Heart of Darkness Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Heart of Darkness - Essay Example Kurtz is repeatedly described as mad and this madness had its sources in two important things: a) intellect/genius and b) unbridled power. Perhaps Marlow gave one of the best explanations for madness within Kurtz when he tries to understand the sources of depths of madness that he noticed in Kurtz. It is where he overcomes with this deep urge to kill Kurtz because the man looked just so extraordinarily inhuman: "Soul! If anybody has ever struggled with a soul, I am the man. And I wasn't arguing with a lunatic either. Believe me or not, his intelligence was perfectly clear-concentrated, it is true, upon himself with horrible intensity, yet clear; and therein was my only chance-barring of course, the killing him there and then, which wasn't so good, on account of the unavoidable noise. But his soul was mad. Being alone in the wilderness, it had looked within itself, and, by heavens! I tell you, it had gone mad. He struggled with himself, too. I saw it,-I heard it. I saw the inconceivable mystery of a soul that knew no restraint, no faith, and no fear, yet struggling blindly with itself." (144-145) This passage makes one thing clear. Kurtz was not a lunatic. His soul was the center of his corruption and his senseless antics. The man had lost faith, fear and anything else that could keep a watchful eye on his soul. Marlow testifies in favor of Kurtz's clear thinking.