CONRAD'S UNDER WESTERN EYES: THE QUESTION OF RAZUMOV'S "GUILT' AND "REMORSE"

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ern Eyes is that they spring from remorse feels for having betrayed Nathalies brother, Victor?an interpretation which depends on the further premise that the betrayal itself was prompted by Razu movs culpable egoism and selfishness. Thomas Moser, for instance, denigrates by classifying him (along with Almayer, Kurtz, Jim, Nostromo, and some other earlier figures) among Conrad's ro? mantic egoists, characters whose deepest impulses and longings are directed not toward a dutiful place in the ranks but toward self aggrandizement. They are alone chiefly because they have thoughts for no one but themselves.1 It is this selfishness which first drives to betray Haldin, and then it is guilt over betrayal that drives [him] ... to seek out enemies in Geneva . . . and keeps him always on the brink of the confession which will destroy him.2 In the same strain, Albert J. Guerard regards the betrayal as growing out of Razumov's ability to rationalize and generalize selfish aims; behind his concern w

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