The Sea as a Source of Inspiration and a Force of Destruction in Conrad’s The Mirror of the Sea

Abstract

Conrad, having spent the better part of his life on board ships, in the company of men affiliated to their common concern, the sea, has registered his indebtedness to the sea, its men and ships in The Mirror of the Sea (1906). In a specific realistic and impressionistic manner Conrad depicts nature – the sea – as indifferent to man, as a mirror of life, human conscience and problems. The fluid and the changeable power of water, which in itself is colourless, is wonderfully suitable for experiments with light and colour in a way not dissimilar to the Impressionist painters’ use of light and shade. The vast solitude of waters become factors that affect or shape the destiny of his heroes. Water also symbolises the link between the man and the ship; it reflects both the shape of the ship and its passenger. Like a mirror, the sea is not a master of itself. Unmastered by its masters, the sea is also unmastered by itself. Conrad presents the natural world as a blind struggle for survival, transformed, in human life, into a battle for supremacy. It is interesting that the sea, for all its immensity or indifference to man’s fate, for all the hard knocks it deals the sailor, can still be the place of romance. Thus Conrad’s attitude towards the sea appears to be ambiguous, running from hate to love, but existing, at most times, as a mixture of the two emotions. For in whatever guise the sea appears – occasionally kind and harmless, often deceitful, usually indifferent and unfair, it appears most frequently in its cruelty. Despite the sea being unfair, The Mirror of the Sea shows a vision of a man attracted to the sea, viewing it as a testing ground.