Heart Of Darkness Good And Evil Quotes Analysis

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When Good and Evil Collide
The historical context of the novel Heart of Darkness sets the stage for a blurred understanding of a repetitive theme in the novel, the temptations of morality. Nearing the end of the 18th century, European imperialism begins to become a more prominent political and economic policy of Western European nations. In the eyes of Western Europeans, as it was reflected in government policies, it was the duty of the good, white, Christian, and civilized European man to tame and bring decency to the bad, black, pagan, and uncivilized African. As more and more European countries scrambled for the land and resources of Africa, the preconceived notions of good and evil began to quickly deteriorate and even completely shift …show more content…
In the next breath Marlow continues to say, “’And this also,’ said Marlow suddenly, ‘has been one of the dark places of the earth’” (Conrad,67). In this quote Marlow is referencing London, England as being one of the dark places of the earth along with Africa. As the narrator is giving praise to how good London is, he is “suddenly” interrupted by Marlow, who immediately contradicts his statement by saying that London, too, is a dark place on earth. This juxtaposition of London and Africa is another metaphor of Conrad obscuring the differences between good and evil. Here the author takes the political and economic headquarters of the civilized world, thought to be by many the greatest and most powerful city the world as seen by its time, arguably represented by goodness and light, and instantly diminishes the aura of purity that the westernized city was romanticized to have by comparing it to a sinful, dark, uncivilized, and primitive African town. This role reversal and the author’s analysis of London are used to parallel the actions of the industrialized English with that of an archaic mindset, suggesting that their foreign policy and relationship with the world is based off of visceral reactions instead of cerebral consideration. The same way the author shifts the role and …show more content…
Both Europeans and Marlow begin their journey with optimism and hope as they eagerly look to better themselves. They begin this journey being ignorant and understanding of the horrors that they would experience, and even more importantly, impose on others. Conrad parallels the slowly changing perceptions of good and evil, as themes such as white and light represent goodness at the start of each story, but progressively lose the inherent purity that these attributes traditionally have by the end of the novel. It becomes more clear that what Marlow assumed to be a distinct representation of good and evil was a societal, manmade notion. His experiences down the Congo River begin to suggest that white and light no longer maintain the characteristic of good, and that things that he once viewed as being bad were actually the victims. His personal experience parallels the experiences of European imperialism on the African continent, as initially the white European man was viewed as good and the dark African man was viewed as bad. As the true motivations of this governments policy, along with the indescribable atrocities that many Europeans inflicted on Africa and its people, both at a systematic and personal level, the
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