Marlow Lies

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While Marlow is in Africa, he travels to the Inner station to meet the Great Kurtz, the man Marlow has been hearing about since he first arrived at the coast. After going through all the dangers with his steamboat, he survives the journey and meets Kurtz in person. However, Marlow finds out that Kurtz was not the great person he had heard from others, but a mad man. Kurtz was an ill man, who was near his death. After Kurtz dies, Marlow leaves Africa and returns to Belgium to meet one of Kurtz's close acquaintance, his fiancé. However, before Kurtz died, his last words were nothing close to what Marlow had said to Kurtz's fiancé. Kurtz's last words were (pg.116)"The horror! The horror!," however, Marlow talks about how Kurtz was a great human being and about his great plans to civilize Africa, rather than telling her the truth about the real Kurtz in Africa. Marlow decides not to tell her the truth because, he didn’t want her image of Kurtz to change and know about his lunatic life at the inner station. Kurtz had a complete opposite life in Africa than he had back in Belgium. Also, not only Kurtz's fiancé will be confused, his close associates would be all be enlightened. For these reasons, Marlow decides not to tell Kurtz's fiancé the truth about Kurtz's last words.

Kurtz was a man who was sent to Africa by a Belgian company, as an ivory trader. He is well known by other traders for gathering huge amount of Ivory throughout the country. But, Kurtz's obsession to ivory lead to ravenousness. His greedy hunger for ivory urges him to make alliances and enemies between the native, raiding village after village with the help of his African friends as he searches for ivory. His obsession takes over so much that he is described to seek...

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...idn’t want to leave her all confused and find out how truly terrible Kurtz was. Kurtz's fiancé and close contacts knew Kurtz's for being smart, admiring and his greatness. Not the horrible man he was in Africa, greedy and brutal. He was a the opposite man of what they had known and believed him for, before he left for Africa. If Marlow had told her the truth about what he had done and said in Africa, not only would she be the only person being confused, people who were close to Kurtz's would also act and feel the same. Marlow mostly didn’t wanted Kurtz's fiancé's view to change, and let her live on her life without knowing any truth about Kurtz's darkness.

Works Cited

http://www.enotes.com/homework-help/why-do-you-suppose-that-conrad-has-marlow-lie-219959 http://www.shmoop.com/heart-of-darkness/mr-kurtz.html http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kurtz_(Heart_of_Darkness)

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