The Anxiety on Moral Degeneration of Imperialism in Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to exploremoral anxiety throughout Joseph Conrad’s novel, Heart of Darkness, attributingit to British imperialism. This study, specifically, focuses on how the literatureof the Edwardian period reflects moral degeneration caused by imperial policy.It argues that the anxiety about imperialist transgression grew out of thechallenge posed by other countries, such as Germany and Belgium; and bypropaganda such as spreading about a good government and Christianity,abolishing slavery and elevating the political status of non-white races uponwhich British imperialism was built. Through Heart of Darkness, Conrad stillasserts that same imperial, moral superiority; however, with new competitionand revolts by the natives in the colonies, the moral superiority of Englandis brought into question. While incorporating a genre established by theeighteenth-century, Gothic novel, Conrad deals with moral issues related toimperial policy, distinct features of the Gothic novel in order to verbalize theunspoken anxiety of imperialism.