Az Eszterházy Károly Tanárképző Főiskola Tudományos Közleményei. 1991. British and American Philologycal Studies (Acta Academiae Paedagogicae Agriensis : Nova series ; Tom. 20)

Katalin Grezsu: Psychological Implications in Joseph Conrad's Lord Jim

31 suicide. In spite of this dissimilarity Jim and Hamlet have common features. One of these in Jim's and Hamlet's character is that both are very destined to do something, but neither of them know what. When Jim jumps he dives not only into the boat, but at the same time into a totally new life as well. Just like those who are baptized, Jim gets out of this situation with a new character and a new psyche. At an individualistic level this was his transition from one existence to another. The first part of his life was closed and a new period begins. This new period is not necessarily better, on the contrary, just remember the negative effect of the crowd. Jim dives in a physical and in an abstract sense as well. His mind, the order and the light go down with his jump, instinct, disorder and darkness rule. Conrad describes Jim's feelings in the following way: 'He had landed partly on somebody and fallen across a thwart. He felt as though all his ribs on his left side must be broken; then he rolled over, and saw vaguely the ship he had deserted uprising above him, with the red side-light glowing large in the rain like a fire on the brow of a hill seen through a mist." She seemed higher than a wall; she loomed like a cliff over the boat ... I wished I could die," he cried. "There was no going back. It was as if I had jumped into a well - into an everlasting deep hole This 'everlasting deep hole' which occurs later in the novel a couple of more times might remind us of the black holes existing in our Universe. These black holes are still unknown to us but it is imaginable that we can disappear through these holes, we can leave the Solar system and enter another. In a certain sense Jim leaves his earlier existence through this 'deep hole' and starts a new life. Another factor that might have made Jim leave the Patna was beyond him as well. Jim had always been waiting for the great chance to show his heroism, to do something extraordinary. And he, just like the figures of folk tales, is given three opportunities. The first two come at an early age, when he is too young to handle them and misses both. The Patna accident is the third opportunity to rise above the mob, to do something heroic and memorable. But Jim is indecisive again. He tries to explain everything to Marlow and wants the sailor to understand the reason behind his actions. "Do you suppose, "he said, "that I was thinking of myself, with a hundred and sixty people at my back, all fast asleep in that fore'tween deck alone - and more of them aft; more on deck - sleeping -