Discuss the political aspects of Jospeh Conrad's novel “Under Western Eyes”

Introduction

Joseph Conrad was a Polish novelist that adopted English as a literary language. Conrad, whose work explores the vulnerability and instability of human morality, is considered one of the greatest novelists in English, though he did not speak this language fluently until after the age of twenty years. Under the Western Eyes is a novel published in 1911 by Joseph Conrad whose plot takes place in St. Petersburg, in Russia, in Geneva, and in Switzerland. You can connect it to Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky regarding the study of fault: it is considered among the most important and significant works of Conrad and the subject matter is very close to the work above by the same authors, The Secret Agent, published in 1907. Both are, in fact, political novels, which contain the violent denunciation of the author to the despotism of the Tsar, while at the same time, telling us the aversion of Conrad himself to the Revolutionary ideas that were prone to the denial of individual freedom. The writing of this novel, the second of his arguments linked to the sea, had taken most of the year 1909 (Watt, p. 111-115). This paper focuses on the study and analysis of 'Under the Western Eyes' trying to make connections between the political and personal commitments as they are represented in the motivations of the different characters in the novel.

Discussion

Under the Western Eyes - Joseph Conrad

Conrad's novel problems can be described as psycho-moral. The action of these tracks usually takes place at sea, among the sailors, the exotic scenery of the Indian Ocean, its islands and archipelagos. The specific conditions of life at sea became his novels perfect backdrop for reflections on the moral and ethical boundaries. Moreover, another element that can be found in Conrad's writings is based on politics. Same is the case in the novel 'Under Western Eyes'. It is one of the least known writings of the author but the most significant one of Joseph Conrad. The novel is based on the story of a young Russian student Razumov who unwittingly finds himself involved in the struggles between the revolutionaries and the Tsarist police in St. Petersburg in the early years of the twentieth century. The whole story is told through the "eyes" impartial and free from prejudices of an old English professor of languages ??who lives in Geneva in contact with the "leaked" from Czarist Russia. Conrad posed questions, which are not easy to answer (Watt, p. 111-115). What are the limits of human responsibility in the face of threats coming from the outside? It is the moral principles and those that appoint professional ethics must continue at all costs, even with the threat of loss of life? What attempts character is able to meet a man? What is the importance of human solidarity?

Conrad moralizing, and in particular the need to make difficult choices in extreme situations, the search for the boundaries between good and evil, ...