Heart of Darkness Essay

Heart of Darkness-ISP
By: Robert Pittelli You can argue that nearly everyone on this planet has at least one desire within that is so dark and evil that they would do anything to achieve that goal. However, most individuals are capable of controlling and taming their greedy desires for personal gain such as wealth, power, and fame, to the point where they are concealed, leaving their sanity untouched by the extreme darkness of their sinful wishes. Joseph Conrad’s novel, Heart of Darkness, provides the greatest example of how man’s appetite for greed can prevail and consume almost an entire race’s soul into complete and utter madness, to the stage where it is solely driven by the blackness and impurity of greed. In Heart of Darkness, …show more content…
Kurtz, as well as other Europeans profoundly longed for the material good of ivory initially for its profitability. Probably realizing that what would come after is a sense that fulfilled the consciousness with twin benefits of both sensual (libidinal) and profitable (capitalist) pleasures.
In Heart of Darkness, the Europeans fulfilled their lust for power by using rash methods to colonize the pilgrims. The lead colonizer, Kurtz, contributed not only by stripping the natives of their ivory-rich land, but ironically, also by forcing them to assist the trading company in their hunt for their material desires. The trading company’s ultimate goal was, “to run an over-sea empire, and make no end of coin by trade.” (Conrad, H.O.D, p.11). The approaches utilized by both Kurtz and the trading company to achieve their shared goals of colonization included the use of intimidation as well as brainwashing the ‘savages’ through the power of expression and language.
The European trading company didn’t necessarily possess much strength, but they indeed had more than that of the pilgrims. “They were conquerors, and for that you want only brute force – nothing to boast of, when you have it, since your strength is just an accident arising from the weakness of others.” (Conrad, H.O.D. p. 7). It was extremely

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