He goes back to England enlightened, where he confronts kurtz intended and lies to her about kurtz's last words, saying to her that they were her name. Marlow detests lies, but he feels he will be struck by darkness if he tells her the truth.
Keeping the story in mind it is easy to see that kurtz is superficially a "bad" character. He is laid out as a crazy horrible murdering unmorale individual. Marlow on the other hand insists he is a "remarkable man." Why is this? Why, when kurtz seems to be so incredibly evil, like a murderous madman straight out of hell, does Marlow find him to be remarkable? The easiest way to answer this question is to go into more detail of the novel and examine Kurtz and Marlow and what happens to them, and find out why.
Kurtz is in charge of the inner-most station in Africa. He is sent there by the company to investigate and civilise the sorrounding area. In the begginning of his stay, he seemed to have moral restraint, and believed in the companies" goals of improving and civilising the natives. Kurtz says to the company, "Each station should be like a beacon of light on the road towards better things, a centre for trade of course but also for humanising, improving, instructing" (Conrad,107). He respected the natives, not finding them to be inhuman like many other Europeans in Africa at the time. He even wrote a manuscript describing that native cultures should be studied. Kurtz at the beginning of his stay at the inner-most station, was indeed a moral person, who had respect for the natives. .
Something changed all this. Something mysterious happened to Kurtz while he was there. His moral restraint vanished into the heart of the jungle, and his respect for company policy flew right out the window down to the bottom of a black pit. The jungle started to have some kind of devilish effect on him, filling him with utter darkness and brutality towards the natives.
