The Dark Side Of Human Nature

Heart of Darkness has been viewed as one of the greatest of Conrad's stories (Chen Jia, 1990), which shows the author's great humanity and his unreserved horror at the crimes committed by the colonists and imperialists all over the world, in spite of his aristocratic inclinations and his essential conservatism. The title of the novel is rich in symbolic implications, for the shape of a heart resembles geographically the shape of black Africa, as well as that of the upper part of Congo, where the natives were colonized as slaves who lived in darkness and a miserable life. Darkness is not only symbolic of the case in Africa, but also symbolic of the case in London when England was conquered and occupied by the Roman imperialist invaders. In addition, Heart of Darkness suggests the subconsciousness of the mind or the dark recesses of the mind, partly characterized the evil nature of human beings. The dark side of human nature accounts for the colonialists' cruelty of exploitation and dominance over the colonized native people. The exploration of human nature has been a significant and interesting topic in the academic history of the world, which fascinated so many thinkers and critics that they reached controversial conclusions. However, this thesis just focuses on the dark side of human nature implied in the novel.Since the setting of the novel is in Congo, Africa, which was colonized when the story took place, the theme of the novel has much to do with colonialism. The dark side of human nature finds its ready expression in the cruel oppression and exploitation of the colonialists or imperialists. The interpretation and analysis of the novel in this paper is grounded on the theory of post-colonialism proposed by Edward Said whose key concepts in his orientalism and strategy of deconstruction through discourse revolution can be applied to the discovery of the true nature of the imperialists and colonialism. Kurtz, the main character in the novel, is characterized by his greed for material gain and power, his cruel behavior towards the natives, his sense of superiority to the marginalized and his dominance in discourse over the colonial people. So Kurtz can be viewed as a representative of the colonialists or imperialists, who concentratedly illustrates the dark side of human nature.