Connection: Heart Of Darkness and The Dark Night

At the end of Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness, the main character Marlow goes to visit the legendary ivory trader Kurtz's widow. The widow is paralzed by grief even a year after Kurtz's passing. She is desperate for someone to validate her love and devotion to Kurtz. When Marlow comes to return some of Kurtz's perosnal items the widow wants to know every sinlge detail about Kurtz's final moments, especially his finals words. Marlow tells her his final word was her name, when he really muttered, "The horror. The horror." Marlow chooses to protect her innocence realizing that she can only handle so much grief; he takes the burden of knowledge on himself in a chivilarous way.

A similar thing occurs in the movie, The Dark Night. Bruce Wayne's love interest Rachel gives his bulter Alfred a letter shortly before her death. She tells Alfred to give it to Bruce when he feels it is the right time. The letter basically states that although she still loves him they can never be together, and she would rather be with Harvey Dent. Alfred was about the give the letter to Bruce and reveal the truth when Bruce expresses his grief over Rachel's death because she was going to wait for him and still loved him. Alfred then throws the letter in the fire realizing that Bruce just can't handle the truth.

In both cases the lines between honesty and lies are blurred. Generally we think that being honest is always the best and right thing to do, but both of these examples provide us with examples where the little white lie is a kind of salvation for these distraught people. That little glimmer of hope from the lie gives them just enough to hold on to.

The connection between these two events also shed some slight on the burden of knowledge. As a society we are under the impression that having all the answers will make us happier or more comfortable, but as these examples show that isn't always the case. Sometimes it is much easier to live in blissful ignorance; you don't always want to know.

This relationship matters to me because it challenges my traditional moral upbringing. Its almost like someone went through and added footnotes to the Ten Commandments. Don't lie, unless the person can't handle the truth. It makes me think about that gray area of morality.