Plenty Of Narrative Techniques Conrad example essay topic

Probably, the desire of identification with the main characters of Conrad's books is one of the driving forces that make us to read and examine his works. "The Heart of Darkness" is no exception to the rule. The marine, or rather, a riverine novel is one of his most interesting works as it represents plenty of narrative techniques Conrad uses in order to make us understand the plot and events of the novel. Conrad describes his main character so brightly that it seems the reader can smell his scent, can touch his clothes and breathe his air.

The hero is young, talented and naturally gifted person. His future career exposes no questions. He just has to wait until all station of this colony will become under his management. However, he has no time to wait.

He has firmness of purpose, plenty of ideas, and extremism multiplied by ambitiousness instead. So, he finds the way out. He finds his own way out. Yet, even after all misadventures he still makes us to take a liking to him. The reader will, probably, ask about the secret of Conrad's techniques. The use of framing narrative technique makes the novel basically chronological.

It is presented by the undefined person, one of the sailors, who tells us the story. The major part of the novel is presented by Marlow, and this "framing setting introduces some important motifs of Marlow's tale: sailing, exploration, imagery of light and darkness, the contrast of "civilization" and "primitivism" and of appearance and reality" (Baxter n. p.) Conrad presents us an excessive density of questions at the page of the text. The reader reads the book and gets stuck on each exposed and unexposed question. Yet, what does it mean - the excessive density?

It's just enough. The technique of asking questions is so skillful that you want to readdress the question to somebody else. You want to ask somebody: "If you were in his shoes, what would you do, then?" . The film "Apocalypses Today" produced by Coppola makes us to feel almost the same. However, Coppola changed the inner essence of the book: where Conrad drops hits, Coppola strikes.

The Heart of Darkness shows us mysterious, Slavic, consciously hidden features of Conrad's soul. His narrative techniques, involving the sense of the multiplicity of experience dwell on the influence of his native language that gave him a powerful incentive to search of new expressive style, rhythmics, picturesqueness, figurativeness and depict ive power that is so peculiar to lofty ideals of Conrad's English prose. Conrad uses distrust of abstraction and rational systems. The melodiousness of The Heart of Darkness is not a simple development and enhancement of English prose. It is rather a new melodic, romantic, exciting musicality of other culture.

Conrad is also interested in the psychological. I will make an assumption that Conrad intentionally draws a parallel between Kurtz and "King Lear" motives. Let's read the passage describing Kurtz' appearance: "He looked like a harlequin. His clothes had been made of some stuff that was brown Holland probably, but it was covered with patches all over, with bright patches, blue, red, and yellow - patches on the back, patches on the front, patches on elbows, on knees; coloured binding around his jacket, scarlet edging at the bottom of his trousers; and the sunshine made him look extremely gay and wonderfully neat withal, because you could see how beautifully all this patching had been done. A beardless, boyish face, very fair, no features to speak of, nose peeling, little blue eyes, smiles and frowns chasing each other over that open countenance like sunshine and shadow on a wind-swept plain" (Conrad part II). This description reminds us the Fool's clothes (especially in the King Lear).

The further - the more... King Lear was left to die in solitude. The same was done to Kurtz. Lear became man - the same with Kurtz.

Lear - in a dark place, in company with Edgar (a man who spoke about demons and devils (told fortunes?) ); Kurtz also spent his last months in a black shack in company of barbarian with their devil's dances, witch priestess, etc.