The papier-mâché Mephistopheles

Hi everyone!

Here's a little snippet of my reader's response. Here, I discuss the papier-mâché Mephistopheles and its role in Marlow's story.

The papier-mâché Mephistopheles

The papier-mâché Mephistopheles is the name Marlow gives the brick-maker of the Central Station. He, at first glance, appears to be a kind soul, but it doesn’t take long for Marlow to discover that he isn’t: he is a “devil”, more than an enabler or the grim-reaper, but less than Lucifer (who, I anticipate, is Mr. Kurtz himself). This is therefore the second level of the “Inferno”. He is in papier-mâché because he is not real, though he could very well be: he is not really Mephistopheles, merely because he wants to be wants to be this type of character. They have the same traits but the difference between them is that the actual character of Mephistopheles is not discovered, whereas Marlow perceptively calls the brick-maker out in his mind, though the latter is very stealthy and smug in his position of power. Furthermore, Marlow claims:

“[…] and it seemed to me that if I tried I could poke my forefinger

through him, and find nothing inside but a little loose dirt, maybe.” (31)

The brick-maker therefore not only has an agenda, but is not even “pure” enough to be entirely composed of dirt. In terms of substance, purity (that is, complete dedication of a specific ideal, for instance), and allegiance, he has nothing to offer. He is made of “a little loose dirt” not only because he is “dirt”, but because his existence is not even worth being in possession of a lot of it. The papier-mâché Mephistopheles is but a shell. His role is, not to corrupt white men who enter the Congo, but to further their corruption, for he sees it in their souls (the proof is that they are physically on the continent in search for glory, money, and such): he pushes them to accept the horrid conditions in the Congo for his benefit and to assert his influence on incoming men.