Heart of Darkness, by Joseph Conrad,
is told from the point of view of an unnamed man who was in Charlie Marlowe's company on
the Nellie (docked on the Thames in London) when Marlowe described
his experience venturing into the heart of Africa: the Congo. The tale is a dark one,
but the narrator is without comment or interpretation. The reader must get
this from Marlowe and from the reader's personal reaction to
Marlowe's tale.
The point of view employed is dramatic
third person, limited. Dr. L. Kip Wheeler writes:
When the narrator reports speech and action, but
never comments on the thoughts of other characters, it is the dramatic third person
point of view, or objective, point of view. The third-person narrator [in this novel is]
limited--a narrator who is confined to what is experienced, thought, or felt by a single
character...
In the story,
Marlowe tells of his experience venturing into the Congo to bring back an employee of
the company named Kurtz. All of the information about what transpires on this trip comes
directly from Marlowe. At the end of the story, Marlowe ceases talking, and looks out to
sea. The narrator reports a comment about the water made by the Director, one of the
four men seated there, and then describes the water:
"...the tranquil waterway...seemed to lead into
the heart of an immense
darkness."
And the story
ends, while the reader, as well (we could assume) as the narrator, contemplates the
story he has just heard.
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