Strong Versus Weak Characters in Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness :: Conrad Heart Darkness

Strong Versus Weak Characters in Joseph Conrads Heart of Darkness genius of the central tragedies of Joseph Conrads Heart of Darkness is the insanity of Mr. Kurtz. How could a man who seemed so good, so stable, suddenly become so mentally lacking? by the deterioration of Kurtzs personality and Marlows response to his breakdown, Conrad explores the elements of strong versus weak characters.Conrad introduces Kurtz as the archetypal European. French mother, English father, educated all over the continent- hes strikingly average. By making him so normal Kurtz can serve as a model for all mankind- if it happened to this guy, whos to say it couldnt happen to anyone? At first Kurtz runs the inner station with common sense and justice (or what was considered justice during colonization), but before too long his character begins to whirl inward.Because of his over bearing personality, the Africans begin to look to Kurtz as a sort of god, and he begins to work with the idea. Had this occurre d in society, he would have been checked Kurtz, stop organism so silly. But In the jungle no one is there to keep him within societal boundaries- and the immense power he has begins to take allow of him. Kurtz is folding further and further into himself. The perfect example of this is the pamphlet Kurtz wrote. It seems that, though his actions say differently, when he is in the act of writing- something he learned in the civilised world- he can still function. He can still perform the, what is considered a solely human, trait of consciously thinking about and considering his own actions. so far when he talks about the pamphlet- he knows he wrote something and that it was good and important. Finally however, he writes at the bottom, exterminate the brutes, and the old Kurtz is gone.The once normal Kurtz has become a megalomaniac. Consider the shrunken heads put up around his house. It is feasible to think that perhaps a savage would do something like that as a warn to anyone who m ight stop by. Even in the horror- there is logic to it. But- Kurtz has them facing toward his house. This has no reasonable explanation, except that Kurtz has lost his mind. Conrad describes the scene almost as though Kurtz has them set up out there to look at, to talk to from time to time. His unchecked power of the natives takes away his human ability to reason and leaves an empty Kurtz-shaped hull.