Marlow's Comment

On page 6 of Heart of Darkness, Marlow states, as the boat is reaching the sea, "And this also... has been one of the dark places of the earth." The men on the ship are not surprised by this somewhat bizarre comment, and it seems that Marlow is referring to England, as later made clear by his mentioning of the Romans' first arrival in England. Why does Marlow say this? Does it somehow tie into the way that Conrad was describing the dreary skies over London? Or does it have something to do, rather, with the relation of the English to the sea as opposed to other peoples to the sea?

Comments

[Franny B.]

I think the darkness refers to something entirely different. I could be totally wrong but from the way that I've been reading it the darkness is generally referring to places that are "uncivilized". Quotes around that word are definitely necessary because the reader cannot take Marlow's word as the word of the author, especially because the original narrator cast such doubt on Marlow. Marlow seems to connect the words darkness with uncivilized and savage and evil. However I would not go so far as to say that Conrad would make that connection, in fact maybe he makes the opposite. Marlow looks upon the time of darkness in England with disdain but Conrad might not.

[Julia Y.]

I also agree that the darkness is referring to the England as one being savage-like and uncivilized. It is used to set up a comparison between the Romans navigating their way through England to that of the Europeans navigating their way through Africa. It is interesting because later he states that British imperialism was more justified than that of the Romans because of the "idea" that was held behind it. Although, this idea was only justification, and never the really reason Europeans went over to Africa. They, exactly like the Romans, traveled and conquered there simply because of desire for power and wealth.