Heart of Darkness
In Heart of Darkness, Conrad takes the reader on a journey through the largest, darkest, and most primal jungle in the Congo. This novella tells the story of Marlows physical expedition to Africa, and how it changes the way he perceives things geographically and historically. However it is also an allegory for the levels of the human psyche the id, ego, and superego. The id, ego, and superego are the three parts of the psychic apparatus defined in Sigmund Freud's structural model of the psyche. According to this model of the psyche, the id is primitive and instinctual; the ego is the realistic section, that travels uses both id and super-ego; and the super-ego plays the critical and moralizing role. These three parts of the mind are portrayed most successfully by the setting and environmental elements in the novella, the Jungle as the id, the Company as the superego and the Steamboat as the ego.
The large Congo jungle and its inhabitants that surround Marlow on his journey down the Congo River represents the id. When Marlow reflects on the vastness of the Congo he says, I felt how big, how confoundedly big, was that thing that couldnt talk and was perhaps deaf as well (Conrad 43). This expresses how incomprehensible the size of the Congo is. Everything was new to Marlow, he wanted to explore its possibilities, and there are no limitations to the id. Marlow become aware of this during the short attack on the way to Kurtzs trading post. As Marlow is trying to shut the windows for protection he notices,
a face level with my own, looking at me very fierce and steady; and then suddenly, as though a veil had been lifted from my eyes, I made out naked breasts, arms, legs, glaring eyes the bush was swarming with human limbs in movement (75).
The Natives were throwing arrows and spears at the steam engine, a very impulsive and violent action. Conrad chose to describe them as shapes, objects, and limbs, which illustrates that the natives of Congo are primitive and uncivilized people. The uncivilized and impulsive manner of the natives shows how they fit the id roll of the human psyche. These natives still behave according to their primitive instincts. The natives are at the heart of darkness; they have no concept of civilization. They live this way because they dwell in nature, and nature brings out the primal instincts of all men. Kurtz for example, is sent to bring civilization and light into the heart of darkness, and to the natives. His trip into the jungle causes him to lose contact with civilization, and lose touch with his values and morals of an enlightened society. He eventually loses his super-ego, no longer needing it because he is thrown into a society of men who obey their primitive instincts. Super-ego is the first to be lost, for it is the last part of the human psyche to develop. The jungle, the ultimate id in Heart of Darkness, causes Kurts mind to deteriorate to its primitive state, to where he no longer has the need for civilization.
Within this great primitive Congo, there are small trading stations that represent the superego. The superego will always dictate the most socially acceptable decision. Even though Marlow and other company members actions in Heart of Darkness are racists and intolerant, this was the social norm of the time period. It is possible to argue that the settlements cannot symbolize the superego in the novella, however the development super-egos values is a result of the expectation placed upon them in ones society. The values of the super-ego, the company in Heart of Darkness are the same as Englands desires. Marlow and the company are all part of an imperialistic system where, the only real feeling is a desire to get appointed to a trading post where ivory is to be had and they could earn percentages (39). Symbolically, ivory is imperialism and the driving force behind the trading posts. The goods and services from the English colonies are what enabled a Empire to grow. It is not fair for the reader to project modern ideals onto an imperialistic society, for in this time period the companies are the super-ego. The super-ego is also much smaller than the id. The best example of this is when Marlow says, Settlements some centuries old, and still no bigger than pinheads on the untouched expanse of their background (20). Freudian analysis explains that the id is the much larger unconscious section of the personality, and the super-ego is the much smaller socially acceptable section. Marlows journey through the Congo causes him to be trapped between the super-ego and the ids values. His opinion of the people of London has changed as well. He realizes that he is, resenting the sight of people hurrying through the streets to filch little money from each other, to devour their infamous cookery, to gulp their unwholesome beer. To dream their insignificant and silly dreams (120). Marlow often makes contradictory comments about natives, whether they should be seen as equal, or if they are less than human. He is beginning to rethink the legitimacy of the expectations set by the company, he becomes more aware of the primal characteristics of the human mind, the id. The passage also shows how Marlow is saddened by the fact that people in London live under the influences of the super-ego in civilized society. Marlows mixed opinions with the natives and his own society further prove how the super-ego in The Heart of Darkness is depicted by the company and the id by the Congo jungle and the natives.
The ego is represented in the novel b the steamer that Marlow conducts. It goes through all the dark sections of the Congo travels from company post to company post. The ego is constantly moving between thoughts controlled by the id section of the mind and the super-ego section of the mind. The crewmembers on the steam engine also play the role as the ego. At first only Marlow, the manger, some pilgrims and a few natives who where taken in by the company were on the steam engine. As they travelled to Kurts station Marlow, enlisted some of these chaps on the way for a crew. Fine fellows, cannibals in their place (57). This points out that people from the company and from the Congo are on the steam engine. The cannibals represent the id and the crew, pilgrims, and manager represent the super-ego. Because the Company and Congo are in the same location, Marlow is influenced by both the super-ego and the id. This results in inner conflict between the two.
Environments or locations properly represent the id, superego, and ego in Heart of Darkness. The id represented by the primitive Congo, the super-ego being the socially acceptable company, and the ego is the steamboat that travels between the two. The characters in the novella are effected by these ways of thinking, and embody them as well, but it is the setting that truly represents them.
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