Heart of Darkness: The Fictive Bridge from Durkheim’s Homo Duplex to Freud’s Civilization’s Discontents

Year 2023, Volume: 33 Issue: 2, 331 - 352, 25.12.2023

Sinan Gül

https://doi.org/10.26650/LITERA2023-1205179

Abstract

This essay undertakes an analysis of the underlying causes behind Kurtz’s difficulties in Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness, primarily drawing upon the scholarly works of Emile Durkheim and Sigmund Freud regarding civilization and its discontents. Drawing from sociological and psychological concepts of the late nineteenth century and examining instances of alienation within industrialized society, the paper approaches Kurtz’s issues of corruption through Durkheim’s homo duplex and Freud’s theory of psychological conflicts among the id, ego, and superego. Kurtz emerges as a construct and casualty of European society, burdened by its imposition of strict rules and regulations aimed at subduing primal desires and interests in favor of collective security, peace, and social order. Therefore, his liberation from the oppressive structures of European society in the Congo grants him the opportunity to expose his primal self, characterized by inclinations towards violence, debauchery, and transgressive behavior. The responsibility for transforming Mr. Kurtz into the ruler of the jungle cannot be placed solely on the natives, as the central culprit, as elucidated by Conrad’s interventions in the text, is the European civilization that curtails and suppresses individual identities and desires. The essay portrays the prevalent discontentment and restlessness inherent in the early stages of industrial society through a combination of sociological and psychological elements and fictive characters.

Keywords

Heart of Darkness, Joseph Conrad, Homo Duplex, Civilization, Primal instinct

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