Comparing Truth In Dante's Inferno And Heart Of Darkness

Although Inferno and Heart of Darkness were written hundreds of years apart they both share a common motif that shines a light upon modern day life. In Heart of Darkness and Inferno, Dante and Conrad both use imagery, personification, and symbolism to develop the motif of the misinterpretation of truth and the deception of the weak through the characters of Kurtz and Geryon. In Heart of Darkness, Kurtz is a symbol of truth and brutality. Due to Kurtz’s love for truth and brutality, his actions that develope his reputation are driven by his perception of truth, the only way to live is through power and brutality. One example of Kurtz’s actions being dictated by his perception of truth is the ornamental heads Marlow finds when he reaches the inner station, we find that Kurtz has used his

Geryon uses his beauty to deceive and steal the trust of others and uses his strength to overpower them. In lines 10-12 of canto 17, Dante’s use of personification and Musa’s commentary about the personification establishes Geryon’s role of fraud. Musa supports Dante’s personification by referring to line 10, “the face of any honest man”, and saying that the Geryon uses his face and “deceives his victim long enough for his poisoned tail to strike” (Dante 1:227). This suggests that on the surface the Geryon appears to be a beautiful and authentic creature, but on the inside he is a deceiving serpent, waiting to catch his next victim. Geryon continually takes advantage of his beauty and honest face to gain power over the powerless of his world, the sinners. While Geryon does have a great magnitude of power he also a force working against him that is greater and more powerful than him, truth. Geryon’s action are dictated by truth because truth can disable his strength in an instance. Although Geryon’s physical strength is the greatest, strength is not always physical. Truth reveals Geryon’s true barbarity and