heart of darkness :: essays research papers

Settings: Story took place during the 19th century (1901). The characters in the story were all over the world in different times of their lives. the main character: The main character, Marlow, is a hard to convince man, paranoid man who tells lies although he says at the beginning that he can't stand lies, just so he will be able to live without having to bear the weight of truth on his shoulders. He is an average man. He had a sunken cheeks, a yellow complexion and a straight back as the story describes. additional characters: A lawyer: the lawyer, described as the best of all fellows, is a good honest man who does only good things. He is remembered for his good virtues and he got rewarded for that and was given the opportunity to have the only cushion on deck. A director: the director, also most responsible for the anchor, was a big strong man. He loves to socialize with the ship members. Assay: In the story Heart Of Darkness, the main character makes a decision to go against his convictions by telling a lie about Kurtz1s death to the intended. After careful analysis of the situation, you can see that Marlow is justified in lying to the intended because the lie enables Marlow live the rest of his life without having to bear the weight of truth on his shoulders. Marlow comes to understand and to accept Kurtz1s view of life. The things that Kurtz had both done and seen in his life were in fact horrible, but was something that Marlow was able to look past. He condemning mankind as a whole with this statement. . This is why Marlow keeps the words to himself. It allows him to preserve hope both in the intended, and more importantly in himself. In this story, the main character is faced with with a decision. He had the option to either tell the woman the actual final words of her loved one, or to make up new ones which she would find soothing. Marlow choose the the latter of the two, but it was almost as though he was unable to tell her the truth.