Heart of Darkness: A look into the meaning of the title

The title of a piece of great literature is often as important as the novel itself. In the novel, Heart of Darkness, we are taken through the journey of a steamboat captain named Marlow who travels up the Congo in Africa. The Heart of Darkness itself is mentioned many times throughout the novel, and people have different interpretations of what it means. The title of the novel can be interpreted on six different levels but three of these will be discussed in detail throughout this essay. The three levels of interpretation include the heart of the Congo in Africa, cruelty and greed within the heart, and the contrasts between a civilized and uncivilized society and of the black and white skin of the people.

If we look at the title in a literal way we take “Heart of Darkness” to mean the deep, dark reaches of the jungle along the Congo River. Conrad sets this up by his description of the terrain, natives, and Marlow’s fears of a new place. Marlow describes the terrain ...