“The Horror, The Horror!”
The last words of Kurtz are very shocking words, especially to Marlow. Was Kurtz reflecting on what he had done in the jungle? There are many possible answers to what these “horrific” words can symbolize.
During Kurtz’s last moments he exclaims “The horror!” twice. The jungle can be an eerie and treacherous place, especially if someone has been there a while. For Kurtz, it had turned him into a power-hungry man who would do anything to accomplish his will. We learn that “he had the power to charm or frighten rudimentary souls into an aggravated witch dance in his honor…”(Conrad, pg 46) Kurtz was a very demanding man, and whatever he would say, must be done. “‘Exterminate all the brutes!’” he once commanded. (Conrad, pg 46) Whether it had been intentional or not, Kurtz did not treat those who worked for him very well. The first “The horror!” may have been a reflection on his time in the jungle. Maybe Kurtz was rethinking some of his actions and finally could see the monster the jungle had turned him into.
“The horror! The horror!” (Conrad, pg 64) Kurtz only needed to speak it once, so why speak it twice? Perhaps, Kurtz had a sort of vision of the future. Maybe he was referring to the death of God. The death of God was an idea initiated by Friedrich Nietzsche that, because God was no longer central in culture, Christendom would collapse. There would no longer be any moral code for us to follow, and all people would struggle for power. And if we weren’t to have any rules to follow, we could do whatever we wanted, as long as we had the power to do it. In the story Marlow once observes this: “…a vast artificial hole somebody had been digging on the slope, the purpose of which I found impossible to divine. It wasn’t a quarry or a sandpit, anyhow. It was just a hole.” (Conrad, pg 13) If someone were free to do what he wanted, then he could also treat other people how he wanted. Kurtz had made one of his followers dig a hole simply because he had the power and will to do so. In a sense, in his final moments Kurtz may have been thinking about a world without any morals.
Because Marlow had become Kurtz’s caretaker in his final days, Marlow hears Kurtz’s final words. What did Marlow think those words meant? Was Marlow also able to see what Kurtz had seen? Maybe Marlow was finally able to see how Freud’s “id” reveals itself without a connection to society. Marlow understood “The horror! The horror!” as a confession to all the horrible things that Kurtz had done. Marlow wondered, “Did he live his life again in every detail of desire, temptation, and surrender during that supreme moment of complete knowledge?” (Conrad, pg 44) While in the jungle, Marlow experienced the true nature of the self. He learned what being alone with your deepest desires turns you into – a madman. About Kurtz he says, “He kept on looking out past me with fiery, longing eyes, with a mingled expression of wistfulness and hate.” (Conrad, pg 62) Marlow saw what Kurtz saw, and he knew very well that no one else would be able to comprehend the things he had seen and the things Kurtz had done. When Kurtz finally dies, perhaps he dies of an illness; or, maybe after finally coming to his senses and realizing all the strife he had caused, Kurtz dies out of horror, which could have been why he exclaims “The horror! The horror!”
