The forty-two-year-old Marlow is the main character, as well as the principal narrator. He tells the story to a group of listeners who include a chief executive of business companies, a lawyer, an accountant, and an unnamed frame narrator— presumably Conrad himself. The five men are all established and successful in middle age, and, according to the frame narrator, they share one major bond: They all began their professional careers in the "merchant service," or the craft of moving cargo by sea. However, beyond this brief description, Marlow's auditors are not characterized and play only a marginal role in the story. Their chief function is to nod in agreement at the end of the tale when Marlow praises the strength and audacity of youth and laments its passing.

Both the youthful Marlow (of twenty) and the mature Marlow of twenty-two years later, who narrates the story, gain...