Heart of Darkness

Structural and Literary elements in the novella by Joseph Conrad

Heart of Darkness

Groups of three

• Three chapters

• Three times Marlow breaks the story

• Three stations

• Three women• Aunt

• Savage

• Intended

Patterns in the

text

Heart of Darkness

Novella

Short novel

Long short story

Marlow Tales

Youth (1898)

Heart of Darkness (1899)

Novella Structur

e

Heart of Darkness

Russian Doll Effect

Meaning found not in the centre – Africa – but in the periphery

Unreliable Narrator

Narrator retelling Marlow’s story

Marlow retelling the stories of others

Marlow as a flawed character

NarrativeStructu

re

Heart of Darkness

Contrasts

Light and Dark

Black and White

Civilised and Savage

Outer and Inner

Contrast

Heart of Darkness

Black / Dark

Death, Evil, Ignorance, Mystery, Savagery, Uncivilised

White / Light

Life, Goodness, Enlightenment, Civilised, Religion

Symbolism

Heart of Darkness

Reversal of traditional pattern

Darkness means truth

Whiteness means falsehood

Symbolism