Heart of Darkness Illustration Analysis #2

“I pulled myself together and spoke slowly.

“‘The last word he pronounced was—your name.’

“I heard a light sigh and then my heart stood still, stopped dead short by an exulting and terrible cry, by the cry of inconceivable triumph and of unspeakable pain. ‘I knew it—I was sure!’... She knew. She was sure. I heard her weeping; she had hidden her face in her hands. It seemed to me that the house would collapse before I could escape, that the heavens would fall upon my head. But nothing happened. The heavens do not fall for such a trifle. Would they have fallen, I wonder, if I had rendered Kurtz that justice which was his due? Hadn’t he said he wanted only justice? But I couldn’t. I could not tell her. It would have been too dark—too dark altogether....” (71).

I believe that this illustration perfectly resembles the interaction between Marlow and Kurtz’s fiancée. The woman illustrated was “all in black, with a pale head”. She was wearing black, because she was in mourning. And even though it was more than a year since Kurtz’s death, for her “he had died only yesterday” (69). Even though, Kurtz’s fiancée does not look like a normal human being, she still looks very attractive with the feminine body shape, long eyelashes and beautiful lips. Kurtz’s intended has just one eye and it happens to be closed. I believe that it was intentional, because she does not want to see the fact that maybe she was not so important to Kurtz. “He needed me! Me!” she says to Marlow and this is where out protagonist decided to lie and agree with her, even though he “detests, and can’t bear a lie”.

The illustrator has two separated clouds around Marlow. The first one is the truth that he knows and the second one is the lie about Kurtz’s last words. Kurtz’s fiancée would simply not be able to handle the truth.

Marlow’s eyes are also very interesting. They are empty and full of darkness. Clearly, Marlow is very depressed and disappointed in life.

Marlow’s body is turned towards Kurtz’s fiancée; however she doesn’t even look at him. She seems to have this “I’m better than you look” on her face. She likes to live in her own little world, where Kurtz loves and cares about her. However, Marlow fights his beliefs not to break her heart; he does that to help Kurtz.