Near the end of Heart of Darkness, Marlow visits Kurtz's fiancée, the Intended, and tells her that Kurtz's last word was her name. It was not; the reader knows what the word really was. The scene is short, and it generates more debate than almost anything else in the novella.

Students often have a strong reaction. Some see the lie as an act of kindness, sparing a grieving woman the truth. Others see cowardice, or a paternalistic decision made without her consent.

Grading essays on this topic means resisting the pull of your own view. The scene is deliberately open, and many interpretations are defensible. What you can and should assess is how well each essay supports its reading.

A rubric built around argument quality gives you a stable standard. It asks whether the claim is clear, whether the evidence comes from the scene and from earlier parts of the novella, and whether the student has considered another reading.

Evidence that supports a strong reading

The best essays link the lie to what has come before. They look at Marlow's earlier statements about lies, his complicated bond with Kurtz, and his own experience of the journey. They also attend to the language of the scene itself, where darkness and silence keep returning.

• Identifies what Marlow says and what the reader knows to be true
• Connects the scene to earlier remarks about lying and truth
• Considers Marlow's motives without assuming they are simple
• Addresses the effect of the lie on the Intended and on Marlow himself
• Supports the moral judgment with specific language from the text

Watching for over-simple ethics

Students sometimes reduce the scene to a general question about whether lying is ever acceptable. That may be interesting in a discussion, but it drifts from the text. Feedback should bring them back to Conrad's choices, including his decision to withhold what Marlow truly says.

Push for complication. A student who argues that the lie is kind can be asked what it costs the Intended. A student who condemns it can be asked what Marlow might have gained or lost by telling the truth.

Grading opinions fairly

Make your standards visible from the start. Tell students that any position can earn a high score if it is well argued, and show them a sample of each. That transparency tends to free them to write what they actually think.

Rubric-based grading tools help hold that line. With criteria centered on evidence and reasoning, a system like GraideMind can draft feedback that never depends on which side the student took, and the teacher can review each comment before it is returned.

Using the ending as a discussion tool

This scene works well as a springboard for class discussion before the essay. A structured debate, with students assigned positions they may not hold, often leads to stronger and more balanced writing. It also shows them that the strongest arguments engage with the opposition.

After grading, share a few excerpts that take different positions. Seeing several well-argued readings side by side reinforces the point that quality lies in the reasoning.