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Heart of Darkness Good vs. Evil Quotes Page 28
Citations follow this format: (Chapter.Paragraph)
"She [the Intended] said suddenly very low, 'He died as he lived.'
'His end,' said I, with dull anger stirring in me, 'was in every way worthy of his life.'" (3.73-74)
Marlow frames his answer so that he can privately condemn Kurtz for his flaws as well as appease the Intended. In his statement, Marlow recognizes the deep corruption of Kurtz’s soul.
[Marlow to the Intended]: "'The last word he pronounced was - your name.'" (3.85)
The morality of this last act is ambiguous. Although Marlow does tell a blatant lie – which we have been conditioned in the text to condemn as normatively wrong – he does it to preserve the Intended’s lovely illusion of Kurtz. It could be a commendable act of mercy.
"It seemed to me that the house would collapse before I could escape, that the heavens would fall upon my head. But nothing happened. The heavens do not fall for such a trifle." (3.86)
Marlow decides that the world is ultimately indifferent to good and evil. There are no gods that give judgment on men’s actions and the heavens do not, indeed, fall for trifles such as small lies. This could be seen as a rather pessimistic worldview.
