The "misty halo" â An Exploration Into the Range of Readings of Conrad's Heart of Darkness
By investigating the range of meanings of the text, attempts to disprove a particular reading.
"In Heart of Darkness Conrad tells us that the most dutiful of men (a Marlow) can be led to the brink of savagery if the will for power touches him; that the most idealistic of men (Kurtz) can become sadistic murderers; and that the dirty work of the world is carried out by men whose reputations are preserved by lies."
To what extent does this sum up the main concerns of the novel?
The ?misty halo? of meaning that surrounds Marlow?s narrative in Conrad?s novel Heart of Darkness places the reader in a perplexing position which makes defining the novel?s key concerns a seemingly impossible task. Yet the narrative can be ?made visible by the spectral illumination of moonshine?, implying that when it is viewed in a particular way, the experiences can ?throw a kind of light? on our lives just as they did for Marlow. However, the hypothesis that the text is concerned primarily with the changes in Marlow and Kurtz; from dutiful to savage and idealistic to sadistic respectively, is both an inadequate textual reading of Heart of Darkness, and one which fails to address the most important concerns of the novel. The novel presents the affairs of the central characters as being representative of the complexities in the unconscious mind of all civlisation, and proposing that it concerns only specific people in specific situations is to ignore the essence of the text. The reader is constantly reminded of the nature of the dream-like story Marlow is telling and the unreality of the events being retold, which itself refutes any proposal which seeks to demonstrate that the characters? actions alone is what defines their significance.
In ?Heart of Darkness and the failure of the Imagination?, James Guetti purports that the text ?poses itself as a refutation of the general metaphorical conception that meaning may be found within? at the end of the search we encounter a darkness, and it is no more defined than at the beginning?. Indeed, the storyteller himself defines the meaning of an episode ?not inside a kernel but outside?. The implication is that the search for meaning in the text cannot begin at the heart of darkness, and cannot be based on the conventions we may use to interpret other tales. Reinforcing this reading is the evidence that Marlow is not ?typical? ? he does not ?represent his class? and so we cannot consider his story from a perspective to which we are accustomed. Instead, we need to accept the paradoxes of reality and dream, death and life, darkness and light. We need to accept the text?s complexities, but work towards understanding its significance as a work of art that is constructed in particular way that enables us to privilege its key concerns.
The importance of art in understanding the ambiguities of Heart of Darkness is explored by Mark Dintenfass in his lecture on the subject.
?One of the great paradoxes of art is that if it is to successfully evoke a true sense of the multitudinous experiences of life, it must hold those experiences within a highly organized and patterned order.?
Ditenfass suggests that by exploring the form of the novel, we can get closer to understanding it. In Heart of Darkness, however, the very concept of the difficulties of communication is a thematic concern. Marlow constantly reminds us of the fact that his story is an ?inconclusive experience?. The fact that the primary narrator himself has difficulties in coming to terms with his approach to story-telling is presented to the reader both in the frame narration and repeatedly in the bulk of the story. Marlow?s concern that he is unable to effectively communicate his story to his listeners is the reason for several narrative interjections. By constantly interrupting the flow of his story, Marlow takes time in these interjections to subtly guide the reader?s understanding of the text. Ironically, though, he does not guide the reader towards a particular understanding; but rather away from it. His first concern is that he is ?trying to tell you a dream ? making a vain attempt, because no relation of a dream can convey the dream-sensation?? At this point, Marlow dismisses as unanswerable the questions his narrative has posed to his listeners. The narrative perspective focuses our attention on the subjective elements in the construction of reality and meaning. At the end of the story, Marlow?s pose as a meditative Buddha is a timely reminder of the reflective and insightful nature of his narrative. In Stein?s essay, ?The Lotus Posture and the Heart of Darkness?, Marlow?s final posture is used as proof that his story is an ?introspective ordeal?.
The elusive nature of Marlow?s story is not, however, limited to his retelling of it. His experiences at the time also impressed him as being ?not very clear?. The notion of unreality is presented repeatedly during his story to reinforce the idea that even then it was an indefinable experience. During his time at the Outer Station, Marlow suggests that it is in his work he can best discover himself. But he remarks that it is ?not for others? to know; ?they can only see the mere show, and never can tell what it really means?. Later, he says that when he has to attend to the ?mere incidents of the surface? that ?the reality ? the reality, I tell you ? fades?. Clearly, for Marlow, the true reality of human existence is to be found by an exploration into the cavernous depths of the human person, not by contemplating the mere surface.
Consequently, there is no doubt that Marlow?s story should be read with an understanding of ?all its complexity and messiness, all its darkness and ambiguity? (Ditenfass). To what extent, though, should this prohibit its readers from theorising its main concerns? In light of the way in which the narrator plays down the significance of specific events and characters, but foregrounds more general themes like lightness and darkness, it would seem reasonable to posit readings that take a broad approach, embrace the complexities of the text, and deal adequately with the ?inconclusive? nature of the narrative. For me, the reading of the journey into the heart of darkness as an exploration of the human unconscious effectively deals with these complications, and at the same time encapsulates the novel?s concern with man?s capability for atrocity when released from societal pressures.
This reading of Heart of Darkness, as a psychological novel that presents man?s unconscious mind with all its contradictions and complexities, and with all the problems associated with communicating them to the outside world, is thematically of much greater significance than the proposal in question. The ?culminating experience? of Marlow?s journey to Kurtz is the realisation of the psychological connection between these characters. In many respects, Kurtz represents an aspect of Marlow?s psyche; an aspect which the storyteller reveals to us when he describes the effect the jungle has had on his behaviour. He feels an affinity with the natives; a desire to ?go ashore for a howl and a dance?. Both characters are affected by the wilderness, especially Kurtz ? we are told it ?echoed loudly within him because he was hollow at the core?. Indeed, Marlow was drawn to the brink of savagery, but he was because he recognized the truth in the natives? behaviour, not because he had a lust for power. It is a far more holistic representation of the text to use that incident as proof of the development of the novel?s extraordinary and unconventional psychological concerns.
As one of the first novels of the modernist era, Heart of Darkness carries with it an ambiguity that transcends its characters and narrators, and is undeniably as much of a thematic concern as any other aspect of the text. Conrad himself declared that ?explicitness? is fatal to the glamour of all artistic work, robbing it of all suggestiveness, destroying all illusion?. Indeed, in Conrad?s novella, the reader is constantly discouraged from articulating readings that deal with specific characters and their situations. Hypothesising such a reading contradicts the nature of the text; it is to work against the current of the river of darkness whose shadows cannot be illuminated by the peripheral application of arbitrary representative roles to its characters.
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