I hereby hand over all copyrights I might
have for this paper. You are free to use
it for what ever
purpose you see
fit. Jonathan Welden
Joseph Conrad's books, The Secret Sharer
and Heart of Darkness, both deal with
each of our
"dark selves". These books
also have similarities which are overwhelming.
In describing the
true inner self of humans, Conrad used many symbols which have
become apparent
in many of his novels. Conrad uses the
same or very similar objects in
many of his
works.
Joseph Conrad wrote Heart of Darkness in 1899
to recount his voyages in the
Congo. Conrad hid most of his meaning in his words
using a form of writing known as
"stream of
consciousness". This made it
difficult for people to find the true meaning of
his work. After about ten years, Conrad realized that
he would have to get his point
across in an
easier to understand book. This book was
The Secret Sharer.
Both of these books include the hero wanting to
meet or developing a fascination
for a truly evil
character. In Heart of Darkness, Marlow
is very eager to meet Kurtz.
Marlow is so
eager, in fact, that he eventually starts to panic when he thinks he will never
meet him. Marlow realizes that Kurtz is a very evil
person, but this does not stop him
from wanting to
meet this incredibly remarkable person.
In The Secret Sharer the
Captain saves a
murderer from almost certain death without knowing what the man has
done. Later, The Captain has a discussion with the
man and finds out his name is
Leggatt. Leggatt tells his story and the Captain
becomes more enthralled with Leggatt
ever so
more. When Leggatt tells the Captain he
has committed a murder, the Captain
does not throw
him overboard. Instead, the Captain
harbors this criminal because he
feels a
connection with Leggatt that he has never felt before. In both stories the hero
identifies with
his evil counterpart to the point that they actually become one in their
own minds. Conrad wanted to show the evil that exists
within all of us.
The bulk of Conrad's stories deal with sea
voyages because of his extensive
sailing as a
young man. The ship in his writing can
be thought of as symbolizing the
journey through
life, a vessel of sorts. His stories
encounter many happenings, showing
the many things
one's soul can go through.
Pity has a strong grasp on both stories'
plots. Marlow feels pity for Kurtz and
his
Intended. In the end, Marlow lies to Kurtz's Intended
about his last words, because he
feels sorry for
her. She will be devastated for the rest
of her life because of a man who
was truly evil
and only realized it in the end with his dying words "The horror. The
horror". The Captain thinks that he should help his
mirror self escape and risks
everything, his job,
his life, even his ship to fulfill this desire.
The Captain sails his ship
into a reef with
rocks and very nearly sinks his ship.
This allows Leggatt to jump in the
water and swim to
safety and start a new life. Before
this, however, the Captain gives
Leggatt his hat,
which also symbolizes pity. The Captain needed to give the cap to
Leggatt to feel
good about himself and, ironically, the cap saves the ship from certain
doom in the end.
Both evil characters in the stories, Leggatt
and Kurtz, get away and actually
succeed in their
own way. Leggatt goes free even though
he has committed a murder,
and Kurtz dies as
a god to his native followers. Conrad
shows us that evil triumphs over
good much of the
time. Through death, Kurtz has found
eternal life.
Marlow and the Captain experience incredible
suffering from their "dark sides".
Marlow becomes
appalled at the apparent brutality of the Manager and Kurtz and, near
the end, chases
Kurtz down just to realize that Kurtz appears to already be taking on a
very ghost-like
appearance. Three hundred yards away, a
pagan ritual is being held for
Kurtz which
awaits him as he crawls on the ground, one last desperate attempt to die as a
god. The Captain becomes very stressed that he will be discovered and it builds day
by
day. The Captain grows to hate the Steward. He is sure that the Steward will be the one
to discover
Leggatt in his quarters. The Captain
gets so close to discovery that his "voice
died in his
throat". This happens because the
Steward hung a wet coat in the Captain's
closet. The Captain is driven nearly to insanity and
this near discovery scares him. He is
curious about why
Leggatt was not discovered and begins to feel that Leggatt could be a
figment of his
imagination, and that no one but he can see him. This shows us the mental
state of the
Captain and how tortured he became.
Another of Joseph Conrad's books is Lord
Jim. Lord Jim also has some
similarities with
Heart of Darkness and The Secret Sharer.
The main character is a man
called Jim, but
by the Malays, a tribe he had helped, he was known as "Tuan Jim" or
"Lord
Jim". This book involved sailing
and it also contained a character called Marlow
as well. Jim fights with his inner self about his
ability to do good. He had abandoned his
crew during a
storm when he was first mate and never could forgive himself for his lack
of courage. He had his sea papers taken away and could
never work at sea again. He
spends the rest
of his life trying to make up for his mistake.
A character named Marlow
helps him and
sends him to a job in a rice factory.
But later one of the shipmates he had
abandoned shows
up and threatens to spread his secret.
Jim left and continued to travel,
running away from
his fears. He is helped by a man named
Stein who Marlow knows.
Stein compares
life and man to a butterfly, saying that life is so "fragile and yet so
strong". He goes on to say that man will never sit
still. If man thinks he is a devil, then
he wishes to be a
saint. Once again, Conrad brings up the
inner struggle of one's
consciousness. Eventually Jim finds his way to a trading
post full of natives. Jim
befriends a man
named Doramin by giving him Stein's ring.
He becomes very well
known by ridding
the natives of their oppression by other tribal leaders. During this time,
Jim becomes
friends with Doramin's son, Dain Waris.
One day, white men come down
the river and
attack the town. They people drive them
back and have them cornered.
They plead to be
given safe passage. Jim says that they should let them through and he
will take full
responsibility with his life for what might happen. The men then attack and
kill many
natives, including Doramin's son. Jim
has the option to run for his life and
repeat his
mistake again. However, he decides to
stand up and accept his failure.
Doramin kills
him. In the end, Jim finally achieves
what he had strived for all his life.
He had proved his
bravery. In similar ways Marlow and the
Captain achieved what they
wanted in life at
the end of their struggle.
Joseph Conrad's books have similar symbols and
deep meanings: man has
misgivings that
he must prove to himself no matter what.
Most of his novels and stories
involve the sea
and good versus evil. Good becomes
fascinated with evil, but needs to in
order to achieve
it's ultimate goal: to learn more about itself and gain control.
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