# Mr. Kurtz — Heart of Darkness character guide

> Mr. Kurtz in Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad.

**Role:** major

**Also known as:** Kurtz, that Kurtz, this Kurtz, the gifted Kurtz, the gifted Mr. Kurtz, The original Kurtz, Mistah Kurtz

**First appearance:** 0001-ii

## Snapshot

A gifted ivory trader whose thunder-and-lightning arrival among the tribes has made him terrible, adored, and impossible for anyone to judge as an ordinary man.

## Who they are

Kurtz fills the thoughts and emotions of everyone who speaks of him, a man who once threatened to shoot the Russian over a small lot of ivory and could do so, having nothing on earth to prevent him. He suffers, hates what he has become, and yet cannot get away, disappearing for weeks into the villages to forget himself. His appetite for more ivory has got the better of his less material aspirations, and he has come down to the river much worse — a figure whose name rings in the air and pulls Marlow upstream.

## In the story

### [I](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/heart_of_darkness_se/chapters/i)

First mentioned by name; Marlow hears of him as a remarkable agent in charge of a trading-post sending in much ivory.

### [II](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/heart_of_darkness_se/chapters/ii)

The destination of the journey; Marlow measures progress towards him and anticipates meeting him.

### [Chapter III](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/heart_of_darkness_se/chapters/iii)

The dying ivory trader who escapes into the jungle, is brought back, and dies uttering 'The horror! The horror!'

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/heart_of_darkness_se/characters/kurtz
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/heart_of_darkness_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/heart_of_darkness_se/characters