Friday, March 27, 2015
Blog 11: Women in Heart of Darkness
"It's queer how out of touch with truth women are. They live in a world
of their own, and there has never been anything like it, and never can
be. It's too beautiful altogether, and if they were to set it up it
would go to pieces before the first sunset." From the beginning, slightly into chapter one, Marlow, and arguably Conrad's stance on women is developed. Throughout the rest of the chapter he talks of allowing women "to stay in their beautiful world." Moreover, the word idealistic can often imply ignorance of the truth or rather devaluing the truth. Primarily, there are two central female characters in Heart of Darkness: one being the mistress, the carnal native whom Kurtz is inexplicably drawn to, and the other is the intended, an idealistic woman who knows nothing of the true nature of Kurtz. There is a contrast in the woman who knows and recognizes the truth, and the woman who doesn't; the intended is meant to symbolize civilization and the native is meant to symbolize the wild. Without out a doubt, Kurtz is more carnally attracted to the native, just as he becomes more attracted to the power he has as a demigod in the Congo. Furthermore, the only representation women have in this book are to better delineate the differing sides of man and the differing sides of the world. They are only there to set up the comparison of society vs. wild. All in all, women are very passive in Heart of Darkness, and their characters are wholly dependent on the man's reactions to them and man's commentary on them.
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I agree with the points you've made in your post. Although the number in female characters in the novel are few, they are very important and significant to the story line. The differences between the women are very dramatic, like in your previous post they simply symbolize civilization and the wild. Kurtz's lustful want for wild is shown in his attraction toward the mistress. Because the women play such a big role in the novel, the inner thoughts and feelings of Kurtz can be shown through the symbolism portrayed through the female characters.
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