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Going by the periods in the English literary history, Heart of Darkness can be classified as the novella of the Early Modern Period, which started in 1900 and spanned through 1939. The literature of this period was characterized by change. The change that started in Victorian era continued to the Early Modern. The change was basically in terms of permissive value and liberalism. The work is therefore, a bridge between Victorian values and the ideals of modernism. But in Africa, the novel could be classified as a colonial literature.

Over the years, the interest of many critics has always been on the psychological and mimetic features in the novella. For this reason, copious critical essays have been published on the psychological preoccupation and the racial attitude of Conrad in the novella. But a critical examination would reveal that Marxist issues are also portrayed in the work. In the light of this, we will limit the scope of this critical essay to the features of Marxist theory in Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness.

Heart of Darkness centers around Marlow, an introspective sailor, and his journey up the Congo River to meet Kurtz, reputed to be an idealistic man of great abilities. Marlow takes a job as a riverboat captain with the Company, a Belgian concern organized to trade in the Congo. As he travels to Africa, or better put, the Congo, Marlow encounters widespread inefficiency and brutality in the Company's stations.

The native inhabitants of the region have been forced into the Company's service, and they suffer terribly from overwork and ill treatment in the hands of the Company's agents. The cruelty and squalor of imperial enterprise contrast sharply with the impassive and majestic jungle that surrounds the white man's settlements, making them appear to be tiny islands amidst a vast darkness. Amidst difficulties in getting on with the oppressed natives, Marlow survives in the Congo but as the novella closes, he returns home in ill health.

Although there are no biographical evidences to support the notion that Joseph Conrad was a Marxist writer, there are several issues in Heart of Darkness that tend to support Marxist theory. The theory of Marxism sees the society as a divide between two classes-the rich capitalist class or the bourgeoisie and the poor exploited class or the proletariat. So, Marxists view the society as a common ground for exploitation by the so-called affluent class. For this reason, Marxist writers consciously condemn the callous

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