Heart of darkness.ppt

Joseph Conrad acknowledged that Heart of Darkness was in part based on his own experiences during his travels in Africa. At the age of 31, he was appointed by a Belgian trading company to serve as the captain of a steamer on the Congo River in 1890. Conrad, who was born in Poland and later settled in England, had eagerly anticipated the voyage, having decided to become a sailor at an early age. While sailing up the Congo river from one station to another, the captain became ill, and Conrad assumed command of the boat and guided the ship to the trading companys innermost station. He reportedly became disillusioned with Imperialism after witnessing the cruelty and corruption perpetrated by the European companies in the area, and the novellas main narrator, Charles Marlow, is believed to have been based upon the author himself. This book records a story of Congo river that Marlow told other seamen in a ship docked in London. The?novel?is?a?chilling?tale?of?horror,?a?narrative?done?by?Charlie?Marlow?who?shares?his?experiences?on?the? Congo?River?in?the?Dark?Continent?and?what?he?learned?about?human?behavior,?set?in?the?Congo?during?the? period?of?rapid?colonial?expansion?in?the?19th?century. Heroes Marlow A captain of the trading company, was sent to find Kurtz. He has abundant sailing experience. Kurtz A member of the company. He is a idealist who want to bring civilization to African，but finally he degenerated into a greedy settler. Climax The climax occurs when Marlow at long last reaches Kurtz, only to discover that the jungle has corrupted him physically, morally, and mentally. The jungle, of course, is as much the jungle within Kurtz–the tangling undergrowth of evil desires that seize control of his soul–as the jungle without.? Themes symbolic and literal levels 1.Marlow is a curious adventurer who presses on in the face of danger. His journey teaches him that the darkest and most perilous place in the world is not the jungle, but the heart of a human being w