| Heart of Darkness is a representative work of Joseph Conrad, who is a great English writer of Polish descent. He once was a noble and then a seaman. Because of his abundant and lonely experiences, his novels often touch on enlightenment of morality and self-exploration. Many critics attribute the popularity of Heart of darkness to Conrad's skillful handling of the problems of moral values and self discovery. Heart of Darkness is not only a journey to explore the hinterland of Africa, but also a journey to explore self, the soul of people. The aim of this paper is to analyze the exploration of self of the main roles in this novel, and to discuss human limitations and the dark nature of colonialism.The first chapter focuses on Kurtz's exploration of self; it touches on Kurtz's degeneration and the inevitable self-destruction of Kurtz. In the wild Africa, Kurtz changes into a greedy and barbaric man. Environment and his swelling id lead to his degeneration and self-destruction.The second chapter concentrates on Marlow's exploration of self. During Marlow's journey to find Kurtz, he is trying to find his true-self too. Marlow's journey can be interpreted as an exploration to the mind. Marlow, an explorer with self-restraint,does not become a plunderer of Congo. Therefore, it is impossible for him to transform just like Kurtz.chapter three is about the significance of Marlow and Kurtz's exploration of self, the significance includes the darkness of colonialism and the discovery of human limitations.The last part concludes that Heart of Darkness is a journey of self-discovery, by tracing down the development of self of those characters, we can actually get an access to better understand human self and the dark nature of colonialism. |
