The Heart of Darkness
(Joseph Conrad)

Marlow

The character of Marlow is one that Conrad used multiple times throughout various books. While he does serve as a stand in for that author (note the similarity in events that happen to Marlow in the book to what happened to Conrad in real life), Marlow also exists as a character unique to this story that gains his own revelations.

A lifelong sailor, Marlow heads out to Africa as a steamboat captain to fulfill a childhood dream. While he clearly has a sense of humor, the people and situations that he encounters in the jungle slowly destroy any joy left in him. His encounter with Kurtz changes him dramatically, teaching him a dark truth about the world.

Kurtz

A journalist who was a talented musician and visual artist, Kurtz’s eloquence and ability to believe anything he wanted to endeared him to the Company. Taking the job in Africa to better his economic situation, his high ideals about how Europeans can change Africans for the better are eventually nulled by the power he gains in controlling a tribe. Whilst his ivory output is the best of any other agent, his refusal to respond to the Company eventually forces them to go after him. He succumbs to illness on the trip after being picked up.

The Manager

The head representative of the Company in Africa, the manager is a ruthless man who leads, not through any managerial ability, but by the fact that he has outlasted the illnesses that have taken down other European. His animosity towards Kurtz is based on how much more successful Kurtz is and hopes to take him down. Marlow finds him duplicitous and despicable.

The Russian

A wanderer who is alleged to have stolen ivory from the Company’s territory, he becomes enraptured by Kurtz and his ideas, going so far as to justify Kurtz’s actions. As the only white man who had extended contact with Kurtz (most agents sent out there fell to illnesses), the young man’s impression of Kurtz frightens Marlow. He leaves soon after Marlow, and the rest arrive as his suspected thievery puts his life in danger,