In Joseph Conrads Heart of Darkness, the protagonist, Marlow, journeys back to his natural origins and discovers his id within the Congo. The antagonist, Kurtz, follows the same journey, but because of fate and the decisions Kurtz makes, his overall outcome varies from that of Marlow. As Garret Stewart suggests in his essay entitled Lying as Dying in Heart of Darkness, Heart of Darkness harkens back to origins. It suggests that a naked exposure of the human ego, unshielded by civilization and its self contents, to a world of savagery presumed to be far beneath it is, in the long evolutionary run, only a baring of the soul to most primally rooted human impulses (Garret 359). By traveling to the Congo, to a place that has yet to be civilized, the journey is allowing those whose lives have been nothing but ego break through the reality principle and discover his or her id.
Conrad suggests that we all come from the same beginning, the same origin, but because of circumstance and the elements that surround us we all make different decisions that ultimately lead us down very different paths and to different levels of true self- discovery. Sigmund Freud suggests that we all have the same id, the same hunger for power and aggression but because of the reality principle and our superegos, it is near impossible to find.
Marlow travels to the Congo purely because he is fascinated with unknown territory abided by his childhood obsession with maps. Marlow quickly discovers that the Colonists are not in the Congo for Christian missionary, as they had the men and women back home believe, but rather they are there to satisfy their own pleasure of power and aggression. Marlow retells his anger by saying, You know I hate, detest, and cant bear a lie (Conrad 29). Marlow is quickly hurled into situations he did not anticipate, encouraging him to divulge deep down and find his own inner satisfactions so that he may begin to understand the actions of Kurtz and even in essence discover why it is that two people from the same backgrounds can become two very different things.
Marlow encounters people and things unimaginable to him. When he comes across a tribe of natives, he ponders, It was unearthly, and the men wereNo, they were not inhuman. Well, you know, that was the worst of itthe suspicion of their not being inhuman (Conrad 38). Marlow discovers a bit of his own id, watching the savages, remarking, They howled and leaped, and spun, and made horrid faces; but what thrilled you was just the thought of their humanitylike yoursthe thought of your remote kinship with this wild and passionate uproar if you were man enough you would admit to yourself that there was in you just the faintest trace of a response to the terrible frankness of that noise, a dim suspicion of there being a meaning in it which youyou so remote from the night of first agescould comprehend (Conrad 38). Marlow begins to relate to the natives, realizing his own need for aggression and power, which as Freud suggests, is only a natural part of being human.
Kurtz is a man that is waist-deep in his own pleasure of power, leading the natives to believe that he is a God. Kurtz feeds his need for aggression through the unspeakable ceremonies the natives offer to him and he feeds his need for power by controlling the natives every move. Marlow remarks on Kurtzs behavior, saying his nerves went wrong and caused him to preside at certain midnight dances ending with unspeakable rites, which as far as I reluctantly gathered from what I heard at various times were offered up to him (Conrad 50). Kurtz has fully realized his id in the jungle and actively participates in such behaviors that feed his need for inner satisfaction.
Marlow and Kurtz each have the same id, the same hunger for power and satisfaction. The difference between Marlow and Kurtz is that Kurtz chose to accept fully his primal state of being whereas Marlow chose to stay in a sort of ego state that is aware of its id. Marlow felt excited at the prospect of meeting Kurtz because he felt it was his destiny in life (Conrad 35, 48). Marlow understands that Kurtz is a man that has fully realized himself and has little to no disregards as to how he has behaved himself in the jungle. Marlow feels this need and this aggression inside of him and believes it would be a travesty if he were not to meet Mr. Kurtz for himself. Marlow chooses the way of the ego because he sees the life of one who is fully indulged in his or her id and does not feel that such is the life for him. Had Marlow have come earlier, when Kurtz was in better health, he may not have come to such conclusion but because of fate Marlow came at the worst of times and saw the horror that exists in truly living out your id to the fullest.
Because of the Congo and the lack of civilization, the natives truly live out his or her id because it feels natural to them and they do not have a reality principle that can stop them from living out their need for satisfaction. If it had not been for the jungle and for the people who live within it, Marlow and Kurtz would have never come to realize their id and would have never had the choice to live it out or not. It comes down to fate, and to circumstance, that Marlow and Kurtz lived their id the way they chose to. Although we all may have the same id, and have come from the same origin, we all come from different facets of civilization and because of that we chose to discover and encounter different ways of life. Marlow and Kurtz chose to go to the Congo but because of fate, they chose different lifestyles of living, and in the end, chose different endings to their lives.
Already have an account? Log In Now
4534