Essay topic

I have decided to focus my essay on setting and how Conrad utilizes the setting of Heart of Darkness as a metaphor for the human psyche. More specifically, Conrad uses the jungle as a metaphor for the id. I am going to focus on Kurtz and how the jungle affects him as it brings out his “true” savage self. Additionally, as Marlow goes further and further into the “heart of darkness” he discovers and witnesses the darkness’ affect on people from an outsider’s perspective. From Marlow’s perspective he gets to see things like Kurtz’ madness, cannibalism, etc. all as results of the setting of darkness. I intend to use Murfin’s explanation of psychoanalytic criticism as well as Karl’s interpretation of Conrad’s novella in order to further explore and back up my points. 

Karl

One part of Karl's psychoanalytic criticism of Conrad's Heart of Darkness is when he compares Freud and Conrad to one another through their similar penetration into darkness. Karl then proceeds to explain the correlation between darkness and its parallel, and possibly even a metaphorical interpretation, as he links darkness to the darkness we enter as we sleep. Furthermore, Karl continues to propose that while one sleeps, in fact, their conscience also gets to sleep and thus the subconscience self is released free. In this sleep, they are then "free to pursue secret wishes." One specific statement I find interesting and I agree with is when Karl states "the key word is darkness, the black of the jungle for Conrad is the dark of the sleeping consciousness for Freud." I think this is a wonderful and powerful parallel between Conrad's story and Freud's psychoanalysis.

Murfin's Psychoanalytic Criticism

In Murfin's Psychoanalytical Criticism he explores many aspects of Conrad's Heart of Darkness. Among his many ideas include an analysis of dreams and their correlation to language as they are mere unconscious representations of our innermost thoughts that even we may not be aware we have. This goes along with the Freudian concepts of the ego, superego, and the id. Essentially, Marlow completely emobodies the id as he dives into the "heart of darkness." Another interesting point that Murfin makes is that most readers are drawn to stories that do not resemble one's own life because the reader can vicariously live through the characters in the story. Additionally, the reader has the power to interpret each story as he or she wishes and visualize it how he or she believes it is meant to be visualized. I think this is very true among most readers and their processes in reading different stories.

Heart of Darkness - Q 5

In Conrad's Heart of Darkness, Marlow refers to the offices of his employers as a "whited sepulchre." Here, the immediate image that comes to mind is that of a tomb as that is another word for sepulchre. Because he characterizes the office of his employer as a tomb, this evokes an image of death. Additionally, the adjective used to describe this sepulchre is "whited." Furthermore, Conrad plays with color symbolism in this passage since the color white usually symbolizes innocence or wisdom; however, here, the color white symbolizes death. The description of the street leading up to the office develops this metaphor because the town is described as deserted and therefore lacks life, just as a tomb which is what he refers to the office as.