult to live. When he is in Europe, He repeatedly emphasize the “uncomfortable” feeling in the company, such as he met two strange women knitting black wool as if the guard of hell. Furthermore, when he has medical check-ups, the doctor tells him that no one would come back from Africa. From these clues can prove that Marlow is unconscious man. He would rather putting himself in the danger than give up the idea to go to Africa. After Marlow arrive in Congo, he saw a lot of things which doesn’t make sense. In other words, everything there cannot be judge in regular way. People live there for a long time will lose their moral value and their dark side of humanity appears little by little.
As for Kurts, who come to Africa with a strong sense of loyalty and idealism at first. Time pass by, his original intention is replaced by his evil and greedy. His heart was gradually eroded and hollowed out. With his outstanding leadership and eloquence, he exploits the ivories and all kind of resources. Finally he indulges in this kind of power as if he is the almighty God in his wonderland. Even when he was heavily sick, he was still reluctant to leave his space.
As mentioned above, numerous examples support that people cannot believe in humanity completely. Sometimes, people lose themselves and become unconscious for liberty, power and lust. In brief, “absolute power corrupts absolutely.”
Monica W10102006
Q1：
We know that the Great Britain was called as “ the sun never sets on the British Empire”during Victorian, they set up many colonies around the world and carried out their holy mission so called “civilize them”. And no one doubted what they had done to those savages might not so holy or pure, British were proud of themselves until Conrad in Heart of Darkness revealed those dirty things that happened in Congo river. As Kurtz himself said : “the white must necessarily appear to them[savages] in the nature of supernatural beings—we approach them with the might as of a deity.” those civilized world showed their true ugly faces in front of interest and power. Conrad used Kurtz as represent of cruel civilized people, and made a sharp contrast to beliefs of Victorian predecessors.
Another example is Kurtz’s fiancee, in the novel, satire of “ angel in the house” is apparently to find. Compared with Kurtz’s shining, enchanting, fiercely charming mistress, it is obvious that Kurtz’s intended is of a total opposite type of woman: innocent, unblemished, docile, totally loyal to Kurtz, pure as an angel, is a symbol of all the beauty, innocence and morals in the whole world – the male-oriented world. Judging from every angle of the western society, she is a perfect model for women, wives and perfect companions to the manly men of imperialist Europe. As a man, Marlow appreciates and wants to be protective to the fragile, delicate woman. But deep in his heart, he despises her for her lack of true knowledge of the real world and of men. As Marlow says, women are keepers of illusions; this obedient female is one of them. That pale, sentimental woman, devoted to Kurtz, continues her sweet dream in the lies Marlow made for her. It was a pathetic as well as odious character exactly like Victorian women. In this way, Conrad doubted the epistemological and ethical certainties that were believed by his Victorian predecessors .
Penny Lee 69902623
Answer to Question 3.
I think Marlow is a rather complicated and round character. He was a sailor who reveled in exploring the uncharted areas of the world. At first, he went to Congo with imperialism and he was proud that he brought civilized culture into the uncivilized would. Then, he met Kurtz, who was a talented man and Marlow felt that they shared a similar passion for the wilderness; however, soon he found out what Kurtz had done to the residents of Congo and his greed, so he gradually changed his opinion of Kurtz. He finally learned that the seemingly uncultured natives probably had more sense than the white Europeans who had come to civilize them.
Aside from Marlow, Kurtz is a round character and dynamic as well. He espoused the idealism of imperialism and the pure side of the European presence in Africa, and traveled to the Congo in order to bring civilization and culture to the savages. He talked about the progress, enlightenment, and kindliness in European presence of Africa. Nonetheless, because of the authority and the fortune that he encountered, evil surrounded him. He murdered the natives, stolen whatever they had, and allowed himself to become their deity. Years of living in the jungle have made him savage and fanatical.
On the other hand, Kurtz’s fiancée is a flat character. She was a refined, simple and cultured woman. Due to Marlow’s white lie, she never knew the evil and terror that possessed in Kurtz’s final days. She still believes that Kurtz is the man who used to be, and her affection remained faithful to Kurtz even though he has been dead for years.
Joanne 49902060
Question3
I consider Marlow is a round character. Just, eloquent, and thoughtful, Marlow is the narrator in the story. He is a man with abundant life experiences, being oppositional and repugnant toward the imperialism in the Third World because of the past he has gone through. However, although Marlow is an anti-imperialist, some words he uses in the story still show his subconscious racial discrimination. It makes the character so vivid that we can also find this situation or this kind of people in our realistic world. For example, in line 14 of pp.2354, Marlow uses “the prehistoric man” to describe the natives, pointing out that the natives are uncivilized and barbarous. Also, in the story, we can see the change of Marlow that his impression and thoughts toward Kurtz; He becomes ambivalence toward Kurtz’s invasion. (the first paragraph of pp.2371)
As for the flat character, I think Kurtz’s fiancée is the most noticeable one. She is a character who is portrayed as angelic and ethereal. She doesn’t have her own name, being always called “Kurtz’s fiancée”. It conveys a concept that she doesn’t have her own personality and identity. She devotes herself totally to Kurtz and lives for him, having unrealistic fancy of her imaginary world. Besides, she believes in whatever Marlow tells her. In my opinion, it’s a symbol that she is always told by others instead of knowing facts by herself.
Question2:
Because Conrad described the jungle as ‘colossal’, ‘brooding over an inscrutable intention’, it seems the unconscious is reflected by the jungle in Heart of Darkness.
Actually, Freud said the unconscious is like the part of an iceberg underwater. It is the largest part of human’s mind, something cannot be aware of and controlled, and it often affects human’s behaviors. Especially, it is quite still though it is powerful.
But, we can have a glance at the unconscious through our dreams. Marlow felt the trip was like the nightmare behind which hides many incredible and unspeakable secrets. Everything not belongs to the jungle that once had been civilized has become degenerated since the jungle itself is a ‘prehistoric’ place. It is worth notice that Marlow said they were used to ‘look upon the shackled form of a conquered monster.’ He meant they used to be bound by the civilizations. However, in the jungle they were in a ‘monstrous and free’ situation, which means once the principles of European civilizations no longer exist in the white colonists’ mind, they will turn out to be savage, greedy, and demoralized eventually. That reflects the unconscious will become dominant when one lost his self-conscious—in a sleep in particular— which may represents the self-control, or his super-ego, he will find out ‘everything is in it’. Human’s utmost desire is always buried in the deepest of the unconscious. For Kurtz, it was his ugliest desire when he fell into the heart of darkness, devoured him.
49902048 Rita
I want to answer question number three.
I think the flat character in this novel is Kurtz's fiancée. We can see that she only appears almost by the end of the novel. Even though she speaks to Marlow, we don’t know her real name. The word "the Intended" is merely a status defined by her relationship to Kurtz. As a character, she nearly couldn’t change the storyline. Her appearance is just to proclaim how innocent those Europeans are. Like many Europeans, trying to believe in the greatness of men like Kurtz and chooses to deny the evil and distress that happens. Her angelic and naïve characteristic makes she just like her sense of existence in the novel which is emptiness and dispensable.
On the other hand, Kurtz is the round character in the novel. The life of Kurtz was full of appalling adventures. By the dialogue between Marlow and the Russian or Kurtz’s fiancée, Kurtz is a hero and a very special existence. He is one-of-a-kind with such a good ambition and charming leadership. But in the middle of the story, Marlow found that Kurtz totally hollow of the European civilization but filled with lust and greedy for the ivories which symbolizing material wealth. That’s the reason why Kurtz is reflecting on his life and scream out "The horror, the horror!" as his last word with all his breath.
Both of Kurtz and his fiancée are represented the values and the concept that Europeans want to bring to the Africa. But there is large difference between them.
Question 3:
In the Heart of Darkness, Marlow is one of the round characters. He has undergone a transformation throughout his experiences in Africa. Before he goes to Congo, he believes that the Company is spreading civilization to the African people whom it sees as heathen and barbaric. However, all the Company does there was exploiting the natives for its own good. The chief account ‘‘teach’’ a native woman to wash clothes for him; the Expedition only cares about extracting valuable things from the land; the Pilgrims all want to be appointed to a trading-post so that they can get ivory and make profits; Kurtz’s crazy thoughts that everything belongs to him and his fascination with the powers over the ‘‘heart of darkness’’… Then Marlow realizes how cruel and merciless the fact is and starts to wonder the true meaning of the so-called ‘‘civilization’’. He loses his passion for Congo, and his experiences there become a nightmare haunts him.
On the other hand, the old doctor who examines Marlow is one of the flat characters. Although he is not much involved in the story, he plays an important role in revealing the danger of the ‘‘heart of darkness’’. His eccentric behavior and his strange questions foreshadow Marlow’s journey to Congo to be ominous.
3. For the example of a round character, I’ll choose Kurtz. When he didn’t appear, the impressions of Kurtz were all given by the other employees. They worshiped him and took him as a godlike figure. Therefore, though Marlow hasn’t seen him, he still admired him nonetheless. Then he knew that it’s a lie. At first, Kurtz came to Africa with a mind of rescuing. He wanted to bring culture and civilization to the savages. Later on, I think that Konrad stands out Kurtz’s characteristic by what the natives encountered and what they responded. Kurtz did works of exploiting and torture to them, but why did they take it properly and even didn’t feel relieved when Kurtz died? This embodied Kurtz’s image of a riddle. Though Kurtz made profits for the company, Marlow rejected the way Kurtz treated the natives and doubted that why Kurtz can hold a so high status. Even, Kurtz’s intended’s reflection made Marlow see him as a riddle.
Instead, to talk about the flat character, I’ll take it as the accountant, the so-called miracle. In such wilderness, he still remained an unexpected elegance of get-up. I think his existence is to show the expression of imperialism and to show that they are able to manage the backward place.
I would like to answer the third question.
As for Kurtz, I think his character is round. He has the choleric temperament which is ambitious and leader-like. The same as Marlow, the noble goal that they went to Congo, is to make them civilized, earn the money and rob from them. In near the end, they were not going to enlighten the brutes but to “exterminate” all the brutes. But they were exactly the brutal one. He bargained for his soul with the evil, desire has no rest. Even though that he had got lots of ivories, if he went back to his country, he could have already been proud of himself. However, what he chose was staying there while he was heavily sick. Marlow changes and he was also the round character. He did not believe that human are kind to change the world and would make the world better. Though he still admired Kurtz in some aspects, in the deeply human heart he was not sure at last. He condemned him of plunder and exploit.
For Kurtz’s fiancée, she regards Kurtz as very noble, generous, energetic, and remarkable. I think she may be the melancholic temperament. What she knew about Kurtz was definitely wrong. She was under delusion and still naïve towards life. Because she just lived at home and isolated from the world. Limited and don’t know what exactly the outside world is. And that made her so harmless; Marlow even can’t bear to tell her the truth. She knew that the last word Kurtz said was her name. She fulfilled and would not change by the realistic truth. So I think she is the flat character.
Treer 410002008
Question 3
I think both Marlow and Kurtz are round characters, while Kurtz’s fiancé is the representation of flat character.
The most obvious round character is Kurtz. Before he went to Congo, he truly believed the idealism of imperialism and thought that European went to Congo to bring civilization and culture to those barbarians in Africa. But the longer he stayed in Congo, the more he loss himself and his belief. The improvement, change and enlightenment he had wished to bring in, at last turned out to be nothing but a ridiculous, unrealistic thought. Although he still said that he was helping to barbarians to build up their culture and civilization, he acted in the opposite way. Instead of bringing in culture and civilization, he deprived local resources like the ivory, oppressed and slaved local people to get as much benefit as he can. The other round character is Marlow, at first he took imperialism as a positive thing but soon he found out that was totally wrong. There were no signs of progress, not to mention the culture, the enlightenment that the European promised. He only saw the greed and lust of humanity, which were considered to be deceitful flow and he could not keep it away from himself. At the end, he was kind of being part of the deceitful flow because he lied to Kurtz’s fiancé about his last words, though it was out of good intention.
Kurtz’s fiancé is a flat character. For so many years of waiting for Kurtz, she still believed in Kurtz and waited for him. She was a typical Victorian woman, who was well-protected and knew nothing about the dark side of the world. At the very end, she remained the same as she always was because she did not know Kurtz had changed a lot, from idealistic to morally degenerate, from faithful to cheat on her.
Question 3:
Marlow is the main character in the story, and compared to others, he is a round character. He is the storyteller; he told the story in his point of view, and it’s such a fascinating way that would draw listener’s attention. And I think Marlow is a kind of traditional hero: tough, honest, and he is an independent thinker. At first, Marlow was ambitious and was eager to find out what was in Africa, and after he met Kurtz, things starts to change. He was exposed to the dark side of human nature, the truth of civilization, and the cruelty of imperialism. Through the story, we know that the way he portrays Africa and other people were vivid and sometimes haunting. What makes him a round character is because we know every little detail of his thinking, and he somehow led us to explore the story.
Kurtz’s fiancée is a flat character. She didn’t show up towards the end of the story. We can only how this woman is through Marlow’s description: a pale head, fair hair, pure brow, dark eyes, and obviously not very young. Her outlooks give us a sense of angelic feeling, pure and naive. She devoted herself to Kurtz and was proud of him, and she seems to be living in a dreamy world. Her name isn’t revealed at all, not even at the end.
410002019 Linda Hsu
I want to answer the third question. I choose Marlow as the character. In the beginning, when Marlow enters the Congo River, he is full of ambition and has a lot of energy to conquer. But after a lot of incidents happen, he starts to think about the reasons and analyzes the fact. The process of the changing in his mind makes me think that he is a round character.
When Kurtz dies, Marlow doesn’t tell Kurtz’s fiancée that what bad things Kurtz did. I think that Marlow is a man who thinks a lot. He does not do such things that will cause unnecessary problems. He knows that Kurtz’s fiancée is pure and knows nothing about Kurtz’s life. She just believes that Kurtz loves her and she is very afraid that this is not the truth. Although there are many terrible things about Kurtz, Marlow still conceals the evil parts and comforts Kurtz’s fiancée with the words she can accept. This is a big struggle for a person to tell this lie because people always want to know the truth whether it can be good or bad. Especially, when it comes to some severe events, if we are innocent of the real fact, we will only live in the fantasy of ourselves. Marlow chooses not to tell the truth, and may be this is the only way to protect Kurtz’s fiancée.
49902032 Hazel
1.After reading Heart of Darkness, then can we found out Conrad uses many symbolic portraits, irony, and also he uses the technique of reverse. The obvious one is that Conrad portrays the accountant’s outfits, and then he makes it a huge contrast toward the dying black native people. A figure is god-liked, angel-liked and verses to the other which is like in hell. The word that Conrad uses to describe the scene which is seen by Marlow is pretty ironic. “I shake hand with the miracle.” Conrad describes the accountant as a miracle, then why that so called miracle makes others suffer just like in hell? Conrad also uses negative words to describe London we could somehow know he is criticizing the empire. Most white people in Victorian age holding believe that they were going to “civilize” the colonies. They thought it was a mission, people regarded it as a responsibilities, as a spiritual thing. But in fact they were just groups of pirates, greedy to scramble other countries resources, seize them by force. They were used to hold the power and rule the black native there. Conrad portrays Kurtz’s fiancee’s house like grave, the house which is decorated in classical Victorian style. Also the fiancée would keep believe in the lie that Marlow made up until she died. All of these are to criticize the thoughts that people hold in the Victorian age.
3. I think an example of round characters in “Heart of Darkness” is Kurtz. In the first, he is an idealist but he gradually becomes more and more avaricious and greed for wealth during his business. Besides, though Kurtz has exploited Africans, native still consider him a god. For different people, they have different image of Kurtz. However, what Kurtz says in the end of his life gives readers a different image of him before. And another round character is Marlow. In the beginning, he is against the imperialism in his mind. But as one member of business company’s staff, what Marlow does is similar to his colleague. He does the same thing as imperialism that he hates originally after entering Congo River. Besides, we can feel that Marlow also change his thought and thinks west culture is superior from what he sometimes talked. Those things are almost different from what he is in the beginning. On the other hand, Kurtz’s fiancée is an obvious flat character. She is loyal and faithful to Kurtz forever. She loves Kurtz and care things about Kurtz very much even after Kurtz is dead. She still chooses to waits for and trusts Kurtz very long time. She always believes Kurtz is a good person although he is so evil. She doesn’t change herself at all in the whole story.
Q1:
Because Marlow is the narrator of Heart of Darkness, he conveys what Conrad actually wants to indicate. In this story, Marlow has an unconscious sensation on imperialism. He is ambivalent about the pros and cons of Victorianism. In some cases, Marlow despises European’s greed and arrogance. Nevertheless, his ambition somehow makes himself no difference to those things he hates. There’s an impressive conflict when he encounters six black slaves on his way to company. Marlow portrays their appearance and action vividly. I especially admire this following section “each had an iron collar on his neck, and all were connected together with a chain whose bightsswung between them, rhythmically clinking.” Marlow summarizes this experience with words like devil, rapacious and insidious. However, compare with those black men experience, Marlow’s first meet with the Company’s accountant appears to be ridiculous which criticizes the empire in some degree. He describes the accountant a miracle because in the great demoralization of the land he kept up his appearance. Marlow even says that the accountant has backbone. It’s pretty ironic and shameful that European ignore the natives in such an uncivilized way. Marlow doesn’t criticize Victorianism directly. However, through his experience, the unspeakable ugliness seems to be more real.
3.
After reading Heart of Darkness, I think Marlow is a round character, while Marlow’s aunt and Kurtz’s fiancée are flat characters. Marlow was fascinated by adventures. When he was a child, he made up his mind to travel around the world. At first, he was kind of a proud person who was full of ambition and longed to go to every corner of world. During his journey, he met some people like the manager, accountant, and especially, Kurtz. He also experienced and saw how the company, or the emperor, treated black people there. By interacting with those people, seeing the dark side of company, his personality and his perspective were affected. For example, he used to hate and could not bear a lie; however, he ended up lying Kurtz’s fiancée. Though he said the lie in a fright, he did it anyway in order to make Kurtz’s fiancée feel better. In terms of Marlow’s aunt and Kurtz’s fiancée who are both flat characters. They are the reflection of the women in that century. They usually stayed at home and were the roles of the good housewives. Besides, they both had a wonderful world of their own apart from the reality outside the houses. Especially Kurtz’s fiancée, she believed that Kurtz was the best man in the world and would not change her mind forever.
Lily Wong: Answer question No. 3
A round character is a major character who encounters conflict and is changed by it. In the heart of darkness, Charlie Marlow is a type of round character. He is described to be tough, independent, honest and capable. He is curious, he tells lie. And this made Charlie Marlow seem to be real in the real life. He received a job with the Company and then he went to Congo. And this experience has changed him. He suffered horribly. He is shocked by the amount of waste and disregard for life there. By the end, he is nearly unable to join the European society; he is convinced by the lies and the surface-truth that sustain it. He is being corrupted by his experiences and memories.
On the other hand, a flat character is a minor character who does not undergo substantial change or growth in the course of a story. In the story, the Accountant is a type of flat character. He is just aimed at having more profit, and he will do anything for this. This represents the Company’s main purpose and the methods of running the Company. And he also show that how the whites hate the natives. However, throughout the story, his character stays unchanged.
3.
Paragraph 1:
The Russian harlequin is an example of flat characters. He is a minor character in Heart of Darkness who may not be fully depicted but is useful in carrying out some narrative purpose of the author. He was obsessed by Kurtz. Kurtz was considered as charismatic by readers because of his praises on Kurtz. He considered Kurtz as an idol whose words and ideas were amazingly powerful. His obsession led readers to read about how awesome Kurtz was. He covered up Kurtz's faults because of his devotion and loyalty to Kurtz. He wanted to be like Kurtz, and he did not change or grow during the course of the story.
Paragraph 2:
Kurtz is an example of round characters. He is a major character in Heart of Darkness who encounters conflict and is changed by it. He is a character who has been fully developed. He went to the Congo in order to bring civilization and culture to the natives. He was gifted as musician and a fine painter. He can rule the natives because of his charisma and his ability. However, he became greedy and corrupt after he settled. The power and money controlled his mind, and he lost himself. He turned into a monster that had human figure. (Word count:208 words)
Charles 49902014
Question 1
The story begins with Marlow telling his story to the shipmates about his trip to Africa. From Marlow’s story we know that when he was a little chap, he had a passion of exploring the world, especially Congo. However, Marlow’s epistemology to Africa changed during his journey.
In this book, Conrad uses a lot of contrastive writing tactics to show the irony between Marlow’s and other contemporary Victorian predecessor’s ethical certainties. For example, Marlow’s aunt is enthusiastically and delightfully willing to help Marlow after he shows his interest to be a part of the crew sailing to Congo. A glorious idea she considers it. Ironically, all Marlow saw during his days in Congo was the dark side of his civilization. Imperialism is a big joke. The white exploit their slave extremely to acquire what they want. The part that intrigued me most is when Marlow gave a biscuit to a black slave and saw the horrible scene of them suffering in starvation. After that, Marlow met the white accountant with clear white pants and shiny boots. Quite a satire to their so-call glorious imperialism, isn’t it?
In part 3 when Marlow returns and is informing Kurt’s fiancée about his death, we observe that Marlow has been trying hard not to lose his temper. By now he has known the truth about imperialism. It’s just hard to explain to those who will never know what it feels like. That’s why the story begins with Marlow telling his story. He is trying to use his story to share his own epistemology about this everything.
Judy 49902027
2)
The unconscious can be reflected in the plot if we look at it as a whole in Conrad’s Heart of Darkness. First of all, the unconscious suggests that within each of us there are thoughts, emotions, and desires that we repress from our daily consciousness. These feelings can be unacceptable in the society or traumatizing for us.
In the story, we know that Marlow is propelled to start a journey to the heart of Africa in order to find Kurtz. And obviously, the warnings and the ominous feelings Marlow receives don’t stop him from going. As a result, this journey itself of looking for Kurtz can be regarded as a symbol of the unconscious of the story. Marlow’s unconscious mind encourages him to get deeper into the darkness of Congo, and it can be considered as a voyage of a man’s falling into the depths of his repressed thoughts and emotions. Furthermore, when Marlow arrives in Congo, Heart of darkness reveals that the so called civilization of European imperialism actually turns out to be another kind of brutality. Conrad depicts how savage colonialism is through Marlow’s journey and observation of those indigenous people in Africa. And, here Marlow’s moral decline could represent Joseph Conrad’s attitude and unconscious political statement toward the corruption of imperialism.
49980938 Joy
I choose the third question to answer
For me, I take Kurtz's fiancée as a flat character. Maybe one of the reasons that I think so is that she shows up in the end of the story, and she keeps talking about how much she loves her fiancé, so I can't see any change of her. She refuses to connect with the reality. I think her unshakable love about Kurtz is not a truly love, a blind worship, instead. Blindness makes her live in a shadow of illusoriness, like a fancy fairy tale. What really matters in her life is deceptive love. She even doesn't know Kurtz has cheated on her! For her, Kurtz is the one who love her most. She tries to regard her fiancé as a hero! So, I think her blindness can represent Western imperialism, fantastic but useless. On the other hand, Kurtz is a round character in the story. He has changed a lot in the story. At first, he is situated within a larger tradition. He believes that imperialism can civilize the Africa barbarians. He is an ambitious idealist. However, when he arrives at Congo River, he gradually changes. Africa “Wildness” is an unknown world for him. He finds something different. In the end of story, he realizes that the reality is a horror. As his last word “The horror! The horror!” Finally, he gives up his moral life and becomes savage. And he realize that Western civilization is horrible.
With the doubt and denying to those Victorian predecessors, Joseph Conrad used a great number of indirect contrasts to show how barbarous to those colonialists who think they consider their selves were superior to those who were be colonized. By portraying himself into one of the crew, he stood on the sidelines and took down what he saw. With Conrad’s record, we can figure out so many contrasts and irony incidents. For instance, Conrad had written about, when he arrived the station, the chief of the Inner Station dressed in a whole white suit and ordered a black woman to wash his suit. I think in this part, Conrad wants to show the irony between what the chief of inner station dresses and the environment in Congo. In fact, Congo is a tropic country, so dressing in a suit is not quite fit to the scorching hot weather. However, the chief dressed in a suit was trying to show the superiority and made the distinction. But it is quite hilarious for sure.
李怡慧 英美碩三 69902613
The question I chose to answer is Question 3. The round character I want to talk about is Kurtz; the flat character I want to analyze is Kurtz's fiancée.
Kurtz is actually an ordinary man. The reason why I said that is because human is by nature really complicated. There are good qualities as well as bad qualities which exist altogether in human nature. Sometimes people choose to do terrible things even though s/he knows they are wrong. The reason people do them is because s/he just can’t help it. S/he cannot resist the temptation from the dark side of his/her mind. At first, Kurtz holds a very positive attitude towards his jobs in Congo. He looks forward to go there to lead and help the natives to have better lives. However, gradually he forgets his original wonderful intention, passion, and ambition. He is tempted to fame, power and money. In a word, the dark side of his mind appears and controls him due to the temptation from the dark force. He begins to use guns to threaten the natives. He forces them to work for him and to become his slaves. He is totally drunk with power. All he knows and does is to get ivory by fair means or foul. However, during this period of time when he commits these terrible crimes, he actually hates his own behavior at the same time. The struggle between his dark side and good side makes him feel extremely painful. At last, although he has repented of his sins, it is too late. I think it is the conflict that makes him a round character.
In comparison to Kurtz, the character of his fiancée is quite flat. This poor lady lives in her own pink bubble world. She never really knows Kurtz. She does not know what kind of person Kurtz truly is. She just believes Kurtz wholeheartedly and doubtless. She does not even think of the possibility that Kurtz will change or cheat on her. She believes that Kurtz is and always will be the wonderful and talented man who has grand ambition. It is her pure innocent nature which makes her become a flat character.
410002044 Leo
I want to answer Q3. I think that Marlow is definitely a round character. He is the main character and also the narrator in the novel. In my opinion, the story can be thought “the Marlow system” because he is like a star in the center and the other flat characters are like the plants surrounding beside he. Readers only can get one viewpoint---Marlow’s. From the beginning, Marlow explained why he wants to go to Congo and to the end he visited Kurtz’s fiancée. He is the one throughout the whole story. Otherwise, I think that Marlow’s aunt is a flat character in the story. I bet that she didn’t say over ten words through the whole novel. The author even didn’t mention about her appearance in the story. Readers only can find that Marlow looked down his nose at his aunt. For example, Marlow said that “I, Charlie Marlow, set the women to work—to get a job. Heavens! ...” P2333 or “One thing more remained to do—say good-bye to my excellent aunt. I found her triumphant”P2336. I think the words “excellent aunt” is very irony especially after he got the job. In sum, I think that Marlow and his aunt are the most representative characters of the round character and the flat character.
英美三 49902016 Ryan 邱睦樵
2) If the focus on the unconscious can be said to be one of the main characteristics of modernist literature, how is this reflected in Conrad's Heart of Darkness?
Before any discussions or arguments may be made concerning the unconscious in the Heart of Darkness, a brief definition would need to be in order. The unconscious is the mind that operates, in a sense, beyond the control oneself; it includes memory, motivation, and many other aspects.
With the definition of the unconscious in mind, the character of Kurtz becomes almost transparent, or at least understandable. Kurtz, in short, set out to fulfill noble (and questionable) ideals, but turned rogue and allied himself with native Africans. In fact, he dominated the native Africans by becoming a king or even a god to them. In today’s society, one can easily understand such an act is merely the result of corruption from power and greed. But such an understanding comes from a whole century of knowledge and research of the unconscious. What Kurtz merely did was allow his unconscious take control of him. His unconscious desire was to not just lead but to dominate. To him, domination was more than having complete control over the natives but also about having materials to symbolize his rule, ivory. While Kurtz’s unconscious turned him into a sociopath, as proved by the heads on sticks, he was far from crazy in terms of intelligence. These observations all conclude that the unconscious was indeed observed by Joseph Conrad, and depicted with a stunning accuracy to how a sociopath might act.
I would like to answer question two. I think Conrad make the unconscious pass through the story under the words, it be reflected by concrete, the jungle and river, and abstract, the human nature and behavior. The unconscious, of course it is flowing under someone’s preconscious which people seldom can feel it except some specific timing, like the dream, nightmare or people’s reasonable belief. In Heart of Darkness, Marlow traces back to tell about the experiences to others, the story telling is what he through, thought, which is his monolog. In Marlow’s long monolog, he tells the gloom, brooding jungle and river, how ominous feeling and condition are they. The Congo River keeps flowing, the story keeps going, where is the most darkness place in the novel? Marlow didn’t say, he keeps his secret but the readers can read it from Marlow’s words, his unconscious in his mind, the humanity. From the beginning of the story, he starts to describe what kind of people he met, the accountant, the manager, Kurtz, the native people and many pilgrims. Every character shape by Marlow’s preconceived words. Therefore, the reader can follow Conrad’s setting to find painstaking investigation.
410002012 Phillip
Questions 2
In Heart of Darkness, the narrator puts lots of efforts in describing the environment, trying to mingle the darkness of it with the human’s heart. Such as The Congo River, resembling “an immense snake uncoiled”, the impenetrable jungle, and the barbaric human, which creates some mysterious and frightening feeling. The environment somehow prepared the darkness of Marlow’s heart, in this environment Marlow can barely breath, since He saw the heart of darkness, imperialism, which affected his mind and conflicted his moral aspect simultaneously. It contradicts Marlow’s mind from the very beginning of the story, he doesn’t seem to expect the sorrow, barbarism, cruel, darkness of human’s heart. The darkness, aloofness Marlow met in Congo can actually be regarded as the effects of a ambitious goal, “civilization” that British Empire tried to do to Africa, which can cause an immense tragedy. As the saying “There is no document of civilization that is not at the same time a document of barbarism”.
In Heart of Darkness, the narrator describes Marlow’s felling, thought, emotion, and memories in a very detailed way. That allow the readers to see traits of the imperialism and the aftermath it could cause to a country and human beings.
410002037 Chou
I would like to take the third one question. First, I want to mention about the manager and his uncle in the story. Both two are the flat characters. We can easily to find their voracious and greedy hearts. All they wanted to do is to gain the profit from Congo. Exploitation was the word which deeply rooted in their mind. The manager was always afraid he would be replaced. He cared his power and his position. And Kurtz was the one who can threaten his place. So he hated Kurtz. In the end they still did not change. Both of their characteristics (manager and his uncle) were ordinary and simple. Second, Kurtz was the round character. In the beginning, he carried his idealism dream to Congo. He aimed to improve, humanize and instruct people in there. He thought he had this mission. But the wildness in this place somehow threw him into the darkness. The Ivory made him totally decay. His eloquence skill and his talent caused him to be a leader. But we know that the power can entirely rotten one’s mind. He transformed into the savage guy that he had never been. His characteristic was conflicted. Until the end, the epiphany finally came to him. Because of this ambivalent characteristic, he became prominent in the story.
Kenny 410002016
Question 3
In Heart of Darkness, Marlow is a round character. In the beginning of the story, Marlow showed his great ambition and curiosity when he went to the Congo. But as the journey went deeper and deeper in to the heart of darkness, the horrible experiences changed his mind. During his journey, he saw the ironic big contract between white people and black people. Black people was treated as slaves, they lived in pain, abandon, despair and death. But the white people such as the Company’s chief accountant, he is unexpected elegance and wore good clothes. Also he wondered whether white people are more civilized than black people or not because he saw those black people didn’t eat them due to their hunger, they can restrain themselves. However, white people was controlled by their tremendous desire, they scrambled the resources from Africa to make themselves wealthy. And when Marlow met Kurtz, he finally realized the dark side of humanity and the greed for wilderness also wealth. The ideology of imperialism is not as noble as Marlow thought before. All he saw was the cruelty of their invasion and torture the native people even destroy their life. And the idea of civilization is also challenged when he experienced those events in the heart of darkness.
And Kurtz’s fiancée is a flat character because in the story, she waited for Kurtz no matter how long it took. She still love him and very faithful to Kurtz. After Kurtz died she still mourned over his death over a year. Her delusional love for Kurtz didn’t change from the beginning of the story to the end. Also she is a classic symbol of Victorian woman. She represented the idea of “the Angel in the house”.
Erica 410002007
3)A flat character is one who only has one character and is dedicated to the main character. The Russian is an example of flat character in Heart of Darkness. In the story, we can only tell that h is dedicated to Kurtz. All he does is just adoring Kurtz like the natives and willing to do anything for him. He has a great respect toward Kurtz. When Marlow asks the Russian, “Don’t you talk with Mr. Kurtz?”, the Russian replies, “You don’t talk with that man- you listen to him.” We can see the loyalty of the Russian toward Kurtz. However, we can only examine this characteristic. We do not have other material to picture his characteristic or personal disposition.
On the other hand, a round character is one who has a vivid image like a real person and encounters occurrences. The round character has the interconnected effect with the development of plots. Marlow is definitely a round character in Heart of Darkness. We can imagine his characteristics from the beginning of the story where the anonymous narrator describes Marlow in detail. And mostly, we get to know more about Marlow from the story he tells. We can read Marlow’s mind in his words, which not only reveal the truth in Congo River, but also the change of his point of view. Thus the characteristics reveal vividly as well.
49902018 許祖菡
I would like to answer question 3 and take Kurtz’s fiancé and Kurtz these two characters for example. Kurtz himself is the round character in the story. He was full of ambition and passion and desired to explore the Congo at the first place. And after he came to Congo he changes a lot. People in Congo worship him a lot and seem him as a god. He was full of power and owned his empire there. A new Kurtz in Congo is mystery, attractive and apotheosized. And he also had a new family here. Most important is that he doesn’t want to leave the Congo, his empire, even though he was deathly sick.
Kurtz’s fiancé was the flat character in the story. After Kurtz dead for a year, she was still in mourning. It was one of evidence that she was not easy to be changed. And in the end of the story, she still believes her husband was dead for great ambition. She said “What a loss to me—to us…to the world.” She trapped in her own imagination and would never come out to the real world. She keeps same situation and faith, is a typical flat character.
49902049 Ben
I choose the first question to answer.
As the white society getting stronger, they try to invade what and who they think they are weaker then white men. Europeans said that they were only trying to do business in Africa, but we all know that’s not what the fact was. They pressed and squeezed local barbarians and do what ever they want. As we know from the Victorianism era, it’s a time that Caucasian-centric, white men were the one who only matters to the world. From how Conrad describe the appearance of company’s supervisor, we can understand that it’s really a obvious contrast toward local workers. Local Africans were the people who suffer, but they still claim that it’s all just business. The pressure given by white men are killing them slowly, and taking away all their dignity, their right, such a irony was the most impressive but sad thing I noticed after reading this article. Kurtz, how did he become the leader of the tribe? He killed and threaten them to subservient to him, the reason that he can do such things was because he used their fair toward white men, because the locals think and treat them as gods. In Victorian era, all things should be perfect, just as Kurtz fiancee, being protected, stupid and but beautiful and lovely, that’s the perfect image of woman, a woman that only knows how to obey. This weak Victorian woman had a huge contrast toward local African woman, who were strong, and be able to protect their self. These are the image of what we can see in the “Heart of dankness”, the Victorian image, strong white men, weak beautiful woman, and the white men-centered world.
410002020 Wiwi
I would like to answer the third question.
The manager is the example of flat character. He only cares himself for his position and he keeps an eye on Kurtz every move. He tries his best to interrupt everything beneficial to Kurtz. While Kurtz is sick, he seems that he show his care to Kurtz, but, in fact, he wants to make sure everything is fine not to influence his position. After Kurtz's death, instead of feeling sympathy for Kurtz ,he is eager for every detail about Kurtz from Marlow. He is a selfish man from the beginning to the end of the story, so he is a flat character.
As for round character, Marlow is the example in this novella. Marlow tells the story at the beginning of the novella. At first, he is adventurous and wants to discover the new world, Africa. But as he stays in Congo for more time. He discovers that what the virtue of civilization European promote to Africa is totally different from his thought. The civilization is a brilliant camouflage to seize the advantages from Africa to Europe. The more he knows about the darkness of civil European country, the more he questions himself for the values he has learned from European cultures. At the end of the novella, Marlow is an observer. He is not innocent anymore. His perspectives on Africa and European affairs are wise and clear.
49902022 Michelle
I choose the second question.
The unconscious of human is reflected in Heart of Darkness by the depiction of those surreal settings and irrational part of human being. Through the whole journey Conrad described a lot of dream-like images. For example, when Marlow was on his way to Congo he watched a coast feeling uncomfortable, and the author describe that “there it is before you-smiling, frowning, inviting, grand, mean, or savage, and always mute with an air of whispering”. And here is another example of fantasy setting “you thought yourself bewitched and cut off foe ever from everything you had known once-somewhere-far away-in another existence perhaps” which was depicted when Marlow tried to go the upriver to find Kurtz. These surreal images kinds of reflect the main character Marlow’s fear of those unknown journeys in his unconscious.
Besides, Conrad also described the terrible and irrational part of human beings and through Marlow‘s eye readers found that how greedy and vicious are these white man. For instance the sentence Marlow describe the Exploring Expedition is, ” To tear treasure out of the bowels of the land was their desire, with no more moral purpose at the back of it than there is in burglars breaking into a safe.” By those other-worldly images and irrational depiction in Heart of Darkness the focus on unconscious of human beings is clearly show.
Jenny 410002028
2.In the story, the savagery includes the imperialism, the desire to conquer, and the wilderness. On the contrary, I think that the humanity in one’s mind means the civilization. When it comes to the savagery, Mr Kurtz is the best representative. He uses his power to exploit the Africans for making money form the ivory trade. He even thinks that the White is just like a deity to allow the Black to be civilized. Besides, Marlow’s admiration for Kurtz and his desire to conquer the Africa are as savage as Kurtz. And the wildness in Africa also makes the blacks have to live in the savage ways. However, when the heart is gradually civilized, it means that people are getting the humanity. Although those cannibals are extremely hungry during the voyage, they restrain their hunger. It shows that the civilized heart dose not make them hurt the others. When seeing the Africans work in the poor conditions and the sad fiancée of Kurtz, Marlow also expresses his humanity and even tell a lie. Finally, before dying, Kurtz said “The horror! The horror!” I think it is the humanity in his deep heart which allows him to feel regretful about what he has done. To sum up, there is no document of civilization that is not at the same time a document of barbarism. All the people have the savage concepts in their mind, but the civilized process will make people gradually away from the savagery because of the humanity.
Sorry, I post my answer in the wrong place.
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