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'

and the people populating it seem to persist. Marlow feels the impossibility of appropriating Africa to his Victorian perceptions: We penetrated deeper and deeper into the heart of darkness [...] We were wanderers on a prehistoric earth that wore the aspect of an unknown planet [...] The prehistoric man was cursing us, praying to us, welcoming us, who could tell? We were cut off from the comprehension of our surroundings; we glided past like phantoms, wondering and secretly appalled.

3

1 Marlow admires the 'prehistoric' man: They had bone, muscle, a wild vitality, an intense energy of movement, that was as natural and true as the surf along their coast. They wanted no excuse for being there.

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2 And Marlow's mission in this 'prehistoric' land is to find Kurtz and bring him back from the heart of darkness. Marlow admires Kurtz as well, in agreement with nearly all the characters, who present him as a great man. The presentation of Kurtz occupies a few pages and he speaks very little, but he is discussed before and afterwards. Kurtz came to the Congo equipped with moral ideas and this places him in the eyes of Marlow above the other Europeans whose only purpose is: To tear treasure out of the bowels of the land [...] with no more moral purpose at the back of it than there is in burglars breaking into a safe." Kurtz's report to the International Society for the Suppression of Savage Customs is sincere, but it is empty rhetoric, and in the postscript he suggests that all the 'brutes' should be exterminated. His humanitarian ideals when confronted with the heart of darkness prove futile and degenerate. Marlow's expectations prove to be false: all that remains of the Eden of his childhood is the serpent, immense and with his head in the sea. Marlow is given the awareness of the 3

1 Heart of Darkness

, 37 3

2 Heart of Darkness

, 17 3

3 Heart of Darkness, 50 169