What does the title Heart of Darkness signify?

Joseph Conrad's masterful novella "Heart of Darkness" is about a steamboat captain named Marlow who narrates his harrowing trip into the heart or center of the Congo Free State in Africa. Marlow describes his long fascination with the Congo River, a body of water he likens to a "snake" that winds its way through Africa. His interest in the river motivates him to sign on as a captain with a European ivory trading company that is brutally exploiting local people to reap large profits.

The phrase "heart of darkness" has many meanings. Africa was known to Europeans and Americans as "the dark continent" in part because its land and ways were mysterious to outsiders. In addition, the phrase has a pejorative or negative connotation because the "darkness" of Africans was, in the minds of Europeans, associated with darkness in their souls and their supposed inferiority. However, Conrad's point is that the darkness lies not with the Africans but with the brutal European traders.

As Marlow, Conrad's narrator, goes deeper into the heart of Africa, he finds the darkness in the Europeans he encounters, particularly Kurtz, the station master who Marlow is looking for. While other members of the trading company speak of Kurtz in glowing terms, it becomes clear to Marlow that Kurtz has actually become corrupted by the evils of slavery. He writes of Kurtz, "his soul was mad. Being alone in the wilderness, it had looked within itself, and, by heavens! I tell you, it had gone mad." Kurtz has made himself into a type of god worshipped by the locals, and he is clearly charismatic. However, he has used his power to enslave the local people. When Marlow meets him, Kurtz is near death, and, when he perishes, his final words are, "The horror! The horror." With these words, Kurtz tries to repent of his evils. It is clear that slavery and the brutality of European colonialism have corrupted Kurtz and turned his heart to darkness. It is he, not the African people, who has become the embodiment of darkness in the book. 

What does the title Heart of Darkness signify?

The title of Joseph Conrad’s novel has several interrelated meanings, so an effective thesis could take one of several possible approaches.

The first step in creating a thesis concerning this title would be to identify all the important meanings of it. Conrad applies the ideas of “heart” and “darkness” to geographical settings, societies, and characters. After identifying the different meanings, one approach would be prioritize a single meaning and write the thesis about that. Another approach would be to develop a thesis that considers how Conrad intertwines those multiple meanings.

If one begins with geography, one would address the ways that Conrad associates darkness with Africa and portrays the continent’s interior as its heart. A thesis that focuses on this association would concentrate on Conrad’s use of narrative and description to detail how Marlow journeys up the river into the shadowy, forested interior.

A thesis that combines two or more meanings would pay more attention to the social factors, such as European colonialism, and the moral, ethical, and commercial dimensions of both Marlow’s and Kurtz’s behavior. By the time the reader meets Kurtz, it is clear that this man’s heart has turned very dark. A thesis focused on a character could focus on Kurtz as embodying the title phrase, or might also consider whether Marlow himself becomes morally dark.

What is the meaning of the title Heart of Darkness and how does it relate to the story?

The "heart of darkness" refers to both the enigmatic, foreboding Congolese jungle, as well as humanity's inherent wickedness, which is only suppressed by society's laws and regulations. Throughout the story, Marlow joins the Company and travels to the Congo in hopes of meeting the successful ivory trader named Kurtz. On his journey to the Inner Station, Marlow witnesses inefficiency, corruption, and depravity firsthand. His perception of Europeans as being enlightened individuals is shattered as he begins to understand that darkness is inherent in every man's soul. After meeting Kurtz, Marlow realizes the potentiality of mankind's wickedness. Kurtz was viewed as a god by the natives and used violent means to acquire valuable ivory. Through Kurtz and the Company's actions, Conrad illustrates the depravity and wickedness associated with colonial exploitation, inhumane practices, and crumbling sanity. Void of society's restraints, darkness prevails in each man's heart.

The darkness also applies to the African continent, which was referred to as the "dark continent." The unexplored, mysterious jungle is ominous and "dark." Marlow and his crew travel up the Congo River toward the Inner Station, which is located in the "heart" of the jungle. Marlow's journey can be interpreted as both a journey into the heart of the jungle, as well as mankind's soul.

What is the meaning of the title Heart of Darkness and how does it relate to the story?

The theme of darkness is present throughout the novel, appearing in Marlow's first words: "And this also has been one of the dark places of the earth." He refers to the terrible things he has witnessed in his life, and to the darkness that he believes hides in the inner heart of every man, waiting for release. The first in-text example comes when Marlow overhears a conversation between the Manager and his uncle:

I saw him extend his short flipper of an arm for a gesture that took in the forest, the creek, the mud, the river—seemed to beckon with a dishonoring flourish before the sunlit face of the land a treacherous appeal to the lurking death, to the hidden evil, to the profound darkness of its heart.
(Conrad, Heart of Darkness, eNotes eText)

The uncle doesn't seem to care about the atrocities that men perform when released from the bonds of civilization as long as his nephew is doing well. Throughout the novel, the imagery of a "heart of darkness" recurs, showing how Marlow comes to believe that every man has the potential for evil inside their hearts, and how it is bound only by civilization and convention. Kurtz is Marlow's prime example, being a person who lost his morality early and now has had his heart and soul all-but consumed by the overpowering darkness of the jungle.

What is the meaning of the title Heart of Darkness and how does it relate to the story?

Another interpetation of the title can refer to the character of Kurtz and his hunger for power which leads to his ultimate descent into madness. This concept can be related to the adage that "power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely." Kurtz was made into a god by the natives but his imperfect humanity was unable to support the weight of that obligation. Conrad makes the obvious point here about potential consequences of the imperialist mandate, but he also is speaking to the deeper notion of man's fundamental drive to be god of his own world and the danger inherent in that quest.

What is the meaning of the title Heart of Darkness and how does it relate to the story?

Throughout the novel, the motif of a "Heart of Darkness" recurs in Marlow's narration. The first proper mention, although both "hearts" and "dark[ness]" appear earlier, is in Chapter 2, when he overhears a conversation between the Manager and his uncle:

...the profound darkness of its heart.

Later, he cites the title properly, explaining his emotional reaction to the jungle:

We penetrated deeper and deeper into the heart of darkness. It was very quiet there.
(Conrad, Heart of Darkness, eNotes eText)

Although there is no literal "heart" or center of the jungle where darkness can be found, Marlow discovers a sort-of literal "heart of darkness" in Kurtz, who is so damaged by his own hubris and ego that he believes himself a god above the native people. In Kurtz, Marlow sees the capacity of every man to become a dictator if given the opportunity, and so recognizes the "dark" potential in his own heart. Essentially, the title refers both to the "dark," or bad, acts that Kurtz has committed in the "heart," or center, of the jungle, and to the potential in all men to justify cruelty if left to their own devices.

What is the relationship between the title and themes in Conrad's Heart of Darkness?

In Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness, the title originally refers to Marlow's trip into the portion of Africa once referred to as the Congo, which was "owned" by Belgium. The most profitable export was ivory, and often those involved in collecting it were disreputable men who cares only for the money, and treated the natives ruthlessly.

However, as the story develops, Marlow—who serves as the narrator—is hired by the Company to captain a boat into this "heart of darkness," asked to travel to the Inner Station (the third of three stations) to bring out Kurtz, an extremely successful representative of the Company, who has been cut off from civilization for more than a year.

Hadn't I been told in all the tones of jealousy and admiration that he had collected, bartered, swindled, or stolen more ivory than all the other agents together?

When Marlow finally arrives at the Inner Station, he finds that Kurtz is living in a building surrounded by spikes with human heads on them, and is treated much like a god by the natives. And while Kurtz does not fight leaving the island, the natives are not happy about it.

It would seem that Kurtz's experiences have irreparably changed the man, though Marlow sees reasons for which he might once have admired the other man:

...in his being a gifted creature, and that of all his gifts the one that stood out preeminently, that carried with it a sense of real presence, was his ability to talk, his words—the gift of expression, the bewildering, the illuminating, the most exalted and the most contemptible, the pulsating stream of light, or the deceitful flow from the heart of an impenetrable darkness.

In essence, Kurtz has lost his way. He has seen the darkness in the souls of others; he has seen (and given in to) the heart of darkness lurking within his own soul—perhaps in all men—but instead of resisting it, he embraces it. It destroys the man; it destroys his mind. And in leaving the jungle, Kurtz ultimately dies.

Kurtz's willingness to embrace his own "heart of darkness" leads to his alientation and isolation from his own society, and ultimately draws him from sanity to overwhelming madness. In the struggle between the "light" and the "darkness," it has been a battle that Kurtz could not win. In leaving the jungle, for a coherent moment, Kurtz cries out his final words, which are reflective of what exists with the darkest part of a man's soul; he says:

‘‘The horror! The horror!’’

How does the content of Heart of Darkness justify its title?

Heart of Darkness is a title with multiple layers. On the most superficial layer, it refers to the continent of Africa where the story (within the story) takes place. Marlow speaks of the how, as he motored the steamboat into the continent, "the reaches opened before us and closed behind, as if the forest had stepped leisurely across the water to bar the way for our return" as they "penetrated deeper and deeper into the heart of darkness." "The steamer," he says, "toiled along slowly on the edge of a black and incomprehensible frenzy." The continent itself is forbidding to a "civilized" man, being thick with impenetrable foliage, of "massive, immense trees" that close onto the river. 

Another type of "darkness" they are penetrating is the natives. He has cannibals working on the boat with him, which he says are "fine fellows...in their place." As they chugged along--and their pace seemed sluggish indeed--they would encounter "a burst of yells, a whirl of black limbs, a mass of hands clapping, of feet stamping, of bodies swaying, of eyes rolling, under the droop of heavy and motionless foliage. The steamer toiled along slowly on the edge of a black and incomprehensible frenzy." It seemed like they were among "prehistoric man," or in a "madhouse." The cultures and customs and language were all foreign to Marlow, and he reacted with the characteristic anxiety of a "civilized" man. To him, the Africans he worked with and saw we not only dark in flesh, but dark in custom, culture, and spirit. 

If we peel away the next layer of the onion, we begin to see that the "heart of darkness" Conrad is really exposing is that of the "civilized" Company men who live among the natives, enslave them, and abuse them. At one of his first stops upriver, he docks and walks toward a shade to cool off and finds, much to his horror:

black shapes crouched, lay, sat between the trees, leaning against the trunks, clinging to the earth, half coming out, half effaced within the dim light, in all the attitudes of pain, abandonment, and despair. ...This was the place where some of the helpers had withdrawn to die.

They were dying slowly—it was very clear. They were not enemies, they were not criminals, they were nothing earthly now,—nothing but black shadows of disease and starvation, lying confusedly in the greenish gloom. Brought from all the recesses of the coast in all the legality of time contracts, lost in uncongenial surroundings, fed on unfamiliar food, they sickened, became inefficient, and were then allowed to crawl away and rest.

Conrad immediately compares this scene with the figure of the Company accountant who is, clean, immaculately attired, and keeps his books in "apple pie order." He complains when the natives speak or move: "When one has got to make correct entries," he says, "one comes to hate those savages—hate them to the death."

And another layer of the onion peels away: Kurtz is the epitome of the true heart of darkness, of pure evil. He has lived among the natives for so long that he's "gone native," having long since lost what thin veneer of civilization he had. He has used his influence and superior firepower and fear to become godlike to the natives--Marlow refers to him as a "pitiful Jupiter," as he is sick when they meet--and his home is surrounded by heads on stakes, "black, dried, sunken, with closed eyelids...,that seemed to sleep at the top of that pole, and, with the shrunken dry lips showing a narrow white line of the teeth." When Kurtz is taken onto the steamboat, near death, Marlow wonders "how many powers of darkness claimed him for their own." 

And finally, the heart of darkness lies within each of us. Note that "all Europe contributed to the making of Kurtz." Marlow tries to explain: 

You can't understand. How could you?—with solid pavement under your feet, surrounded by kind neighbors ready to cheer you or to fall on you, stepping delicately between the butcher and the policeman, in the holy terror of scandal and gallows and lunatic asylums—how can you imagine what particular region of the first ages a man's untrammeled feet may take him into by the way of solitude—utter solitude without a policeman—by the way of silence, utter silence, where no warning voice of a kind neighbor can be heard whispering of public opinion? These little things make all the great difference. When they are gone you must fall back upon your own innate strength, upon your own capacity for faithfulness.

In other words, we are all savages just under the surface. It is only the superficial laws and customs of our existence that divide us from becoming Kurtzes (the next time you hear of soldiers at war committing "atrocities," remember this). Marlow tries to explain this, but finds that words still fall short of expressing this critical idea. 

In the treatise Kurtz had penned for the International Society for the Suppression of Savage Customs, Kurts had first written (with breathtaking eloquence) that whites "appear to them [savages] in the nature of supernatural beings—we approach them with the might as of a deity,' and so on, and so on. 'By the simple exercise of our will we can exert a power for good practically unbounded...." Only, at the end, written much later, were the unsteadily scrawled words: "Exterminate all the brutes!" 

Presumably, Kurtz had decided that all the natives were brutes and could not be saved, but the reader is left to decide who, precisely, the brutes really are. 

Kurtz's famous last words, aboard Marlow's steamer, were "The horror! The horror!" We are left, again, to determine what the most horrible behavior in this book is. 

What is the relationship between the title and the context of Joseph Conrad's novel, Heart of Darkness?

The title of the novel suggests major themes developed through Marlow's journey toward Kurtz and his ultimate confrontation with him. In the novel, Marlow actually makes three journeys, each one taking him into the heart of a different kind of darkness.

He makes a journey into the heart of Belgian colonialism, into ivory country where he observes the horrendous effects of colonial policy. Marlow knows intellectually that trading companies are run for profit, but he is not prepared for what he finds in Africa. He is filled with disbelief and moral revulsion by the corruption, greed, exploitation, and human suffering he witnesses.

Symbolically, Marlow's journey suggests a mythic journey into the underworld as he moves through several "circles of hell." He moves from Brussels to the African coast and then through several trading company stations until he arrives at the inner station, "the bottom of there." It is here he finally meets Kurtz, the devil incarnate. Kurtz, Marlow observes, lives in "impenetrable darkness."

A final journey into darkness that Marlow takes is his journey into the unconscious self. At the beginning, Marlow says he does not know himself; his trip into Africa becomes a journey toward inner truth. In Kurtz, Marlow meets the Freudian id, his brutality and self-indulgence unchecked by conscience or social restraints. In dealing with Kurtz, Marlow faces his own capacity for evil, the darkness within himself, but he turns away from it. Marlow has "peeped over the edge" into the darkness of inhumanity, but he escapes, learning wisdom at price: the loss of innocence about himself and the human condition.

Marlow's journeys into the heart of darkness change him forever. When he returns to Brussels, he lies to Kurtz's fiancee about Kurtz's character and activities in Africa. He makes a moral choice, choosing the lie over the truth, because he embraces human charity.

What is the relationship between the title and the context of Joseph Conrad's novel, Heart of Darkness?

The title of the novel, Heart of Darkness, by Joseph Conrad, has symbolic significance to the story, and it is a literal reference as well.

Literally there is reference to the color of the jungle's foliage:

'The edge of a colossal jungle, so dark-green as to be almost black, fringed with white surf, ran straight, like a ruled line...'

"Heart of darkness" can also refer to the evil that exists within the white overseers at the first (Lower) station. They guard black workers and treat them intolerably as they men carry baskets of dirt on their head. Marlow, our main character, likens what he sees to hell. The workers are weak and starving, chained around the neck and to each other, and they walk with "deathlike indifference." They are beaten at the discretion of their guards. Other things going on around them seem to indicate if not madness, then a lack of reason: dynamiting a cliff that needs not be destroyed, and old wreckage rotting on the landscape. This is his first glimpse of the "heart of darkness" that rests within the frame of men.

"Heart of darkness" refers to the the unknown territory in which Marlow travels. It is a place of mystery and the fear—as Marlow travels to a place totally unfamiliar, where death lurks around the corner and unknown assailants in the jungle fire on his ship.

Finally, when Marlow meets Kurtz, we see the true "heart of darkness." Kurtz has become the essence of one with a blackness in his soul. First, the man has become a god among the natives.

'The camps of these people surrounded the place, and the chiefs came every day to see him. They would crawl...'

Regarding Kurtz's "psychotic break:"

'Mr. Kurtz lacked restraint in the gratification of his various lusts...But the wilderness had found him out early, and had taken on him a terrible vengeance for the fantastic invasion. I think it had whispered to him things about himself which he did not know...and the whisper had proved irresistibly fascinating. It echoed loudly within him because he was hollow at the core...'

Whatever frailty in Kurtz's character or psyche, Marlow believes the lack of civilization with the jungle and the disregard for life, turns Kurtz, once seen as a brilliant member of  the company, mad. Even as they leave the Inner Station on the ship, Marlow provides a haunting, compelling image of Kurtz:

He was an impenetrable darkness. I looked at him as you peer down at a man who is lying at the bottom of a precipice where the sun never shines.

eNotes's character description of Kurtz summarizes how we can apply the term "heart of darkness" to Kurtz:

Kurtz, previously known to Marlow by reputation...is revealed upon acquaintance to be a dying, deranged, and power-mad subjugator of the African natives. Human sacrifices have been made to him. Rows of impaled human heads line the path to the door of his cabin. Kurtz is both childish and fiendish...His brain is haunted by shadowy images.

"Heart of darkness" could refer to the inner-recesses of the jungle, to the evil in men's hearts, to the fear of the unknown in this territory where the rules of men do not reach, and ultimately to Kurtz's loss of sanity in the heart of the Congo.

What does the title Heart of Darkness suggest in Conrad's novella? Where is the "darkness"?

Darkness is one of the most prominent elements in Conrad's famous novella. There are many ways that darkness can be interpreted. Here are two possibilities:

1. Darkness as lack of knowledge - In Heart of Darkness, the protagonist and storyteller, Marlowe, went to Africa in a fog of ignorance. He really had no idea what to expect and indeed saw it as an exploration into a "blank space," when looking at a map. The Europeans who were sent there did not know or actively ignored what was happening in Africa. Conrad illustrates this part of the "dark continent" by his descriptions of the jungles. He says, in describing his initial impressions, that "the best way I can explain it to you is by saying that for a second or two I felt as though instead of goig to the centre of a continent I were about to set off for the centre of the earth." Marlowe's comment illustrates how he didn't know what lay beyond the thick trees on the banks of the Congo river.

2. Darkness as imperialism and selfishness. Kurtz is a wonderful representative of the result of the rush for ivory. He is absolutely devoured by Africa and his greed for its ivory. When he dies in the end, he speaks of "the horror, the horror," which in some circles is interpreted as his untimely epiphany that he's been overcome by these powers. Marlowe describes Kurtz's end:

He had something to say. He said it. Since I had peeped over the edge myself, I understand better the meaning of his stare that could not see the flame of the candle but was wide enough to embrace the whole universe, piercing enough to penetrate all the hearts that beat in the darkness.

Marlowe was able to stop himself before succumbing to the darkness. Kurtz was not. Here's, he's describing Kurtz's inability to come back from the edge. The dark powers of imperialism have taken over his life and he ultimately is killed by it.

What is the significance of the title in Heart of Darkness?

Joseph Conrad’s novella Heart of Darkness has a title with a double meaning. The title refers to the Congo, or the interior of Africa. Also, the title refers to the primitive nature present within each human.

During the time period of the novella, the continent of Africa (referred to as the Dark Continent) was still being explored by Westerners, and many of the heart, or inner, portions of the continent contained tribes and cultures unseen by Westerners previously. The title refers to this darkness, or unknown, present in the heart of Africa in the form of the people and cultures which inhabit it. Kurtz eventually becomes one of the “savages” who live in the heart of darkness.

The physical scenery, specifically the silence on the river Congo, the fog, and the dense jungle hiding the natives add to the idea of the heart of darkness.

This title also refers to the darkness within each human, and the journey associated with exploring the innermost thoughts, feelings, and motivations. Kurtz intended to travel into the heart of darkness and bring civility to the natives, but when he got there, his own heart of darkness took control and he became one of the savages. Kurtz’s heart of darkness took control over of his life. Marlow explores his heart of darkness as well but is able to control his morality and spirituality and return to civilization.