-In Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness, Marlow travels not only on a physical journey to discover what lies in the darkness of the African Congo, but also on a mental journey deep into his unconscious mind. Sigmund Freud, an Austrian neurologist, created the discipline of psychoanalysis. Freud’s theories on the human mind’s conscious and unconscious in relation to the superego, ego, and id, create a clear idea of what Marlow is experiencing on his emotional journey. The deeper Marlow travels into the darkness, the more light is shred on the “savages” of the Congo. Ironic enough, the deeper Marlow travels into his dark unconscious, the more he begins to see. He soon realizes that these savages are just as much of a human as he is. With the help of Freud’s psychoanalytic theories, Marlow’s dual journey into the darkness is discover himself as well as the wrongs of his European society can be both analyzed and explained. Joseph Conrad’s short novel, not only touches on the notion of how free we really are as humans, but also on the social issues of his time period.
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