| Joseph Conrad, who is a British novelist with Polish origin, plays a prominent role in the history of literature; and he is considered an outstanding figure in the transition from Victorian Age to the modern world. Being one of his most famous novels, Heart of Darkness has attracted many critics, both from abroad and at home, to analyze it from various angles, such as political analysis, psychoanalysis, philosophical analysis, feministic analysis, and the analysis of its symbolic meanings. These analyses have deeply elucidated the novel and achieved a lot, and doubtlessly have paved the way for further analyzing the novel.Some Western critics once compared Heart of Darkness to Virgil's Aeneid and to Dante's Inferno, holding that this novel had respectively made use of the images and theme of the works. Some reader at home also thinks that Marlow's journey in South Africa is like an adult rite, in which a man is transformed from an innocent youth into an experienced one, who has to make compromises in the real world. This thesis, under the theoretical guidance of Frye's archetypal theory and The Bible, based on text-analysis method, attempts to make a systematic and sufficient analysis on the mythological archetypes in Heart of Darkness, including archetypal characters, narrative pattern, images and motifs. Archetypal criticism requires the readers to study the literature as a whole, as well as the archetypes functioned in the work. This thesis intends to study these archetypes employed by Conrad in the novel to reveal its theme—evil nature of man.This thesis consists of three parts, which is further divided into six chapters.The first part provides general information about Joseph Conrad and his Heart of Darkness. The critical reputation Conrad has gained and his influence upon the literary world, followed by some critical ideas on Heart of Darkness. Based upon those ideas, this thesis intends to analyze myth and archetypal elements in the novel. The origin and development of archetypal critical theory is introduced, too, followed by the detailed explanation of Frye's archetypal criticism.The second part takes the archetypal features of the novel into account from the following aspects: Archetypal analysis of character Marlow as the quest knight, Kurtz as the scapegoat, general manager as Satan, and faithless pilgrims as Jonah. Archetypal narrative pattern is an inverted U-shaped pattern, which is contrary to that of the Bible. Archetypal images introduce the images of serpent, forest and the antithesis of white and black. Archetypal motifs involve"quest"motif and"falling"motif in the novel. Each is an autonomous unit, yet it has the inner relevance with one another. It is clear that, in order to accomplish his quest emission, Marlow has gone through series of tests and obstacles. This quest also gradually enables Marlow to know better about man's evil nature.The third part is the conclusion of the thesis. By using mythological archetypes and biblical archetypes, Conrad illustrates the quest in the modern world, where the hero, instead of being illuminated by Holy Grail, has to face the truth that man is evil in nature. Meanwhile, Heart of Darkness can be regarded as a good example of literature tendency which endows modern heroes with the traits of gods in ancient myths, just as Martin says:"It is possible that society and literature evolve in a circle rather than a linear pattern. If so, the modern novels, which put emphasis on imagination, may possibly direct literature to return to myth in various ways."... |
PDF Full Text Request