The Right To Lie (A Critical Essay)
Note: some spoilers into the text of Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness follow. If that would kill you, DO NOT READ!
The Right to Lie
“There is a taint of death, a flavour of mortality in lies - which is exactly what I hate and detest in the world - what I want to forget,” (Conrad 27). Lies are ubiquitously condemned by all cultures and nearly all people agree that to lie is wrong and immoral, an ideal that is espoused by the character Marlow in Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness in the aforementioned quotation. Yet, recent studies of one such culture show that many people believe there are times when it is right to lie. For example, 65% of Americans believe that it is sometimes all right to lie, and one respondent even went so far to say, “Not only is lying justified, it is sometimes a moral duty,” http://www.beliefnet.com/story/195/story_19553_1.html). More than half of those same people, however, 52%, claimed to believe that lying is never justified in a separate question. Clearly, society has conflicting views concerning lying, with these conflicting views often resulting in people’s telling lies even when they feel it is morally wrong to do so. Marlow’s lie to Kurtz’s Intended, telling her that her name was the last word that ever escaped Kurtz’s lips, is a strong example of a person’s ability to go against his moral code when he feels the act is justified.
From Marlow’s conversation with Kurtz’s Intended, he realizes that the woman’s love for Kurtz is all that she was holding on to in life. Marlow “hears distinctly” her “despairing regret” (Conrad 74), as he speaks to her, and also realizes what regard she had for Kurtz. “It was impossible to know him and not to admire him,” the Intended cries, and refers to him as “great” (Conrad 74). While they speak, is it obvious to Marlow that all the woman is made up of are her feelings and beliefs in Kurtz, which he describes as being manifested in an “unextinguishable light of belief and love,” (Conrad 74). Marlow’s two observations-that love and belief in Kurtz are what keep the Intended alive, and that her love and belief in him offer an “unextinguishable light”- allude to the two reasons why Marlow lies to the woman.
Both reasons can be explained by the Heart of Darkness that Marlow encounters while in the Congo. Marlow determines the Heart of Darkness to be the primal nature of humanity According to Marlow, “[Kurtz’s stare] could not see the flame of the candle but was wide enough to embrace the whole universe, piercing enough to penetrate all the hearts that beat in the darkness,” (Conrad 70). Kurtz judges these hearts in the darkness with his true last words, “The horror!” Marlow realizes that at its most basic point, human nature lacks compassion, a truly horrifying conclusion to a civilized person. Marlow’s drawing this conclusion leads to the first reason he tells the lie-he is being compassionate and giving the woman something to hold on to, in his eyes being compassionate by fulfilling her request for “something…to live with,” (Conrad 74). The second reason he lies to the woman also arises from his conclusion that in human nature is a Heart of Darkness, in that Marlow sees her love and belief as a light that can counter the darkness in the human heart. Marlow encounters and observes this darkness, and is frightened of it, so since he does not want that darkness to have a hold on any human, he lies to prevent the Intended from letting go of what it is that keeps the darkness from consuming her.
Whether the lie is right or wrong is impossible to judge without bias. One who believes a lie is always wrong would say that Marlow had no right to deny the woman the truth-that she had a right to face reality and respond to the truth. One who believes that a lie can be justified by motives would argue that Marlow was fighting a greater evil, the Heart of Darkness, by telling his lie. The two major deterrents from telling lies for most people are the repercussions, which cannot be explored using Heart of Darkness, and moral opposition to the act. For Marlow, however, experiences with the darkness of human nature lead him to believe that such darkness is more immoral and more evil than a lie, a decision no man can reach without experiencing the Heart of Darkness firsthand.
The Right to Lie
“There is a taint of death, a flavour of mortality in lies - which is exactly what I hate and detest in the world - what I want to forget,” (Conrad 27). Lies are ubiquitously condemned by all cultures and nearly all people agree that to lie is wrong and immoral, an ideal that is espoused by the character Marlow in Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness in the aforementioned quotation. Yet, recent studies of one such culture show that many people believe there are times when it is right to lie. For example, 65% of Americans believe that it is sometimes all right to lie, and one respondent even went so far to say, “Not only is lying justified, it is sometimes a moral duty,” http://www.beliefnet.com/story/195/story_19553_1.html). More than half of those same people, however, 52%, claimed to believe that lying is never justified in a separate question. Clearly, society has conflicting views concerning lying, with these conflicting views often resulting in people’s telling lies even when they feel it is morally wrong to do so. Marlow’s lie to Kurtz’s Intended, telling her that her name was the last word that ever escaped Kurtz’s lips, is a strong example of a person’s ability to go against his moral code when he feels the act is justified.
From Marlow’s conversation with Kurtz’s Intended, he realizes that the woman’s love for Kurtz is all that she was holding on to in life. Marlow “hears distinctly” her “despairing regret” (Conrad 74), as he speaks to her, and also realizes what regard she had for Kurtz. “It was impossible to know him and not to admire him,” the Intended cries, and refers to him as “great” (Conrad 74). While they speak, is it obvious to Marlow that all the woman is made up of are her feelings and beliefs in Kurtz, which he describes as being manifested in an “unextinguishable light of belief and love,” (Conrad 74). Marlow’s two observations-that love and belief in Kurtz are what keep the Intended alive, and that her love and belief in him offer an “unextinguishable light”- allude to the two reasons why Marlow lies to the woman.
Both reasons can be explained by the Heart of Darkness that Marlow encounters while in the Congo. Marlow determines the Heart of Darkness to be the primal nature of humanity According to Marlow, “[Kurtz’s stare] could not see the flame of the candle but was wide enough to embrace the whole universe, piercing enough to penetrate all the hearts that beat in the darkness,” (Conrad 70). Kurtz judges these hearts in the darkness with his true last words, “The horror!” Marlow realizes that at its most basic point, human nature lacks compassion, a truly horrifying conclusion to a civilized person. Marlow’s drawing this conclusion leads to the first reason he tells the lie-he is being compassionate and giving the woman something to hold on to, in his eyes being compassionate by fulfilling her request for “something…to live with,” (Conrad 74). The second reason he lies to the woman also arises from his conclusion that in human nature is a Heart of Darkness, in that Marlow sees her love and belief as a light that can counter the darkness in the human heart. Marlow encounters and observes this darkness, and is frightened of it, so since he does not want that darkness to have a hold on any human, he lies to prevent the Intended from letting go of what it is that keeps the darkness from consuming her.
Whether the lie is right or wrong is impossible to judge without bias. One who believes a lie is always wrong would say that Marlow had no right to deny the woman the truth-that she had a right to face reality and respond to the truth. One who believes that a lie can be justified by motives would argue that Marlow was fighting a greater evil, the Heart of Darkness, by telling his lie. The two major deterrents from telling lies for most people are the repercussions, which cannot be explored using Heart of Darkness, and moral opposition to the act. For Marlow, however, experiences with the darkness of human nature lead him to believe that such darkness is more immoral and more evil than a lie, a decision no man can reach without experiencing the Heart of Darkness firsthand.