Charles Marlow
Marlow's name may be inspired by the Elizabethan playwright Christopher Marlowe. Conrad's father was a translator of William Shakespeare who doubtless would have known of Marlowe's work as well. Some intertextual interpretations of "Heart of Darkness" have suggested that Marlowe's "The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus" may have influenced Conrad. Charles Marlow describes a character as a "papier-mache Mephistopheles", a reference to the Faust legend. Marlow's and Kurtz's journey up the Congo River in "Heart of Darkness" also has similarities to another work by Marlowe, "Dido, Queen of Carthage", in which Aeneas is stranded on the shore of Libya and meets the African queen Dido.
Heart of Darkness (horse)
He was one of the best flat horses sired by Mellon's stallion Glint of Gold who won six Group 1 races as well as finishing second in the Epsom Derby. Heart of Darkness was the first foal of his dam Land of Ivory, a successful racemare who won three races and was placed in both the Lupe Stakes and the Prix Cleopatre. As a granddaughter of the American broodmare Natashka (foaled 1963), she was closely related to Margarula, Questing, Elusive Quality and Dark Lomond.