Assess the importance of setting in Heart of Darkness Essay

The prospect is the basis of both story or novel, the basis of every prose work. Heart of Darkness is by no means an exception. Joseph Conrads nouvelle or rather said mysterious work is non being easily understood let al cardinal assessed. But each proof indorser of Heart of Darkness should try to solve the mystery the motive has opened.The place reveals itself to be a mystery within the mystery. What is re each(prenominal)y the put of Conrads nouvelle? And is it at all historic to the work as a hale? Is it the usual setting of an adventure story that was familiar at the time, is it a place of darkness, the brass of it, or just the jungle in the Congo comp peerlessnt part? The setting whitethorn be all of the above and it looks comparable composed of several different ones people of color the mysteriousness of the nouvelle, some tell the otherwises.Heart of Darkness begins in a voice that is not belonging to the protagonist. This later(prenominal) appears to be the a uditor of the protagonists(Marlows) story, so for short he may be called the Auditor. His introduction reveals that the setting is a yawl, called Nellie, swinging on the surface of the Thames awaiting for the turn of the tide so she can sail off. The blood line of the setting reminds the Auditor of Englands naval glory, he recalls the great knights kn experience and unknown of the sea fleck the banks of the Thames remind Marlow that they have similarly been one of the dark places of the earth. And exactly the word dark is the one that defines the setting throughout the whole of the nouvelle, varying alone in shades. This becomes crystal clear from the moment Marlow begins to c everyplace and he speaks through the whole of the nouvelle except the few introductory paragraphs. Going further to describe the setting Marlow begins his story near his pilgrimage in the Congo region, the heart of darkness. The protagonist explains that as a male child he looked at the blank spaces on the maps and dreamed of exploring them, simply the Congo region was no blank space anymore, ironically according to Marlow it has become a place of darkness.He is fascinated by the river in the heart of darkness, for him it resembles a snake, figure of evil while the river Thames described front is composure and serene contrasting the setting in the Congo river. Both rivers may be symbol of the tame and untamed. London is tamed by civil and moral rules, thats why its calmwhile the untamed Africa is criminal exactly free. Marlow sees danger even before his journey has begun unless it doesnt stop him from going to the other setting, the office of the Company. The following description is the gate towards darkness and death, the gate of Hell. The setting stays in Marlows mind and later on in his journey he remembers the two women dressed in black, knit black wool and holding a black cat guardian angels to the gate of Darkness.Conrad reveals that not many of those who have b een introduced to the Company by the younger woman had the chance to return and look at her again, as if by giving them a glance she turns them to stone like the Gorgone Meduse and dooms them to eternal darkness. Relatively the selfsame(prenominal) is the moral preached in the setting in the doctors office. The doctor is interested in metre the skulls of all those who leave for the Congo with the distinct idea that he could measure them again on their move but so far none of them has returned. A fact that suprises Marlow who understands from the doctor that no effect what, the changes declare place inside the skull the doctor seems like the prophet to Marlows enlightment.Finally Marlow leaves in a french steamer for the Congo. The setting changes as they sail nearer to the coast of the jungle. Marlow feels isolated and delusional by the great water and the only touch with reality are the boats coming from the shore with black fellows in them. This special setting is the firs t touch of civilization with wilderness and savagery. Civilization is characterized by light and straight ship facts while to the wilderness is given the heart of Darkness and freedom. The setting communicates the meaning of the episode. As it does in the conterminous one presenting the Companys air that Marlow is left in. The black boy he meets fascinates him with the white thread from beyond the seas about his black neck. Civilization intrudes the lives of the Africans and enslaves them.The white thread looks like a manacle around the boys neck. After such a sight the white man Marlow meets at the station setting looks like a sort of vision. This miracle later appears to be the Companys chief accountant. He strikes Marlow with devotion to his work and the fact that he had achieved something in his life, everything in it is in order while the whole station is falling apart. The accountant and his office is the island of salvation for Marlow when he wants to get away from the m isery at thestation. The importance of this particular setting is the mentioning for the first time the name of Mr.Kurtz, defined by the accountant as a remarkable person and from this moment on the mysterious Kurtz enters the thoughts of Marlow as well as the indorsers.The setting of the Central Station serves its purpose too to the whole of the nouvelle. The forest near it looks huge and calm to Marlow, the setting alone sends the whimsey to all of the indorsers, misery and greatness fill their hearts. Together with this the tickling feeling of the awaited by Marlow meeting with Kurtz makes the breathing of the reader harder. In the Central Station he meets a brickmaker who gives more detail to the fast-growing character of Kurtz in Marlows mind. He is an extraordinary human being, an spy of pity and what not, bringing civilization to the dark continent. The brickmaker is sure that Marlow has some resemblance to Kurtz and if this is received the reader is only to run across out on their own.The months spent awaiting the needed rivets for the repair of the mysteriously broken down steamer are over. Marlow leaves for the cozy Station where he is to come up out if the rumors about the best Companys agent are true, the narrator leaves in search for the ill Kurtz whose death is awaited by roughly of the Companys staff. The setting changes once more only to become the same as earlier in Marlows journey. Black people, enemies that are hiding on the shore like evil that is crawl and getting closer and closer to the steamer. Finally the evil prevails, the devoted black helmsman is murdered from a spear. The setting had built an unhealthy darkness that doesnt allow the reader even the slightest chance to choke up the focus of the nouvelle the darkness within the heart of the jungle gradually fills the heart of the protagonist and respectfully the readers too.Maybe the most interesting part of the setting is Marlows meeting with Kurtz at the Inner Station. T he setting presents the true darkness, the very heart of it. It also echoes the cries of the Russian sailor who meets Marlow at his arrival. From the story of the nave young sailor Marlow understands about Kurtzs brilliance and the semi-divine power he exercises over thenatives. The setting provides the opthalmic confirmation of Kurtzs cruelty. A row of severed heads on stakes round the hut gives an breathing spell of the barbaric rites by which Kurtzs has achieved his ascendancy. An educated man like Marlow, a very intelligent one, a man of promise for the Company Kurtz has used his brains and gun, symbol of civilization, to enslave the natives and make his one dark phratry that would inhabit the heart of darkness.Though at first sight the setting looks like a true adventure one underneath transpires the psychological and moral level of the work as a whole. barely Conrads nouvelle and respectfully its setting is also a symbolic journey of the soul towards the heart of man which he sees as capable of great evil. Kurtz is straightforward personification of this particular idea. The setting may be interpreted as an allusion to Dantes The Inferno, Marlows journey looks like an expedition to the under populace, a journey through the circles of hell and Kurtz is the devil himself. But the devil doesnt want to leave his tribe nor do they want to leave him. When his tired and sick body is taken in the steamboat his black mistress appears. She looks at him with her wild-eyes giving Kurtz the power to live on but he couldnt.The setting changes and presents the deck of the steamboat. Kurtz is lying thither awarding Marlow with his manuscripts and his words, his last ones The horror The horror. The setting reveals the whole moral of Conrads work, or in Marlows words the moral victory. For Kurtz the horror he talks of is his life and like he has shown the reader man is capable of great evil. Kurtz has neglected the signals of his heart that evil was inside him. Kurt z is outside of defend of the moral rules of civilization whose representative he is. So the horror is he himself, the heart of darkness is not the jungle anymore but his own. The setting has changed once again only to become Kurtz himself, the most important figure for the nouvelle, the heart of it, the heart of darkness. The setting is one of the most important for the work because it reveals simple but existential truths to the reader. Man finds himself when is isolated especially from civilization as Kurtz does. But why is he considered dotty by the polish people that get in touch with him. He is mad for them because he had taken off the mask and everybody can see his true face evil or remarkable is up to the reader todecided.The important role of the setting is capturing the attention and the thoughts of the reader. Kurtz was like Marlow an uncorrupted creature from the imperialist world that wanted to help the natives rather than colonize them but the darkness prevailed h is heart and Marlow sees what he could become if he lost the trail. But Kurtz recognizes his action as cruel and evil that is his horror, he knows that what he is doing is wrong but the heart of darkness havent given him another option to survive. The setting also reminds the reader through the character of Kurtz of Europe at the end of the Imperialism era. The nouvelle is not only an adventure story but a political statement as well. Kurtzs relationship with his mistress represents Europes warmth for their imperialized country, only the passion is temporary.Kurtz dies leaving Marlow and the reader with the conviction that they should explore what is inside them and in most cases theyll find their own heart of darkness. Intriguing are also Kurtzs manuscripts and the words Exterminate all the brutes He never told who are the brutes but the overall impression is that the brutes are not the uncivilized man, maybe everyone should find the brute within himself and exterminate it. The ph ilosophical manuscripts did not solve any problems they just have shape Marlows perspective and although he didnt approve of Kurtzs actions he was amazed with his spiritual and intellectual power, with the ability to persuade. That is exactly why Marlow stays loyal to Kurtzs even after his death.The setting takes the reader back to Belgium in the house of Kurtzs fiance. She, the woman that result always wait for him and always will mourn for him. She believes that she is the person that understood Kurtz best but Marlow is not convinced in that and he lies her about Kurtzs last words. He never tells her what they really were, he mentions only that they gave him her name and thats why he found her. Marlow is not sure if shell understand Kurtzs horror. Africa has become a topographic anatomy of his mind and the mind in general. Letting the forgotten savagery in the European and being the symbol of mans inner change. Kurtzs horror is Marlows self discovery. The importance of the sett ing, given that it has shown to the reader the Congo region in its very heart of darkness, is that reminds the reader that it is time to make their own self searching.Last but not least the setting of the nouvelle has shown darkness, the heart of it. It is important for the work as a whole because it presents Marlows individual journey towards enlightment that serves the purpose of a model for the reader to follow. It presents also Kurtzs horror who has taken one step further in the dark continent that Marlow is not ready and willing to take. The setting of the whole work enriches the reader following the narrator in the snaky Congo. The setting emphasizes the idea of the conflict of what is real versus what is dark. Here particularly the word real represents the civilized part of the world while dark is Africa. Marlow represents civilization on the edge while Kurtz represents civilization stepped over leading in the darkness.The setting also is ivory, Conrad uses it as a symbol of mans inner savagery, greed and evil. The author also uses ivory as contradiction to the usual symbols of good and evil. If good is represented with the white colour, here is Heart of Darkness ivory is the evil part no matter that it is one of the purest and whitest materials in the world. The contradiction the setting presents entraps the attention of the reader and provokes once again his search for self-discovery. The setting is pretty important to the work as a whole because it reveals the darkness within every one of us the question is whether like Marlow we shall defeat it and gain enlightment or be defeated by it like Kurtz and fall in the very heart of Darkness.