Kurtz

Kurtz is seen as an enigmatic and intricate character. He is a man with a variety of talents; a person capable of exerting influence to anybody he meets. Throughout the course of the story, we learn that Kurtz is a first-class agent, a painter, a musician, a politician, and more. All who have met him have been impacted one way or another. We first hear about Kurtz from the Company's chief accountant who states that Kurtz is a first-class agent, and says, "He is a very remarkable man". We later hear something similar from the Manager -- who also remarks that Kurtz is ill. Later on in part I, the brickmaker tells Marlow (about Kurtz that), "He is a prodigy", "an emissary of pity and science and progress, and devil knows what else" after Kurtz is mentioned once again. By the end of part I, Marlow is seen contemplating about Kurtz.
What I personally find interesting about Kurtz are the influences he brings upon Marlow himself. By the end of Part I, Marlow says "I would give some thought to Kurtz. I wasn't very interested in him.", this however is contradicted in part II where Marlow tries everything in his power to reach Kurtz's inner station via his steamer before Kurtz dies an inevitable death due to his illness. After being sidetracked by a consistent amount of occurrences -- including an attack by African natives -- Marlow is at a loss with himself after speculating that it is too late and Kurtz had already died; he laments not being able to meet him and also says, "I flung one shoe overboard, and became aware that that was exactly what I had been looking forward to---a talk with Kurtz.", admitting that he was interested in Kurtz one way or another.
In part III, Kurtz finally makes an appearance in the novel, but he is not as I personally imagined he would be (strong, intelligent, inspirational, etc). Kurtz is introduced as a sort of leader to a bunch of native people; he is plagued at this point of the story by his illness which has exacerbated to the point where he is near death and almost incapable of proper speech; and he is described as cadaverous, such as when Marlow grabs him over himself at one point and says, "and yet I had only supported, his bony arm clasped round my neck---and he was not much heavier than a child". In this final chapter, we also learn that Kurtz was in charge of the assault of Marlow's steamer, in hopes that they would actually presume him (Kurtz) dead and would turn back. By the end of the chapter, Kurtz dies in Marlow's steamer right after yelling out his final words, "The horror! The horror!".
After Kurtz's death, we learn that he was not all he seemed to be. Kurtz's apparent cousin states that Kurtz was a musician. A journal colleague of Kurtz's reveals that Kurtz was a politician. Kurtz's naive fiancée basically states that he was a meritorious genius. Thanks to these discrepant descriptions about him, Marlow is basically left with the conclusion that there was no real Kurtz; the man he met was different from what he has gathered from these people. Kurtz is truly the epitome of mystery in this story. Was he an ostensible character or an amalgamation of different people or personalities all combined into one being? What impact would he have had on the story if he appeared earlier without any pernicious illness?
posted by Anthony M.