Psychological, Philosophical, and Religious Elements of Heart of Darkness Heart of Darkness is kind of its own little world. The reader of Conrad's Heart of Darkness should take the time to consider this work from a psychological point of view. After all, there are a lot of heads and skulls in the book, and Conrad goes out of his way to suggest that in some sense Marlow's journey is like a dream or a return to our primitive past: an exploration of darkness. recesses of the human mind. Looking at the book from a psychological point of view, there are clear similarities to Sigmund Freud's psychological theories in suggesting that dreams are a clue to hidden areas of the mind and that at the heart of things... what Freud called the Id: we are all primitive brutes and savages, capable of the most fearful desires and the most terrifying impulses. Through Freud, or other systems of thought that resemble Freud's, we can make sense of the “need Marlow feels to leave his boat and join the natives for a wild shout and cry” (Weaver, 42). We might also, in this light, note that Marlow continues to insist that Kurtz is a voice – a voice that seems to speak to him from the heart of the immense darkness – and so perhaps he can be thought of, in some sense, as the voice of the self Marlow's deepest psychology. Of course, we must remember that it is doubtful whether Conrad had ever heard Sigmund Freud when he began writing the book. While the psychological perspective is very helpful, it doesn't speak to our entire experience of the book. Heart of Darkness also deals with philosophy and religion. This concern manifests itself in the way Conrad plays with the concept of pilgrims and pilgrimages...... middle of paper ......f Darkness 3rd ed. Ed. Robert Kimbrough. New York: Norton Critical, 1988. Meyers, Jeffrey. Giuseppe Corrado. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1991.Sarvan, C.P. [Racism and the Heart of Darkness.] Heart of Darkness. By Joseph Conrad 3rd ed. Ed. Robert Kimbrough. New York: Norton Critical 1988. Weaver, John. "Freud, Conrad and Heart of Darkness." Modern Critical Interpretations." Ed. Harold Bloom. New York: Chelsea House Publishers, 1987. 91-103. Tripp, Rhoda Thomas. Thesaurus of Quotes. New York: Thomas Y. Crowell, 1970. Kristeva, Julia. "Within of the microcosm of 'The Talking Cure.'" Interpreting Lacan. Eds. Joseph Smith and William Kerrigan. New Haven: Yale UP, 1983. Zizek, Slavoj. "Truth arises from misrecognition." Lacan and the Subject of Language. Eds. Ellie Ragland -Sullivan and Mark Bracher New York: Routledge, 1991.