Literary Devices and Themes in Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness Essay

This essay provides a detailed analysis of Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness, focusing on the effective use of literary devices to convey the author's message. The introduction emphasizes the importance of literary devices in shaping a work's structure, plot, and message. The essay then explores key devices such as symbolism and allegory, particularly in the characterizations of Marlow and Kurtz, who represent abstract ideologies. The essay also examines Conrad's incorporation of realism, drawing parallels between the novel's setting and the historical context of the Congo Free State. Furthermore, the essay discusses the major themes of the novel, including a critique of colonialism and racism, and how these themes are communicated through literary devices. The essay highlights the use of irony, particularly in subverting the idea of civility and the character of Kurtz. The conclusion emphasizes the enduring relevance of Heart of Darkness and its insights into human nature and the dangers of unchecked ambition.

Outline
 Introduction:
This section begins the paper by discussing about the importance of literary devices to the
structure and plot of any work of literature and how they help to convey the author’s
message to the reader. In this manner, this section also introduces the topic of the paper.
 Symbolism and Allegory:
This section discusses about the dominant symbolism present within the Heart of
Darkness and how often the symbolism can also be read as a manifestation of allegory,
further re-enforcing the intended message of the author.
 Realism:
This section deals with the manner in which Conrad had incorporated real-world,
contemporary events into the framework of the novel to make it more convincing and
believable for the reader.
 Themes:
This section deals with the major themes of the novel through which the author is able to
convey the message by communicating it through the use of literary devices and how well
are those literary devices complement the themes of the novel.
 Irony:
This section talks about irony as a recurring literary device n the course of the novel and
how the author has used irony with the intent to subvert the very idea of civility into that
of uncivility.

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Introduction
For any work of literature, while it is important to notice the content that is being expressed
by the author, it is equally important to notice the method of how the content is being subject
to expression and what devices are being used to effectively convey the content of that
literary work to the reader. Regardless of the ingeniousness of the plot or the depth of the
characterisation, the message that the author is trying to convey draws the reader in only
when that message finds expression with the deft use of literary devices. Literary devices
lend artistry to any piece of literature (Zwaan 249-264).
This paper takes into the various literary devices that Joseph Conrad uses in the Heart of
Darkness to convey the message of how the human mind is capable of conceiving and
committing evil things with the right conditions, regardless of whether if the mind of the
person committing wanton cruelty thinks of itself as being civilised or not. As the paper
would go on to argue, the distinction between “civilised” and “uncivilised” is an artificial
one, and that message is brought out to the reader through the clever use of literary devices
by the author.
Discussion
Symbolism and Allegory
Critics have often argued that the Heart of Darkness is Joseph Conrad’s attempt to offer a
scathing critique of European colonialism, based on his own experiences in the Congo Free
State (Wesley 20-37).
While the usage of realism by the author is a topic that would be discussed later in the paper,
it is important to bear in mind that Conrad was dealing with expressing a very abstract
ideology that motivated the contemporary European powers of the day to colonise Africa.

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That abstract ideology could be best summed up with this now-famous phrase attributed to
Rudyard Kipling, “the white man's burden”.
The white man’s burden as a phrase signifies a justification for colonisation, indicating that
the attempts at colonisation are committed with the objective of the betterment of those
whose lands are being taken over by the colonising power. It was thought to be the duty of
the European nations to spread the tents of civilisation among those deemed as “uncivilised”,
according to the material and moral standards of European society and thought (Bratsis 20-
37).
Conrad subtly starts critiquing this idea through the use of the word “dark”, a metaphorical
geographical epithet that is used to describe the African continent, often with racist
undertones (Moore 106-131).
While this symbolism is pretty straightforward and is quite apparent to students of
postcolonial literature, Conrad combines symbolism and allegory and takes this combined
literary device to a place where it is least expected to go: characterisation.
The two important characters to which readers ought to turn their attention to are Marlow and
Kurtz. Both of these characters cease being characters in their own right and assume the form
of allegorical representation of abstract and complicated ideologies, not unlike a sixteenth-
century English miracle play.
Marlow, although a recurring character in many of Conrad’s stories, assumes a position that
is more than a simple narrator or an active participant in the novel’s plot; he becomes a
representative of the notion of the Everyman, that is, he stands as a representative of the
ordinary person who resides within the territory of a colonising nation.

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Through his journey, the reader too undertakes a journey, where pre-conceived notions are
subject to deconstruction and disillusionment helps both Marlow and the reader cope and
reconcile with the truth.
On the other hand, Kurtz is the very personification of the white man’s burden that Conrad
has juxtaposed with the metaphorical and epithetical darkness of the African continent. This
characterisation and personification are not as subtle or subdued as Conrad’s earlier attempts
to do the same might lead the reader to believe.
Throughout Marlow’s journey, he – and the reader, by extension – is encountered by praises
and praises for Kurtz by whomever Marlow happens to chance across.
Kurtz is the embodiment of perfection, achievement and progress and all of the characters
that interact with Marlow does not cease at admiring Kurtz’s supposed superiority; later in
the novel, the reader finds that Marlow is feeling the same amount of admiration for Kurtz
other characters seem to feel as well.
Realism
It may seem that Conrad’s choice for the Congo to be the location for the action of the novel
may appear to very random and arbitrary. True, one may argue that Conrad is basing this
choice of location upon his own experiences in the Congo Free State.
However, the historical context in which such a choice based on the author’s experiences is
indicative of the novel’s story as an instance of realism rather than an attempt at fiction or
fictionalisation. One can even venture to say that Conrad is trying to mirror the horrid
consequences of real-world colonialism into the pages of his novel, through the use of
fictional means.

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To put perspective into their proper historical context, the Congo Free State was a colonised
nation in the African continent. Corresponding to the area of the present-day Democratic
Republic of the Congo, the area was the personal possession or fief of King Leopold II of
Belgium, a dominion over which the Government of Belgium had no control over.
Intending to earn wealth from the immense natural resources present within the environs of
the Congo Free State, Leopold allowed for the brutal exploitation of the land and its people
while declaring to the rest of Europe that his mission in the Congo was of humanitarian
intent.
This juxtaposition between the civilised notions of humanitarianism versus the unfettered
exploitation of a colonised nation is something Conrad experienced first-hand while he was
himself present in the Congo on a trading expedition in the 1890s.
Therefore, it is not too difficult to understand why the novel’s actions take place on the
Congo River basin, and not anywhere else. The very real tragedy of the Congo was therefore
utilised by Conrad to offer his criticisms on the hypocrisy European states were carrying out
for the sake of growing rich at the expense of many brutalised peoples. In this sense, it is
possible to consider Heart of Darkness as an example of realism in literary endeavours.
Themes
No major work of literature is complete without themes and motifs, as they are the adhesive
to which the intended message of the author is attached. In this case, the themes that Heart of
Darkness touches upon are twofold: a critique of colonialism and racism.
Racism is inherently tied to the very process of colonial interests, as once can gather from the
ideological phrase itself, “the white man’s burden”. Critics like Chinua Achebe noted how
the African natives were disempowered to the point of dehumanisation, and that Conrad was

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unable to point out how colonial interests were always inclusive of the idea of racial
supremacy.
However, a closer reading reveals that the treatment of racism is far from the absence that
African and postcolonial critics decried about. Marlow is visibly affected by the treatment
meted out to the Congolese natives, at the hands of the employees and agents of the
Company.
And although this point is closely tied to the symbolism used in the novel, Conrad was not
justifying the use of the epithet of darkness for the African continent; the use of this
symbolism is subversive as Conrad is able to shift the equivalence of darkness away from
Africa to the darkness of the human mind.
It is in the dark depths of the human mind that a person is able to rationalise bigotry and
cruelty that manifests as colonial expansion and racism.
Irony
The subversion is not just limited to the association of darkness which was commonplace in
the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, it also extends to the idea of colonialism and
the very personification of colonialism whose allegorical representative is Kurtz.
Up to this point, the reader has heard about the praises other characters have for Kurtz, but
the moment the readers encounters him for the first time through the eyes of Marlow, his
existence is anything but the pinnacle of European achievement that was led to be believed.
In his superiority of belonging to an advanced civilisation, Kurtz ends up becoming the very
thing he had sworn to abolish and uproot from the point of view of an outsider: a savage.
Inflicting wanton cruelty and brutality upon the native people who saw him as a deity, Kurtz

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had embraced the very notion of savagery which the Europeans had come to destroy through
the efforts of “civilising” native populations.
This is however not the irony. The irony is more subtle, almost poetic. In the plot, it is
mentioned that Kurtz was a member of the International Society for the Suppression of
Savage Customs, which tasked him to write a report on the traditions and customs of the
native peoples residing in the Congo River basin. When Marlow examines Kurtz’s
documents, he notices that the report ends with the empathetic, hand-written declaration
added on at a later date after the report was finished; it read, “Exterminate all the Brutes!”
In keeping with the savage that he had become out of him own notions of superiority, Kurtz
had to die. Perhaps on the throes of death, Kurtz had realised of both the horror of what he
had become and what he had done to maintain his false sense of superiority. And it is this
realisation that led Kurtz to utter, quite aptly, his last words, “The horror, the horror!”
Conclusion
Deceptively simple on appearances, Heart of Darkness is one of the best examples where
literary devices have been wedded to the plot structure and message that the author wishes to
convey. Through the ingenious use of various literary devices, at times even combining and
overlapping them to attain the desired effect, Joseph Conrad is able to tell a haunting tale
about the horrors of a false notion of superiority and the damage it can do.
Although subjected to much analysis and debate to this date, Heart of Darkness would
remain a source of new and insightful interpretations, differentiated readings and a treasure
trove of interpretations since the message that it conveys happens to be uncannily true.

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Through the horror from the point of view of Kurtz, the horrors of imperial ambition and
conquest is made starkly clear: there can be no place darker than the bowels of a mind that is
led to think that it is superior and it can have dominion over everyone else.

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Works Cited
Bratsis, Peter. "Political Corruption in the Age of Transnational Capitalism: From the
Relative Autonomy of the State to the White Man’s Burden." Historical
Materialism 22.1 (2014): 105-128.
Moore, David. "Coercion, consent, and the construction of capitalism in Africa: development
studies, political economy, politics and the'Dark Continent'." Transformation: Critical
Perspectives on Southern Africa 84.1 (2014): 106-131.
Wesley, Charlie. "Inscriptions of resistance in Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness." jml:
Journal of Modern Literature 38.3 (2015): 20-37.
Zwaan, Rolf A. "Toward a model of literary comprehension." Models of understanding text.
Psychology Press, 2014. 249-264.