A postcolonial and psychological approach to Heart of
Darkness

Abstract: Heart of Darkness can be analysed in terms of its focus on an historical
period, imperialism, colonialism, and cultural events of the era. The theme
of European’s travelling to underdeveloped, savage, and uncivilized
countries is noticeable in the text, which had a wider social and artistic
scope. Conrad’s works, in particular, provide a link between Victorian
values and the ideals of Modernism.

The novel contains a vast subject, and this thesis is not going to analyse
more than two aspects: 1) The characters of Marlow and Kurtz. 2) A review
of some literary criticisms, and Freud’s notion of human psyche. Marlow
travels to the Congo in search of Kurtz. Eventually these two characters
are transformed into different personalities at the end of the journey.
Kurtz’s role in the tale is symbolically important: his dark evil face and
the hollowness in himself which Marlow shares. Marlow has been compared to
Kurtz in many parts of the novel, and his thoughts were obsessed with
Kurtz. Marlow is faced with a critical moral dilemma. He doubted how he
would evaluate Kurtz’s personality. The longer he is obsessed with Kurtz,
the more he sets himself for the horror of life. Marlow disliked Kurtz’s
actions, but loved his dominant power with which he controlled the Congo.
The reference to Freud and to dreams is not fortuitous. Freud and Conrad
were contemporaries. Freud did his work on the definitions of dreams
(Interpretation of Dreams) in the 1890s, the same time that Conrad
developed ideas about the Congo, through his personal and political
experiences in a nightmarish world. Freud’s book appeared in 1900, only
months after Conrad’s Heart of Darkness.

Despite praise from many authors, such as Hemingway and Fitzgerald,
Conrad’s reputation rose only after his death in 1924. Recent criticisms
have divided his works into two parts: psychological analysis and political
explanations. However, this thesis will try to have its own interpretation
of the psychological analysis based on Freud’s techniques.