Heart of Darkness Symbolism, Imagery & Allegory

Contrary to popular usage, light does not necessarily symbolize pure goodness or enlightenment here. Conrad’s vision is so dark that he does not even trust light. Marlow makes the comment tha...

Did these ladies creep you out or what? They seem to represent the Moirae or the Fates as envisioned by the ancient Greeks. Two of the three Fates spin the life-thread of each human being. The thre...

Flies symbolize death, ever since flies hung around dead bodies and the devil got the nickname "Lord of the Flies." In Heart of Darkness, flies notably appear when a slave dies in Chapter One and w...

The heads-on-sticks symbolize Kurtz’s excessive brutality. The appearance of these heads-on-sticks is the graphic climax of the book, which comes conveniently close to the plot climax. Coinci...

Eloquent use of language is, in general, one of the ways out of madness (for Marlow, at least). Marlow sees Kurtz’s eloquence as one of his redeeming features. Language is also used as a huma...

The accountant symbolizes the Company as it wants to be seen. He dresses elegantly despite the heat and the poverty of the black native African workers surrounding him, emphasizing the Company̵...

This Doctor foreshadows the upcoming danger and eventual madness that Marlow will face in the interior. Measuring Marlow’s skull is something akin to taking scientific observations of his bra...

We are introduced to this painting at the central station where we find out that Kurtz painted it. It portrays a woman, blindfolded, carrying a lighted torch, and standing against a black backgroun...

In the "Character Analysis" for both Marlow and Kurtz we talked about how Conrad compares both men to gods. But, as you might have come to expect by now, it’s just not that simple. Marlow is...