“The reaches opened before us and closed behind, as if the forest had stepped leisurely across the water to bar the way for our return. We penetrated deeper and deeper into the heart of darkness.” The axis of Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness is Marlow’s struggle to deal with a shadowy figure named Kurtz, who holds influence over local tribesmen. Kurtz’s motive is trade in ivory, which the authorities want for themselves. As a result, Marlow’s boat is sabotaged and his crew is attacked, making Marlow’s job difficult and dangerous. Ultimately, Marlow finds himself taking Kurtz into his protection due to his declining health. Aboard the boat Marlow is struck by the charisma of Kurtz, but also sees a dying mortal, in marked contrast to the god-like status he has among the Congo natives. Joseph Conrad, a Pole who had worked as a sailor and then captain on French and British ships before becoming a naturalized British subject, admired Flaubert and knew French literature well. Conrad is famous for works like ‘Nostromo’, ‘Lord Jim’ and Heart of Darkness. Conrad had a highly imaginative and creative mind given the bouts of emotional distress and apathy, and was incredibly driven by his desire for self-expression. Throughout his life his mood would swing back and forth from elevation to depression and it has been said that in his darkest moments he contemplated suicide and even attempted it on one occasion, by shooting himself in the chest, although he made a full recovery. On the other hand, his lucid periods resulted in English prose of the first order and an ability to befriend and entertain those around him. With our modern knowledge of the interior psyche, it seems reasonable to conclude that Joseph Conrad may have displayed classic symptoms of bipolar disorder, or what used to be described as manic depression. Conrad’s most celebrated work, Heart of Darkness(1902) was inspired by time spent as a river boat captain the Congo in 1889. He came away with the nucleus of a story, painting Africa as a primal, dangerous and unprepossessing continent, hence the chosen title. As Marlow’s story unfolds and things become more baleful so dusk envelopes the narrator’s audience, only adding to the general sense of claustrophobia, oppression and atrociousness of the scenario. With such an ominous title, Heart of Darkness delivers what it promises: ruminations on the nature of evil. The "heart of darkness" refers not only to a physical location (inside Africa), but also to a state of mind and the grim consequences of impe