Heart of Darkness A lie is an untruth. It can be a false statement or a statement left unsaid which causes someone to be misled. In life lies are told for many different reasons. In fiction they thicken the plot. In Conrad's Heart of Darkness, Marlow dislikes lies and therefore only tells two, both in extraordinary circumstances, and the lies show the following about Marlow: even though he has been touched by evil, he is still a good man himself; that he never actually tells a lie, he lets others continue to believe what they already believe; and that this helps him justify the lies. Marlow, in the middle of his