what causes the corruption of Kurtz?

[Kate1010]

In "Heart of darkness", is it the concept of Imperialism that corrupts Kurtz and the Pilgrims, or is it the Wilderness?

Any thoughts appreciated...:)

[meowness]

I would say it is Imperialism represented by the ivory. At any rate both play a key role even it they are not totally linked.

[Tuesday]

Definitely one of the most interesting questions you can ask about this great novella.

I don't think there is a process of corruption of Kurtz at all. At least not in the way that "a good person is turned into an evil person", and although it may seem obvious, it is not clear at all what the "heart of darkness" really is. Of course the dark jungles of Africa come to mind at first, but just think of how Conrad describes the dark and gloomy London on the first pages. Or how Marlow thinks about how the Romans must have felt when they came to conquer England with all its barbarians, bad weather and swamps.

What sets Kurtz apart from the other Europeans Marlow encounters on his way to the inner station is his intelligence, his ambition, his eloquence and maybe his creativity. "The devil never came to a fool", I think this sums it up pretty well. I don't think that the jungle corrupts him, I think it just reveals his real character and everything that a man is capable of. It strips him of his skin and reveals his heart (of darkness), so to say. If he stayed in Europe, maybe he would have become a leader of a political party. And maybe one day he would have been the one to sit behind a desk and send out agents to plunder the natural resources of foreign lands.

To answer your question: I think it's the imperialism that corrupts all of the European characters in the novella. Though they can't even be held responsible for it, because they probably grew up with those ideas of racism and political expansion. The wilderness just reveals this corruption in the case of Kurtz. It's his very character, his ambition mostly, that makes him susceptible to this. Just think of the other station manager that only got his position because he is the only one capable of staying healthy in the tropical climate. He doesn't seem to be too intelligent or eager, and maybe that's what keeps him "sane".