ABSTRACT
The famous Congo river, discovered by David Livingstone and explored by Stanley, serves as a symbolic element in the modernist allegory of imperialism. The conjectural bit of psycho-biography that follows Marlow’s statement may provide some clue. The ancient Roman who came had “to live in the midst of the incomprehensible, which is also detestable”. Marlow’s prologue, then, returns us to his opening statement: “And this also has been one of the dark places on the earth.” The image of the pilgrims as gun-carrying traders is an apt emblem for the tactics of an imperialism which uses commerce to justify its ventures into remote regions of Africa, and self-defense to justify violent usurpation of whole native populations. A characteristic Conradian insight is that imperialism blinds those who serve its purpose to the real implications of their actions, so that ideals, seemingly altruistic, bring into being the practical realities of colonial exploitation.
