Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
PEDAGOGICAL FACULTY
ENGLISH DEPARTMENT
UNIVERZITET U BIHAĆU
PEDAGOŠKI FAKULTET
ODSJEK ZA ENGLESKI JEZIK I KNJIŽEVNOST
Kandidat:
Edin Kadić
Mentor:
Prof. dr. Đorđe Slavnić
CONTENTS
1.
INTRODUCTION …………………………………………………………………………..……
1
2. METAPHYSICAL EVIL, DIABOLISM AND PARADOX IN JOSEPH CONRAD'S WO
RKS ………………………………………………….……
2. 1. Introductory Speculations about Origin of Life; Evolutionism and
Creationism in Conrad's Ego – Paradox of His Vision ………………….…
..…………
2. 2.
Types of Evil ………………………………………………………………………………….………
3. "HEART OF DARKNESS"…………………………………………………..……………..
3. 1. Sinister Vision: Visual Effects in Interplay of Ligh and Darknes
s –
Jungian “Shadow” and the Dualism of Man …………………………………..…
3. 2. Civilization as the “Cradle” of Darkness, (Paradox); Darkness as Evi
l; Pagan Symbol ………….……………………………………………………………………
1. INTRODUCTION
Throughout the history of a mankind, certain events took shape with striking sim
ilarity to previous events. These events, fraught with violence, bore marks of c
ruelty characteristic for the early stages of humankind. Meticulous observation
of the pattern of human relationships within every society reveals an underlying
driving force behind these events. It mirrored, at all times, the basic conflic
t between, what was usually termed, the forces of good and evil. This incessant
struggle, in which the whole history of a mankind is written, is indicative of a
continual process of how reality is made, including past, present and future ti
me. Therofore, it serves, on a grand scale, as a constant reminder of the parado
xical juxtuposition without which the known world would be unimaginable. This di
chotomy is present in almost all artistic master-pieces and is manifested since
the beginning of time, and further supported both in evolutionist and creationis
t views of a mankind. Overly simplistic view of evolutionists reduces the world
of contradictions to natural selection and random growth of cells of organisms o
f species, while the creationist view emphasizes the importance of opposite forc
es that come from two sources, but eventually, in some monotheistic faiths, from
one source. Hence, it is implied that there exists a seemingly unravellable con
nection between forces of good and evil. Strong interplay of good and evil is o
verly represented in world literature, ancient and modern, up to the present tim
e. “Janiform“ works of Joseph Conrad, one of the first modernist writers, provides a
glimpse into the contradictory nature of mankind and its facets, ranging in its
representation from goodness to evil.
Conrad s diffuse style strongly suggests the three literary, moral and philosopi
cal categories as themes that run indelibly throughout his works such as evil, d
iabolism and paradox. Therefore, evil or experience of evil is unavoidably omnip
resent motif in art and major driving force in the long pageant of world history
. It pervades almost every work of art ranging from painting, musical or theatri
cal performances, cinematography and finally, literature. According to some defi
nitions, evil is any force, being or activity that increases human suffering and
is negative force concerned with loss and deprivation. Traditionally, there are
three main categories of evil: physical, moral and metaphysical. Physical need
not be necessarily conscious or deliberate whereas moral evil is deliberate, whi
le metaphysical evil is that which exists due to the structure of the universe.
The Christian interpretation of this evil is the concept of original sin. The im
perfections of the world are result of Adam and Eve s original mistake in the Ga
rden of Eden. Cruelty and malevolence are examples of moral evil; earthquakes, d
roughts and tornadoes are examples of physical evil; blindness, deafness and lam
eness are examples of metaphysical evil. All moral evil is the direct or indirec
t result of moral agents free wills or ability to choose. Physical and metaphys
ical evil may or may not be the result of moral agents choices. Driving force f
or wrongdoing, according to Conrad, stems from the double nature of humans: thei
r capability for good and evil, i.e. great technical achievements and civilizing
influences juxtaposed with intrinsic sadistic nature and destructive drive that
is found in every man.
Metaphysical evil pervades most of the mature works of Joseph Conrad and his wor
ks anticipate tumultuous historic events in the twenty-first century. Besides th
e structure of universe, there is also an underlying force as an agent from whic
h evil emanates, that is, Diabolos, an evil personified in the Old and New Testa
ments. It implies diabolism, which means action aided or caused by the devil, th
e character or condition of a devil, doctrine concerning devil, a belief in or w
orship of devils or action befitting the devil. Joseph Conrad stages the deviltr
y, that is, diabolism as unavoidable subject in his works, as stage props withou
t which his scenes would not function. Furthermore, Conradian universe is envelo
ped in his works that are termed „janiform“, for the Roman deity Janus: the two-face
d god who looks in opposite direction at the same time. His works, at its height
, aspire to the condition of paradox as they exhibit apparently contradictory na
ture with opinions or statements contrary to commonly accepted opinions expressi
ng a possible truth. In this theme of paradox, in which forces of good and evil,
although antagonistic, are inextricably entwined in eternal struggle, the truth
is laid bare in countless instances of conflicting nature of universe. Undoubte
dly and unquestionably, metaphysical evil, diabolism and paradox run constantly
through much of Joseph Conrad s works.
2. METAPHYSICAL EVIL, DIABOLISM AND PARADOX IN JOSEPH
CONRAD S WORKS
2.1. Introductory Speculations about Origin of Life; Evolutionism and
Creationism in Conrad s Ego – Paradox of His Vision
In all-encompassing, comprehensive survey of all epoques of history, the questio
n of origin of life arises as a source of great perplexity. According to a numbe
r of evolution theorists, life on planet Earth originated four to seven billion
years ago in a primordial matter, after the event described as Big Bang. The
Big Bang theory is based on the mathematical equations, known as the field equa
tions, of the general theory of relativity set forth in 1915 by Albert Einstein
and later expounded by Stephen Hawking in his book A Brief History of Time. Furt
hermore, the proponents of evolution theory claim that the complex evolution tha
t is today, is one continual, uninterrupted chain of events that made the prolif
eration of organic world possible. However, in 1998, scientists found evidence o
f asterioid or comet impact 3.3 million years ago in what is now Argentina, an e
vent that could be connected to regional animal extinction and climate change at
that time. The findings were reported in the December 11, 1998, issue of the jo
urnal “Science.“ The size of the impact and the extent of the extinction that appar
ently resulted pale in comparison to the event 65 million years ago when a comet
or asteroid slammed into what is now Mexico s Yucatán Peninsula. Many scientists
believe that the enormous impact from this event altered the earth s climate and
doomed the dinosaurs to extinction. Consequently, the force of impact was too s
trong, and according to a number of geologists, it is less likely that complex o
rganisms could have survived disaster of such devastating magnitude. Furthermore
, according to a number of mathematicians, seven billion years is not enough tim
e for such complex evolution to occur, nor 65 or 3.3 million years, a relatively
recent time by standards of biogenesis. Moreover, the law of biogenesis challe
nges evolutionist claims that organic matter is produced from inorganic matter;
cells are produced only from living, organic matter. Fossil evidence, also, indi
cates that earliest fossils, found in Cambrian rocks are far complex than evolut
ion theorists thought; no fossils are found in pre-cambrian rocks. At the time J
oseph Conrad was pursuing his writer’s career, evolution theory emerged and was th
ought to undermine Christian creationist belief. However, due to the progress of
science in the twentieth and twenty-first century, the scientists are not unani
mous about approving the evolution theory as valid explanation of origin of life
; number of scientists, among them geologists, geneticists, paleonthologists, m
athematicians, physicists, astrophysicists, etc. strongly disapprove of evolutio
n theory today. Scientists today, still face the enigma of the origin of life, e
specially of the origin of human race. Conrad, in his atheist, evolutionist ass
umption wrote to his friend Cunninghame Graham :
“There is a – let us say – a machine. It evolved itself (I am severely scien
tific)
out of a chaos of scraps of iron and behold! – it knits. I am horrified a
t the
horrible work and stand appalled…And the most withering thought is that
the infamous thing has made itself: made itself without thought, withou
t
conscience, without foresight, without eyes, without heart. It is a tra
gic
accident – and it has happened…It knits us in it knits us out. It has knitt
ed
time, space, pain, death, corruption, despair, and all the illusions…and
nothing matters. I’ll admit however that to look at the remorseless proce
ss
is something interesting.”
Victorian world-view, which originated in all those developments in nineteenth-c
entury geology, astronomy, physics and chemistry which combined with industriali
sm, suggested to Conrad that the natural world was merely the accidental result
of purposeless physical processes. However, in author’s note to “Almayer’s Folly” in 189
5, Conrad said:
“…For their land (the land of the natives) – like ours – lies under the inscrut
able
eyes of the Most High…”
Unerringly, his reference to the Most High contradicts the previous statement ab
out the machine that evolved, and may be said that it posits the existence of so
me form of greater force or divine being that is usually called God. Already her
e, in atheistic assumption and supernatural implication, is the presence of para
dox that envelopes Conradian universe. Constant doubt about the nature and origi
n of universe and life runs throughout Conrad’s work and like his failing health (
fever, gout), disturbed his worried mind to the end of his life. Conrad attempts
to explain it by saying that no final accounting of human behaviour (or origin)
is possible; that the inexplicable enters into every explanation . He continues
to look in opposite directions at the same time, of the so-called Homo Duplex,
the double man, either evolutionist or creationist. Despite the fact that he sha
red with the Victorians their rejection of the religious, social and intellectua
l order of the past in his rational industrial metaphor , his mind was unable to
suppress the irrational side of psyche, which haunted him despite the adopted r
ational stance in regard to universe. The irrational side of psyche, in contrast
to accepted evolutionist attitude, is mirrored in regions, cultures and experie
nces that surrounded him for the most of his career as a seaman and writer. Whet
her that was the Malay Archipelago, terrifying sea, terrorist underworld in Engl
and, darkly metaphysical butcher’s Congo or diabolic province of Sulaco, one indel
ible feeling that permeates his work is feeling of fear. By analogy, reasons for
man’s fear lie in the unknown, which may be guessed at times, as something inhere
ntly evil. One single undeniable fact that Conrad poses in his literature is the
force of evil, which is not diminished by perpetual opposition of evolutionist
attitude to the larger view of the world which Conrad has absorbed from his nine
teenth-century experience. Therefore, evil works more within the reality of the
creationist universe.
3. “HEART OF DARKNESS”
3.1. Sinister Vision: Visual Effects in Interplay of Ligh and
Darkness – Jungian “Shadow” and Dualism of Man
Timeless as it may seem, Heart of Darkness is a semi-fictionalised account of Co
nrad’s experience in Congo in 1889-1890 when he was an employee of a Belgian compa
ny Societe Anonyme Belge pour le Commerce du Haut-Congo. Conrad got an appointme
nt on board the steamer Roi des Belges through his influential aunt Marguerita P
oradowska in Brussels. The steamer was to reach company’s isolated outer station i
n the interior on Congo River and bring back Georges Antoine Klein, the inner st
ation agent now close to death. The trip, a considerable one of a thousand miles
, normally took well over a month because of obstacles in the river and the natu
re of the waterway itself. At that time, Congo was proclaimed the “Congo Free Stat
e” in ownership of Leopold II, the king of Belgium. Belgian imperialists were expl
oiting the rubber-bearing land and almost all exploitable land was divided among
concession companies. Forced labour, hostages, slave chains, starving porters,
burned villages, paramilitary company “sentries”, and the chicotte were the order o
f the day. In these circumstances Conrad went to Congo, saw the conditions in wh
ich the exploitation was going on, and retold it in his novella Heart of Darknes
s. The novella is staged on board of a cruising yawl Nellie sometime at the turn
of the twentieth century. The atmosphere on the docks of a Gravesend in London
suggests something intrinsically dark and foreboding as the sun sets:
“The air was dark above Gravesend, and farther back still seemed condense
d
into a mournful gloom, brooding over the biggest, and the greatest, tow
n on
Earth.” (Heart of Darkness, p. 5)
Before the ending of the day the atmosphere is that of ‘a serenity of still and ex
quisite brilliance’, the sky “a benign immensity of unstained light”, but there appear
s the gloom to the west, “brooding over the upper reaches”, which “became sombre every
minute”. The change in atmosphere, contrast of light and darkness, day and night,
seems to suggest that there exists an invisible force underlying the light of t
he day. Such force, represented through appearance of darkness, becomes dominant
feature from the start of the novella, and intensifies the mood in which the st
ory unfolds. The struggle of light is played against the background of approachi
ng darkness which moves menacingly toward it threatening to envelop the light in
its gloom. The chiaroscuro that Conrad applied here represents eternal ‘janiform’ d
ualism of never ceasing struggle between the light and darkness, but also the ex
istence of both at the same time. The inference is that the light cannot be seen
or perceived without darkness or vice versa, that is, the light cannot exist wi
thout darkness, and darkness cannot exist without light. In this juxtaposition,
there is a paradox in unity of opposites, which is frequently mentioned in Josep
h Conrad’s Heart of Darkness as well as in his other works. The men aboard the Nel
lie, besides the narrator, are the Director of Companies as captain, the Lawyer,
the Accountant and Charlie Marlow. The narrator states that “it was difficult to
realize” that captain’s work “was not out there in the luminous estuary, but behind hi
m, within the brooding gloom”. This reference, seems to serve the notion that, acc
ording to Swiss psychiatrist Carl Gustav Jung, there exists that other side of o
urselves, which is to be found in the personal unconscioous, the “shadow”. The shado
w, according to Jung, is the inferior being in ourselves, the one who wants to d
o all the things that we do not allow ourselves to do, who is everything that we
are not, the Mr. Hyde to our Dr. Jekyll. It is as if the narrator, from the ope
ning page, intimates in this way, that the glossy surface of empire, whose typic
al representative is The Director of Companies, wears off to reveal hidden conte
nt, the meaning of which is not always palatable. The narrator pictures it as a
gloom in comparison to the luminous estuary and estuary is suggested as projecti
on of captain’s persona, and persona, according to Jung, is a necessity; through i
t the man relates to his world. Persona simplifies one’s contacts by indicating wh
at other people can expect from one, and on the whole makes one pleasanter. So i
n this contrast of light and darkness there is a juxtaposition of a persona and
shadow as paradoxical unity of every individual. There is, as Jung points out, n
o shadow without the sun, and no shadow (in the sense of the personal unconsciou
s) without the light of consciousness. It is, in fact, in the nature of things t
hat there should be light and dark, sun and shade. The shadow is unavoidable and
man is incomplete without it. Therefore, captain’s work is behind him, within the
brooding gloom, that is, it is a product of his ‘shadow’ which he casts and it is a
reflection of empire’s shadow, that is, its atrocities done in colonies. Soon, th
e sun sets and darkness covers the scene, giving completely different aspect to
the setting:
“And at last, in its curved and imperceptible fall, the sun sank low, and
from
glowing white changed to a dull red without rays and without heat, as i
f about
to go out suddenly, stricken to death by the touch of that gloom broodi
ng over
a crowd of men. Forthwith a change came over the waters…”
(Heart of Darkness, p. 6)
The “exquisite brilliance” and “unstained light” was soon stained with emerging gloom, t
hat “became sombre every minute, as if angered by the approach of the sun”. Presence
of physical darkness, shown here with dramatic effect, complements the brightne
ss of the day and the fall of the sun is, strangely enough, “imperceptible”. Outward
signs it gives after that, show an incredible change in its appearance, quality
, and, one may think, change in essence and physical structure. This ominous rep
resentation of a daytime and night-time following one another is traditionally a
ssociated with the notion that nature of every man is inextricably bound with pr
ocesses in the outer nature itself, which surround one. It is as if this motif i
n literature highlights the double nature of every man in which light follows th
e darkness or vice versa.
5. CONCLUSION
“And there are things--they look small enough sometimes too--by which som
e
of us are totally and completely undone.”
Lord Jim
Metaphysical evil, for Joseph Conrad, is closely related to definition and natur
e of humanity. In his works we can recognize motives derived from mythological,
religious and philosophical understanding of evil. The motive of metaphysical ev
il, for Conrad is not something he is occupied with in the sphere of logically b
ased “problem of evil” as argument of atheism or Theodicy. He is concerned with meta
physical evil only in the sphere of humankind. For Conrad, the existence of meta
physical evil is closely connected with the essence of humanity, which is the re
ason why man is far removed from the unconscious animal and, to the same extent,
far removed from the immaculate being that will never be placed in the same dil
emma as humans are. In his works Conrad presents, in every nuance, a condition,
state of mind in which man can be obsessed with evil to the total annihilation o
f everything that is human. In moments when one’s emotion, temper, rage is unbridl
ed, one breaks free from restraint and one commits “the unthinkable”; humanness ceas
ed to exist and becomes “the diabolical.”
Conrad constantly makes searing excavations into the humanity to show where it c
omes from, and discovers that it originated from restraint. According to Conrad,
every man has “some infernal alloy in his metal” and no man is save from evil when
faced with strong temptation. The struggle to restrain one’s drives and weaknesses
is the essence of humanness. That is human struggle against metaphysical evil.
The greatness of Conrad’s works is in it that, by painting this struggle, he is ab
le to give reader an idea about immense complexity and delicacy of human existen
ce.
The diabolical in Conrad s works in one way is manifested as diabolical evil dev
oid of motive, and present in every novel at which reader looks as into an abyss
, as it is totally incomprehensible. The other ways the diabolical is manifested
are temptations or demonic influence. The example is demonic influence of San T
ome mine and James Wait as Thanatos, the demon of death. In religious and mythol
ogical aspects of the theme, demonic or diabolic element has no real power for a
ction besides the power to influence the people, changing their character and en
couraging them to do evil. Demonic forces in Conrad s novels operate in the way
to bring to surface greed, ferocity, indolence, arrogance, envy and constantly a
waken the dark side of human personality.
Paradox is powerful tool for Conrad with which he assails the reader s mind. It
is a weapon with which he defeats our indifference, our relativism, us being lul
led into illusions of our moral values. He forces us to, by taking a look at a m
erciless mirror, see deeply disturbing picture. Conrad, by use of paradox as sty
listic means, achieves that the reader, entirely controlled by the author, exper
ience a moment of recognition. Conrad s moments of recognition are always striki
ng for the reader, striking for our conscience and our self-respect. They leave
behind them anxiety and agitation. Paradox present in all of his works destroys
illusions of society, civilization and culture. In the moment we become aware of
it, his mission is already accomplished, inside us the seed of doubt is sown an
d introspection has started.
Words and epigrams of Joseph Conrad are often quoted in poetry of T.S.Eliot. Thi
s epilogue can be closed with verses of T.S.Eliot:
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