Anticipating the Worst:
The Use of Pessimism
In Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness
Pessimism is the tendency to anticipate undesirable outcomes in a given circumstance (Dictionary.com, 2014). Literature often pessimistically demonstrates the theme of the human soul being selfish. For Instance, in the novel, The Fall, philosopher Albert Camus states that “To be happy, we must not be too concerned with others” (Camus, 1956). Joseph Conrad also recognizes the selfishness of humanity in his novella, Heart of Darkness. Heart of Darkness is a representation of Conrad’s pessimism because he portrays through characters that the human soul is selfish. Conrad portrays the selfishness of the human soul through the Company’s agents, Marlow, and Kurtz.…show more content… Kurtz “declared he would shoot [the Russian] unless [he] gave him the ivory and cleared out of the country” (136). Even when the Russian helps Kurtz, Kurtz is too greedy to acknowledge his sincerity. This is reminiscent of Shakespeare’s Hamlet in which Polonius serves as Claudius’ right-hand man, but Claudius has no respect for him throughout the play. Conrad cynically demonstrates that the human soul is selfish because the Russian serves to Kurtz, but Kurtz is so consumed by his greed that he does not acknowledge the Russian’s good fortunes towards him, and instead threatens to shoot him. Finally, Kurtz manipulates the technologically impaired natives when “he came to them with thunder and lightning” (139). It is clear that Kurtz is addicted to his man god position and is consumed by his greed when he states, “ ‘[m]y Intended, my ivory, my station, my river’ ” (126). Conrad pessimistically demonstrates the selfishness of the human race when he portrays Kurtz as being consumed by his ambitions and greed. Although Kurtz’s proposed intentions were to bring enlightenment to the Africans, it is evident that he was selfish towards them and took advantage of his power. Upon becoming weak, Kurtz should have passed his authority onto the Russian because “A man god must be killed as soon as he shows symptoms that his powers are beginning to fail” (Reid, 1966). However, Kurtz is too selfish to give up his addictive power because he is blinded by his own ambitions. In conclusion, Conrad pessimistically portrays the selfishness of humanity through the character of
