Psychoanalytic Heart of Darkness Intro Paragraph

A dream is an artistically elevated project in which its creator has the ability to include absolutely anything to his work of art. Marlow, from The Heart of Darkness, has the capability to escape from the real world and roam his own world, a world that he painted “black” with imagination. Some view him as a designer, an originator who can live within his dreams and communicate in a “language” only known to himself; but others, pessimistically, see him as a “neurotic”, a crazy man, because of his illusion of living in a fantasy. A dream is an uncontrollable state of mind, physically impossible to predict. Calling Marlow crazy because of his unconscious creativity is shocking. Thus, the artists are geniuses for obtaining the ability to create an entire world, to the smallest of details, from complete scratch. To call an artist purely “genius” is dismissing his creative insanity but to call an artist purely “neurotic” is neglecting his inventiveness. Therefore, I view the artists as “neurotically genius”, a description mixing the beauty, imagination, irrationality, and maladjusted qualities that both Karl and Conrad discuss and present. 

Essay Foundation

"Dreams are viewed more as a language than as symptoms of repression"(121). "Artists are borderline neurotics"(120). My essay is going to be structured around these quotations because I feel they discuss very important and contreversal points of view. People view these "artists" as "neurotic"; however, I see them as "neurotically genius". I am going to compare the views of Karl and the dream world that Marlow creates because I truly feel that Karl only sees half of the story, the "neurotic" side, and is completely blind to the "genius" side.

Essay Thoughts

Artists are viewed as "neurotic" because of their over-the-top dream world. Artists view their dream world as a language. Dreams are an uncontrollable state of mind. Thus, the artists are not "neurotic", but rather, creatives souls who are able to unconsiously create worlds. When a human thinks, the first thought is considered to be an "automatic" thought - an uncontrollable thought. After the "automatic" takes place, a "controlled" thought progesses. A "controlled" thought is a thought that thinks over and revises the original or "automatic" thought. I want to discuss, in my essay, how artists are viewed as "neurotic" in a condescending way. Personally, I see the artists as neurotically genius.

Psychological Significance Of Journey

Marlow's journey to the heart of darkness is undoubtedly a physical trek and the readers are fully aware of this. What the readers might dismiss from their thoughts is the psychologically devouring trip that this journey presents. The jungle is physically survivable but is it mentally sustainable? Marlow hints at mental surrendering but continues on his journey through the Congo. Personally, I think that the mental challenge is far more difficult than that of the physical.

PG 430: #6

The description of the painting that Marlow discusses represents justice through many different perspectives. The blindfold represents the "unconscious" and "unaware" side to the woman while the lighted torch connotes that the woman is in search of something. I think that Marlow personally relates to this persona.

PG 429: #2

I think that Marlow connects London in Roman times and the English colonization of Africa as a means to parallel his personal desires. The usage of very successful defeats over others gives the reader an intuition that Marlow wants similar success. Thus, I think that Marlow uses these examples to either foreshadow success in his story or give the reader a sense of hope for the speaker's wanting.