An Explanation of Conrad’s Assessment of Mankind’s Inherent Evil in Heart of Darkness

THIS WORK WAS WRITTEN ON September 12th 2007

In the novel Heart of Darkness, a theme repetitively discussed and brushed upon in the exposure of all of mankind’s inherent evil. To accomplish this Conrad allows the evil to expose itself within Europeans in Africa through their psychological deterioration of the civilized restraints and social norms which expose it. Down to its core, Conrad assesses that it is a need for survival, greed for dominance, and urge for satisfaction, which drives mankind to commit evil acts. He exemplifies this through the European colonizers of Africa which are driven back to their primitive origins psychologically, the greed for ivory amongst people like Kurtz and Marlow, the need for freedom amongst the blacks and violation of personal primitive values, and the hunger of the cannibals in order to survive.

First, Conrad assess how typical European men’s presence amidst such a primitive darkness psychologically breaks them down to a point of ravish thirst for dominance and success at the cost of natives. The outer station manager is a last link to the civilized society and yet Conrad chooses to add a character of need for occupation amongst the seemingly pointless job of station manager. In this need for dominance and occupation, he mindlessly enchains hundreds of slaves left to die less than a hundred feet from his “civilized office”.

Additionally, Conrad assesses the hunger to survive as another means that drives evil out of mankind. For example, Marlow’s shipmates become and remain cannibals though there are alternate solutions simply because they know it can be the most guaranteed source of food. A significant example of the evil that emerges out of these men is when their leader is killed by Indians, and the captain, Marlow, desperate to show respects to his distant friends, throws the man overboard. The cannibals, even having known the man longer than Marlow, complain that he, their own leader, the one who led them to survive, should have been given to them for eating. Conrad specifically places such a demand into their response to show how separated from humanity and brotherhood these men have become, so evil, that they have no respect for the loss of human life, and on account of hunger and a need for survival which has been enhanced and exposed through living in Africa.

Lastly, the evil within mankind is brought out by psychological deterioration and greed from Kurtz, and in some ways, Marlow. Their greed, their desire for ivory, their desire for purpose and wealth, drives them to steal the ivory and riches of the natives, murder elephants, and murder the Indians or disrupt their culture, invade their territory, and provoke the Indians to fight. Kurtz psychologically deteriorates to his innate evil by dwelling in what is depicted as the very heart of evil and darkness, and rules out all common senses where only primitive instinct for wealth acts as reasoning for staying in such a place. And in that sense, Conrad clearly states that mankind’s inherent evil desires to lead mankind to self destruction, in that the irrational decision of Kurtz to stay in the darkness out of interests for wealth without the consideration of the high risks it imposed.

All in all, Conrad assess several factors contribute to exposing and driving mankind’s inherent evil. He shows the need for purpose as a motivator to commit evil acts such as enchaining humanity through the outer station manager. Conrad shows the need for food and survival, assured survival, as a motivation for murdering innocent members of humanity, even those “close” to the savage ship crew. Lastly, and most significantly, he shows the drive for wealth and imposition as a motivator to commit the daring, evil, and unthinkable in characters such as Kurtz.