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In Joseph's Conrad Heart of Darkness, the Russian, the Brickmaker, and Mr.Kurtz are often contradicting their own statements. For example the Brickmaker hesitant actions paralleled with his short, and clear diction, shows two conflicting personalities. For example, when 'he answered, in a short tone looking away' while he is describing Kurtz. This isn't the best example for what I'm trying to illustrate, but it still shows his lack of conviction for what he is saying.

John Miller
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  • Are you sure it is for a literary device that you are looking? Wikipaedia offers a longish list of stock characters (link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_stock_characters). But the character you are looking for does not appear. The ancient Greek philosopher write a book on the stock characters of comedy, ("Characters" - link: http://www.eudaemonist.com/biblion/characters/), but this does not help either. Personally, I doubt whether there is such a stock character. So I am not sure you are asking the right question. – Tuffy Oct 17 '18 at 20:04
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    What do you mean by asking the right question? I'm just wondering if there is a literary device in dialogue that shows internal conflict, as in explicitly going back on your word. – John Miller Oct 17 '18 at 20:06
  • IMO having just read that book, "No, no, no!" is not a contradiction but a reinforcement, as if pre-empting someone else's supposed criticism. – Weather Vane Oct 17 '18 at 20:31
  • Yes sorry if I didn't make that clear. My interpretation was focussed on his erratic behaviour and how he orally demonstrates his internal conflict which is reflected in Kurtz's personality as well. It gave an air of contradiction as he is trying to describe Kurtz with conviction, yet he himself is not sure how to describe him. That is just my interpretation, I'll try and find another better example. – John Miller Oct 17 '18 at 21:18

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