While many
readers believe Joseph Conrad is a racist, and I do not disagree, I also
believe he errs on the sexist side. Throughout Heart of Darkness, women are not brought up as often as the male
characters, as there are not a lot of civilized women hanging around in the
African Jungle, but when a female character does make an appearance, they are
treated very differently than the men.
The first female character to
have a role worth mentioning is Marlow’s aunt. She is the person who secures
him a spot on the African expedition on the hunt for ivory along the river, as
a steamboat captain. Despite her vital-ness to Marlow’s going to Africa at all,
her comments and Marlow’s thoughts portray her as unthinking and ignorant of
the ways of the world, almost as a bit of an airhead. “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 is too beautiful altogether,
and if they were to set it up it would go to pieces before the first sunset.” This
statement strongly implies that Marlow believes women are not fit to hold any
positions of power or influence, as they would ruin or misunderstand everything
that has been in existence.
After the encounter with his
aunt, he doesn’t meet another women of influence until his sighting of the
African women deep in the jungle, whilst entrenched among the natives. Kurtz,
living closely with the natives and having earned their trust and admiration,
has especially caught the eye of a beautiful, exotic woman. “She was savage and
superb, wild-eyed and magnificent; there was something ominous and stately in
her deliberate progress. And in the hush that had fallen suddenly upon the
whole sorrowful land, the immense wilderness, the colossal body of the fecund
and mysterious life seemed to look at her, pensive, as though it had been
looking at the image of its own tenebrous soul.” This woman, presumably Kurtz’s
underground lover, is presented as the opposite of who Kurtz’s Intended is
later shown to be. The African women is wild, savage, and aware, while the
Intended is naive, simple, and ignorant in her beliefs and understandings –
essentially the two are the opposite of each other.
The women in Heart of Darkness serve as counterparts
for the male characters, characters above the status of the natives but below
that of the men. They are counterparts for the male’s emotions and actions, but
also serve to illustrate a, perhaps not unconscious, attitude of sexism. Women live
in their own, irrational world, and their fantasies render them unable to hold
any real jobs or positions of power.
Unless, of course, that woman is
an African savage.
I completely agree! The lack of female characters alone proves that Conrad does not even concern himself with them. Also, when they are included it is only when they are serving a purpose to one of Conrad's male characters.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree! The lack of female characters alone proves that Conrad does not even concern himself with them. Also, when they are included it is only when they are serving a purpose to one of Conrad's male characters.
ReplyDelete