Marlowe's Interiority Extenalized

"I came upon him and if he had not heard me coming, I would have fallen over him too, but he got up in time. He rose, unsteady, long, pale, indistinct like a vapour exhaled by the earth, and swayed slightly, misty and silent before me while at my back the fires loomed between the trees, and the murmur of many voices issued from the forest. I had cut him off cleverly, but when actually confronting him I seemed to come to my senses; I saw the danger in its right proportion. It was by no means over yet. Suppose he began to shout. Though he could hardly stand there was still plenty of vigour in his voice. 'Go away- hide yourself,' he said in that profound tone. It was very awful. I glanced back. We were within thirty yards from the nearest fire. A black figure stood up, strode on long black legs, waving long black arms across the glow. It had horns- antelope horns, I think- on its head. Some sorcerer, some witch-man, no doubt: it looked fiend-like enough. 'Do you know what you are doing?' I whispered. 'Perfectly,' he answered raising his voice for that single word; it sounded to me far off and yet loud like a hail through a speaking-trumpet. If he makes a row, we are lost, I thought to myself. This clearly was not a case for fisticuffs, even apart from the very natural aversion I had to beat that Shadow- this wandering and tormented thing. 'You will be lost,' I said- 'utterly lost.' One gets sometimes such a flash of inspiration, you know. I did say the right thing, though indeed he could not have been more irretrievably lost than he was at this very moment when the foundations of our intimacy were being laid- to endure- to endure- even to the end- even beyond."

~ Marlow on Kurtz from Conrad's Heart of Darkness (65)

This portion of the text stems from the evening before Marlow's crew takes Kurtz out of the wilderness he calls home during his ivory exploits. The fact that his physical health is failing during a moment where a possible uprising by the native peoples is happening outside does not bode well in Marlowe's eyes, who describes finding him lying in the grass as he attempts to escape. Here, Kurtz rises "unsteady, long, pale, indistinct like a vapour exhaled by the earth," swaying "slightly, misty, and silent." Much like Marlow's background of the "fires that loomed between the trees," Kurtz is a smoky fragment of a man in the night. The fact that the language utilized to describe Kurtz's ascension from lying on his belly to being upright in a standing position functions to produce this connection not only emphasizes Kurtz's failing vitality, it also maintains the idea that his life has consisted of perpetuating destruction as well. His physicality is inseparable from the fiery hell behind Marlow because of this, which could have caused Marlow to be dragged down with him if Kurtz hadn't "got up in time." Yet the hunting like diction from Marlow in regards to cutting Kurtz "off cleverly" before realizing the "danger in its right proportion" at the chance of Kurtz drawing attention to them by shouting somewhat places Marlow in a position of power over Kurtz. This is why at the thought of fighting the tribes people, Marlow indicates that "this clearly was not a case for fisticuffs," simply because Marlow has no intention to fight and Kurtz is too weak. However, Marlow is defenseless in more ways than this when one considers the manner in which he upholds Kurtz's most trivial actions. He claims that despite Kurtz's physical weakness: "there was still plenty of vigour in his voice;" Kurtz's advice to hide is stated in a "profound tone" that is somehow "awful" too;  he answers with a "raising his voice for that single word" that it sounds "far off and yet loud like a hail through a speaking-trumpet" for Marlow. None of this would cause any indication of something out of the ordinary if it wasn't for how profoundly detailed Kurtz's mannerisms are in relation to how they affect Marlow, which leads to the conclusion that Marlow is more fond of Kurtz than just an acquaintance or male friend. Instead, it subtly implies an unspeakable homosexual liking of Kurtz because of how deeply moved Marlow is by every aspect of Kurtz he describes, even down to the most trivial things such as the volume of his voice while speaking only five words within this scene. This is why Marlow falls to repetition between his sentiments to Kurtz that he will be lost if he moves to action, to how unreachable Kurtz is despite his words because he's already "more irretrievably lost than he was at this very moment when the foundations of our intimacy were being laid- to endure- to endure- even to the end- even beyond." The repetition of "to endure" expounds upon the nature of their relationship through Marlow's eyes, who does not merely see Kurtz as the mysterious man he's been trying to find throughout the entirety of his story; rather, Kurtz has become the ultimate boon for Marlow to obtain, with an inexplicable love that will go on "to the end" and "even beyond" said end. Perhaps this explains the satanic imagery of the "black figure," who "stood up, strode on long black legs, waving long black arms across the glow. It had horns- antelope horns, I think- on its head. Some sorcerer, some witch-man, no doubt: it looked fiend-like enough." Instead of portraying Kurtz as evil due to his violent methods of gaining control over these people (the heads on stakes for example), Marlow characterizes the native person with his headdress as demon-like to emphasize his adoration of Kurtz. The fact that this figure is referred to as "it", with long limbs, and is called a "sorcerer" or "witch-man" not only animalizes him, it makes him the embodiment of something evil and devilish, even though Marlow calls Kurtz "that Shadow" that he needs to beat. Kurtz is undeniably an evil of colonialism and a figure of underlying homosexual desire for Marlow, which encapsulates two humongous examples of darkness within Marlow's interpretation of this memory of the Congo. Nonetheless, Kurtz is an untouchable figure for Marlow, for a variety of overlapping reasons.