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Irony
Definition of Metaphor
A metaphor is a figure of speech that compares two different things by saying that one thing is the other. The comparison in a metaphor can be stated explicitly, as... read full definition
A metaphor is a figure of speech that compares two different things by saying that one thing is the other. The comparison in a metaphor... read full definition
A metaphor is a figure of speech that compares two different things by saying that one thing is the other... read full definition
Key Examples in Heart of Darkness
Part 1
Explanation and Analysis—Marlow as Buddha:
At three different moments in the novella, Conrad’s Narrator briefly compares Marlow to a Buddha. He uses this metaphor to highlight the unique insight that Marlow has gained from travels—including through his journey into the Congo, which has shown him the uncomfortable truth about European colonialism. Moreover, since the Buddha is a non-Western paragon of wisdom and benevolence, this comparison points to the moral and intellectual sophistication that Conrad sees in other cultures. Indeed, it underscores his belief that Europeans are foolish and arrogant to view other cultures as uncivilized and inferior to their own. The Narrator uses this device for the first time when he describes the four other men who are on the ship Nellie with him. In Part 1, he introduces the reader to Marlow for the first time:
Marlow sat cross-legged right aft, leaning against the mizzen-mast. He had sunken cheeks, a yellow complexion, a straight back, an ascetic aspect, and, with his arms dropped, the palms of hands outwards, resembled an idol.
Related Themes:
Part 2
Explanation and Analysis—Helmsman as Instrument:
After his steamship’s Congolese helmsman dies on the way to the Inner Station, Marlow mourns the man’s death but also compares him to “an instrument.” This metaphor shows how European imperialists simply failed to view the non-white people they conquered, murdered, and enslaved as truly human. It’s telling that even Marlow, the only true anti-imperialist in the book, stops far short of seeing the helmsman as an equal. He remarks:
Unlock with LitCharts A+I missed my late helmsman awfully—I missed him even while his body was still lying in the pilot-house. Perhaps you will think it passing strange this regret for a savage who was no more account than a grain of sand in a black Sahara. Well, don’t you see, he had done something, he had steered; for months I had him at my back—a help—an instrument. [...] The intimate profundity of that look he gave me when he received his hurt remains to this day in my memory—like a claim of distant kinship affirmed in a supreme moment.
Related Themes:
Explanation and Analysis—The Heart of Darkness:
The novella’s title appears several times in the book as a metaphor for both the Congo itself and humans’ innate capacity for evil. Indeed, this metaphor helps set up the consistent symbolic link between the Congo and human nature throughout the novella. The “heart of darkness” metaphor first appears a little under halfway through the book, when the General Manager’s uncle declares that he trusts that the jungle will kill Kurtz (who is the General Manager’s main rival for power within the Company). Then, he gestures toward the jungle. (Soon thereafter, he leaves with the ill-fated Eldorado Exploring Expedition, never to be seen again.) In Part 2, Marlow recalls:
Unlock with LitCharts A+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 dishonouring 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.
Related Themes:
Part 3
Explanation and Analysis—Marlow as Buddha:
At three different moments in the novella, Conrad’s Narrator briefly compares Marlow to a Buddha. He uses this metaphor to highlight the unique insight that Marlow has gained from travels—including through his journey into the Congo, which has shown him the uncomfortable truth about European colonialism. Moreover, since the Buddha is a non-Western paragon of wisdom and benevolence, this comparison points to the moral and intellectual sophistication that Conrad sees in other cultures. Indeed, it underscores his belief that Europeans are foolish and arrogant to view other cultures as uncivilized and inferior to their own. The Narrator uses this device for the first time when he describes the four other men who are on the ship Nellie with him. In Part 1, he introduces the reader to Marlow for the first time:
Unlock with LitCharts A+Marlow sat cross-legged right aft, leaning against the mizzen-mast. He had sunken cheeks, a yellow complexion, a straight back, an ascetic aspect, and, with his arms dropped, the palms of hands outwards, resembled an idol.
Related Themes:
Explanation and Analysis—The Heart of Darkness:
The novella’s title appears several times in the book as a metaphor for both the Congo itself and humans’ innate capacity for evil. Indeed, this metaphor helps set up the consistent symbolic link between the Congo and human nature throughout the novella. The “heart of darkness” metaphor first appears a little under halfway through the book, when the General Manager’s uncle declares that he trusts that the jungle will kill Kurtz (who is the General Manager’s main rival for power within the Company). Then, he gestures toward the jungle. (Soon thereafter, he leaves with the ill-fated Eldorado Exploring Expedition, never to be seen again.) In Part 2, Marlow recalls:
Unlock with LitCharts A+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 dishonouring 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.
Related Themes:
Explanation and Analysis—Kurtz as a Voice/Shadow:
At different points in the novel, Marlow metaphorically compares Kurtz, the legendary Inner Station chief, to a voice and a shadow. By disconnecting Kurtz’s identity from his physical body, these metaphors show how myths about him have become more powerful than the real facts of his life. Indeed, before ever meeting him, Marlow is already looking forward to “the inestimable privilege of listening to the gifted Kurtz,” whom he imagines as “very little more than a voice.” And surely enough, when he finally meets the terminally ill Kurtz a dozen pages later, Marlow is unimpressed when he sees the man but thrilled when he hears:
Unlock with LitCharts A+A voice! a voice! It was grave, profound, vibrating, while the man did not seem capable of a whisper.
Related Themes:
