Buddhism preaches many ideals. It claims that cravings beget suffering. Since Marlow ends his speech "indistinct and silent, in the pose of a meditating Buddha" (146), we must not overlook the theme. In his journey of illumination, Marlow transforms himself. At first, he personifies the western thought pattern of expectation-disappointment-depression-repeat, as we see when he considers never meeting Mr Kurtz alive. "For the moment that was the dominant thought. There was a sense of extreme disappointment, as though I had found out I had been striving after something altogether without a substance. I couldn't have been more disgusted if I had travelled all this way for the sole purpose of talking with Mr Kurtz [. . .] We are too late; he has vanished—the gift has vanished, by means of some spear, arrow, or club. I will never hear that chap speak after all,—and my sorrow had a startling extravagance of emotion, even such as I had noticed in the howling sorrow of these savages in the bush. I couldn't have felt more lonely desolation somehow, had I been robbed of a belief or had missed my destiny in life. . . ." (86-87).
Here we see a man wounded by the possibility of dissapointment. He has not yet experienced it, and feels grief already. The man who lies to Mr Kurtz's woman after his journey is not this same man. By telling her that "the last word he pronounced was—your name" (145), he embraces Buddhism and regrets its absence. She was not ready to hear the truth. Apparently, Marlow depicts an illuminated man who overcomes the tempting fruits of action.
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