The Echoes of Buddhism, Mythology, the New Testament, and Inferno in Joseph Conrads Heart of Darkness

Alireza Farahbakhsh

Abstract: The present article aims to explore the thematic role and semantic load of allusions Joseph Conrad has adeptly and advertently employed in his celebrated novella, Heart of Darkness. The present narratological research takes it upon itself to first discover and stratify the dominant allusions and their meanings and then to conceptually relate them to one another and ultimately to the overall theme of the story. The central questions of the study, consequently, are what are the most salient and most frequently used allusions in the narrative and to what end has the write utilised them? The present research shows that there are four main groups of allusions in Heart of Darkness those made to Buddhism (which imply passage from ignorance to wisdom), to Greco-Roman mythology (which liken Congo River to Styx and Congo to Hades/Underworld), to the New Testament (which denote hypocrisy and temptation), and to Dante's Inferno (which unreservedly equates Congo with a Dantesque hell).

Keywords: Allusion, Heart of Darkness, Buddhism, Mythology, The New Testament, Inferno