Descending into Heart of Darkness Through the Lens of Freud’s Theoretical Framework

Anastasiya Magamedova

In Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness, the characters are examined quite closely; they are however changed over the course of the story, which we can understand as we uncover one of the main ideas that Conrad develops: the idea that mourning a person or an idea leads to different outcomes. As Sigmund Freud described in his works, "Melancholia, whose definition fluctuates even in descriptive psychiatry, takes on various clinical forms the grouping of which into a single unity does not seem to be established with certainty; and some of these forms suggests somatic rather psychogenic affections."[1] In this novel there are distinctions between mourning and melancholia-- mourning being the state of being after a loss of a person, and melancholia being the state of being after a loss of an ideal. The distinction between the two is that "although mourning involves grave departures from the normal attitude to life, it never occurs to us to regard it as a pathological condition and to refer it to medical treatment."[2] Mourning can be overcome, which points us to claim that Kurtz and Marlow experience melancholia because no matter how much time passes, what they have experienced has changed them forever; they will never again have an innocent look on life, which people will often have before experiencing trauma. Meanwhile, Kurtz’s wife will experience mourning, which she will overcome with time. These distinctions are crucial to the understanding of the novel as it addresses human nature. The characters are put either into a state of mourning or melancholia, by the loss of their loved one, or an ideal. With this, Conrad is able to explore how important a person’s beliefs and ideals are to someone, and how damaging it becomes when that is lost. Understanding these distinctions also gives us an explanation for why Marlow lies to Kurtz’s wife at the very end.

Marlow tells us the story of a journey up to the Congo, and of another important character, Kurtz, whom Marlow is traveling to meet; both will experience falling into the state of melancholia. The causes are slightly different for them as they are very different individuals, but what they have in common is the loss of an ideal. As Marlow is about to begin his journey, he learns about Mr. Kurtz, whom Marlow is supposed to meet only in Africa, who is considered to be “a very remarkable person”. As he learns about the importance of Kurtz, all these different impressions of him create an image and an ideal in Marlow’s head of someone who is truly a very remarkable person. Already Marlow’s ideal might not be realized, because on his way to the “heart of darkness”, he learns that he might never even meet Kurtz; when he does, Kurtz dies shortly thereafter. Marlow shares that he “had traveled all this way for the sole purpose of talking with Mr.Kurtz...that was exactly what [he] had been looking forward to--a talk with Kurtz”, as well as traveling to meet an important and incredible person, which Kurtz obviously does not turn out to be. Interestingly enough, Conrad sets up Marlow’s future disappointment from the beginning of the story. As we are about to hear the story from Marlow’s point of view, Conrad describes an incredible scenery surrounding him which gives an underlying sense of gloom and darkness. “The dreams of men” suddenly dissolve in the unknown and “serenity [becomes] less brilliant but more profound.’’ Marlow is described as “the only man who still ‘followed the sea’” and he remains quite oblivious to what he is about to see. When he goes to a doctor for a check-up before his departure, he learns of a Fresleven who used to be “the gentlest, quietest creature that ever walked on two legs...he had been a couple of years already out there engaged in the noble cause”, which Marlow learns turned him into a violent and heartless person. The doctor then measures Marlow's skull for scientific purposes as he tells him that those he sees before their departures never return, “and, moreover, the changes that take place inside” change them to a point of no return.

Freud writes that by analyzing melancholia in the same way we'd look at mourning, "one feels justified in maintaining the belief that a loss of this kind (loss or death) has occurred, but one cannot see clearly what it is that has been lost, and it is all the more reasonable to suppose that the patient cannot consciously perceive what he has lost either." 3 This exact sentiment is present throughout our characters’ changes. Conrad writes about the horrible reality of conquests brought over by imperialism, which the people in charge must justify somehow. “What redeems it is the idea only. An idea at the back of it; not a sentimental pretense but an idea; and an unselfish belief in the idea—something you can set up, and bow down before, and offer a sacrifice”, yet when those people, that create in their minds that they are embarking on their journey, it ceases “to be a blank space of delightful mystery—a white patch for a boy to dream gloriously over. It [becomes] a place of darkness”.’

Marlow unknowingly goes on such a journey, without knowing what he will see and learn. Perhaps as Conrad is writing, he imagines the readers to be Marlow as he tells the horrific reality of what had been done to those who became victims of colonialism. The captains going to work for “companies'' might also have an unrealistic expectation of what they will have to do as part of their responsibilities, as foreshadowed by an anecdote about Fresleven. As we enter the heart of darkness, we are all that young boy dreaming gloriously over an idea/ideal that does not exist, until we see what truly exists, and it breaks us all. Marlow becomes melancholic by becoming attached to something not realistic, like getting attached to his idea of Kurtz even before meeting him. The symptoms are clear throughout when Marlow tells this story; he takes breaks to cry occasionally pointing to his melancholic state, which becomes increasingly difficult to detach from as time goes on.

With a similar approach, Kurtz experiences melancholia as well because he also loses his ideal of the belief that he has a good soul. Upon Kurtz’s arrival to Africa, he’s very hopeful and optimistic about his plans; he wants to do something good and he believes in his powerful ideas, but as he stays longer in the “heart of darkness”, he gradually changes, as he realizes that his ideas that he once considered achievable will never be actualized; his soul darkens, turning him into a violent and cruel person. We learn that when Kurtz arrived, he was that same ‘boy with glorious dreams’, who might have even seemed naive with having so much hope, which was so “contemptibly childish”. The issue arises when he realizes that “you show [the company] you have in you something that is really profitable”, meaning that even if he had good plans, which he wanted to realize, that is not the priority of the company which hired him. Surprisingly, he believed that one “must take care of the motives--right motives--always” showing us that at one point he could have been a genuine person that might not have been yet corrupted by the harsh conditions, as well as the greed of the company which represents imperialism as the idea. As he continued his work, the company believed that “Mr.Kurtz has done more harm than good to [them]”. It is not clear if they meant that he had done more harm to them by not being a profitable enough leader, or by ruining their reputation as he darkened into a horrible person trying to meet their high demands. In this context, Conrad might actually be portraying that imperialism will put blame on an individual rather than accepting that the system that they have created is the reason for the problems that surround such consequences of colonialism. The greed for profit and high demand begins to erode Kurtz’s ideal of doing something good. As the company demanded more of him and pushed him further within the harsh conditions of the “heart of darkness”, Kurtz became corrupted. His ideal of completing good plans, while staying good at heart began drastically falling apart. As he became more corrupted, he changed as well. We see the contrast between what Kurtz had been before, and what he had been turned into when he’s almost dead; even at his death bed, he says that he “can’t bear to look at” the “indivisible wilderness”, and he cries out “The horror! The horror!” during the “supreme moment of complete knowledge”. Not only does he come to the realization that his ideas were never realized but also that the ideals which he had when he came to Africa were broken as he became more corrupted with the harsh life and the demands of imperialism. He exclaims “I will wring your heart yet!” right before his death, showing us that the Kurtz who had arrived in Africa had long been dead within himself, and the Kurtz that dies is somebody completely different. We don't get a very detailed truthful account of how Kurtz personally felt, but with the change that had occurred, one would be aware "of the loss which has given rise to his melancholia, but only in the sense that he knows whom he has lost but not what he has lost in him." 4 In a similar way, Marlow would not know what he had lost in a person either, because he has never met the Kurtz that he traveled to meet. Both Marlow and Kurtz would fall into experiencing melancholia, as they live through a traumatic shock when they find out that what they had believed had only been an illusion. For Marlow, it had been meeting a man that he considered to be a good leader, who turned out to be a violent and cruel person. For Kurtz, it was his realization that he failed at realizing what he had planned to do, and lost the person he had been compared to what he was like when he came to Africa. His knowledge and understanding of the harsh reality which he tried to change, but instead broke him apart.

Kurtz’s wife will experience mourning as she loses a real person that she loved. She never knew who Kurtz turned into, and in her mind, Kurtz stayed the way he had been before he was broken. He stayed the man that “men looked up to”, the man that had “goodness [shine] in every act”; Kurtz stayed a man with good motives in her mind regardless of the reality. After a year passes, she continues to mourn her husband that she remembers as a good man. When Marlow visits her, he chooses to lie about what Kurtz’s last words were because he “could not tell her. It would have been too dark--too dark altogether” and it would break her ideal and her reality. Her mourning would turn into melancholia. Marlow of course realizes what Kurtz had turned into, but the lie helps him cling on to the ideal which he had created in his mind; it is as if he almost tries to falsely justify to himself that Kurtz still continued to be a good person deep inside, simply because Marlow himself was so traumatized by the realization that everything he believed was false. Had Kurtz’s wife found out the truth, her suffering would only have been prolonged, and her life rendered worthless at the realization that what she had believed in was a lost ideal. By lying, Marlow leaves her in a state of mourning for the good person that she believed her husband to have been; she is saved from falling into melancholia, from which she would never have escaped.

Conrad shows us how big of a role our beliefs play in our lives: even though our ideals might not be the most obvious to the surrounding world, they are the most important to our psychological well being. With such close analysis, Conrad also provides a commentary on the effects of colonialism/imperialism. We only get a glimpse of several people who have their lives and beliefs crushed into dust, meanwhile the system which is so much bigger than an individual continues running and continues making profit. I think many readers would agree that they came to despise Kurtz as they heard Marlow’s story, yet it would be surprising to hear that they despised the company as much. Often in an imperialist system, the blame will be put on a single individual, while the intentions and the deeds of the system will go unnoticed. Even those thatare part of the system that approach it with good intentions, become ground into nothingness; they lose themselves and die inside, but they will continue to contribute to the success of the company, which will go on as usual. In a world where wars are started for profit and famines are imposed on millions out of greed, we usually don’t blame the true reasons. We will blame a single leader for being a tyrant, but no one will blame the military companies which would have profited from the war and the stolen resources. We don't blame those who benefit from starting famines and creating food deserts. Conrad reminds us that as long as the philosophy of imperialism/colonialism continues to exist within those who have control, any single individual getting in the way will be gotten rid of. Even if we think that as humans we are strong and resilient, a single individual's fragility is portrayed well when they face the “system” alone, which will turn on anybody that is not deemed profitable for their goals. Our own ideas and beliefs have an immensely influential role in our life, and once unrealized, have the capacity to hurt not only us but the people surrounding us. Although Conrad isn’t exactly calling for a revolution with his novel, he shows that unless people can unite with a unified goal of destroying colonialism, the atrocities which have happened in the heart of darkness will not stop with a single good person changing the world for the better. The same sense of hopelessness that prevails as Marlow tells the story, continues to prevail 122 years later as the world is driven by that same system; it continues to kill and bring suffering to millions for the sole purpose of profit for these companies and the system. Although many good people have existed over these 122 years, not a single individual was able to change anything for good and stop the system from corrupting our world. Taking Freud’s approach perhaps can explain why people tend to ignore what is going on around the world or pretend that someone good will come and change things for the better; had we tricked ourselves that we are “men enough to face the darkness”, we would all descend into melancholia as we realize that the boy with glorious dreams within ourselves was always a fake projection of our naive view of life.

[1][2][3][4] Sigmund Freud, Mourning and Melancholia (1915)