Volume 2 Issue 4 | 2025 | View PDF
Paper Id:IJMSM-V2I4P108
doi: 10.71141/30485037/V2I4P108

The Phantom of the Demon: A Journey into the Dark Hearts of White Europeans in Conrad's Heart of Darkness

Hawar Kamal Mustafa

Citation:
Hawar Kamal Mustafa, "The Phantom of the Demon: A Journey into the Dark Hearts of White Europeans in Conrad's Heart of Darkness" International Journal of Multidisciplinary on Science and Management, Vol. 2, No. 4, pp. 64-73, 2025.

Abstract:
The legacy of imperialism looms large in Conrad's Heart of Darkness. Torture, persecution, and violations of human dignity are vividly depicted throughout the novel. The imperial world is portrayed as a hellish landscape, where the vulnerable are oppressed and the powerful flourish. Consequently, imperialism endangers the lives of Africans as it influences the destinies of colonisers and shapes their experiences. This study, titled "The Phantom of Demon: A Journey into the Dark Hearts of White Europeans in Conrad's Heart of Darkness," examines the atrocities and aftermath of imperialism, revealing the darkness within white Europeans. Furthermore, it highlights the inherent darkness of whites and investigates their psychological and moral shortcomings, exposing the underlying barbarism and hypocrisy concealed behind their civilised façade. It explores the reasons why powerful nations colonise weaker ones. Drawing on ideas from colonial and postcolonial literary criticism, the analysis investigates how colonialism erodes the identity of colonisers and turns their countries into desolate wastelands. Greed, driven by immense and obsessive ambition, remains a grotesque instinct that compels man to kill, massacre, and oppress. The study's core issue is the factors that led Europeans to establish themselves as standards or canons. It questions the criteria by which all other nations on Earth imitate them, and why anyone without these standards should not pioneer their own culture. Clearly, such a conclusion is neither scientific nor divine; it is most likely the result of pride. The methodology employed in the study is colonialism. Consequently, it views the standard of living in a postcolonial context as animalistic, where agents treat colonisers of imperialism as animals forced to work under harsh conditions and left to die without hesitation. The study also explores the links between imperialism and moral corruption, alongside Conrad's interpretation of morally degenerate individuals. A materialistic attitude driven by greed for wealth exposes their lack of moral integrity and spiritual resilience. Furthermore, this study examines how the text influences and reflects the experiences and identities of people living under and following colonial domination.

Keywords: Colonialism, Heart of Darkness, Europeans and Imperialism.

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