Az Eszterházy Károly Tanárképző Főiskola Tudományos Közleményei. 1996. Vol. 1. Eger Journal of English Studies.(Acta Academiae Paedagogicae Agriensis : Nova series ; Tom. 24)

Tibor Tóth: Conrad's 'Secret Garden'

cruel farce which is the reality of the journey, the 'merry dance of death and trade' in which he takes part. Conrad seems to suggest that this is the only thing that can happen to the humanitarian pretences of imperialism. Marlow observes that Kurtz lost his authority over his own self and became a captive of the Congo. Kurtz is unable to resist the lure of the alien; life in the wilderness makes him physically ill twice and finally both his intellectual and physical integrity is undermined. He gives up his European identity and becomes a captive of his disturbed imagination in the dark continent. Kurtz shows no trace of the lofty ideals he declared when arriving to his post. Having shed all his formerly declared high ideals Kurtz betrays, exploits and terrorises the natives. He even corrupts them by employing African villagers to fight their fellow men exclusively for his benefit. The 'civilised' savage proves to be worse than the plain 'barbarian' he set to 'civilise.' In spite of his extremely short active presence, the character of Kurtz has preoccupied many of the readers of the novella. Critics have been trying to state the source of Kurtz's character and they identified it as being derived from Marlow's Doctor Faustus, the sixth book of the Aeneid (Hades), Dante's Inferno and the legend of Lucifer respectively. Kurtz's personality and fate most certainly stand for the ills of imperialism, but in the context of the other negative characters representative of colonialism, racism and malevolent greed he surely gains a new dimension. The Manager plots against Kurtz, but he is very cautious and even his evil is negative, weak and mean. The brickmaker is a spy, whom Marlow considers a 'papiermache' through whom one could poke one's finger without finding anything else but a 'little loose dirt'. These people cannot attain the stature of man while Kurtz is in possession of ideals and, in spite of his madness, he is man enough to face the darkness generated by imperialism when he revisits prehistoric places and times, he is man enough to be damned. His final cry: "The horror! The horror!" is interpreted by Marlow as a moral victory and a rejection of 'going native'; nevertheless, 'civilisation' is shown as suffering an overwhelming moral defeat. Marlow is trying to avoid being affected by his experience in Africa and maintains his honesty and humanity. Detached as he is, his mind still needs soothing after the nightmare he entered and finally managed to escape. After the 170