Author: Asim. I. Twaha

Abstract: The paper attempts to study the way the character of Mr. Kurtz is materialised in Heart of Darkness. The portrayal of Mr. Kurtz’s character is studied and analysed in this research work with reference to two of the major ways of character portrayal – direct definition and indirect presentation. The direct mode of description refers to the description of a character directly and explicitly with the help of a particular word, sentence, or event, whereas in indirect presentation, a character is materialized in terms of various means, such as the action, the speech, the external appearance and even the environment. The paper with references to the textual examples from Heart of Darkness, endeavours to explore how Mr. Kurtz’s character is sketched out using the two modes of textual representation.

Keywords: Conrad, direct definition, indirect presentation, Kurtz, textual representation of characters.

Article Info: Received: 12 May 2024; Received in revised form: 15 Jun 2024; Accepted: 23 Jun 2024; Available online: 30 Jun, 2024

DOI: 10.22161/ijels.93.69