The Oppression Of Women In Joseph Conrad's Heart Of Darkness

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In Joseph Conrad’s 1899 novella Heart of Darkness, women are portrayed as being inferior to men in nearly every way. Two of the story’s main characters, Charlie Marlow and Mr. Kurtz, appear to view women as weak and powerless objects, trapped in a world of fantasy all their own. In this novella, women are treated as merely the trophies of men. Their purpose in society, however, is left uncertain through the entire novella. Towards the beginning of the novella, Marlow is trying to get a job with the Company as a steamboat operator. After little success with trying to get one of the men in his family to help him get appointed as a steamboat operator, he decides to ask the women for help. In a condescending tone, Marlow explains, “Then—would …show more content…

They live in a world of their own, and there has never been anything like it, and never can be” (25). Here, Marlow begins to show his deeply ingrained belief that women are inherently naïve and idealistic beings. But later on he states that they should remain in their fantasy world, because “[the women are completely out of it, and they] should be out of it. We must help them to stay in their beautiful world of their own, lest ours gets worse” (54-55). Marlow believes that women are too weak to handle the truths of the world, so the illusion must be maintained for their …show more content…

Kurtz’s African mistress, and his Intended. The two women act as symbols for the darkness of Africa and the light of Europe, respectively. Mr. Kurtz’s African mistress is described as a kind of warrior woman, “savage and superb, wild-eyed and magnificent” (65). She is also described as having “the value of several elephant tusks upon her” as well, further solidifying the idea that the African mistress’s purpose is to be a trophy for Mr. Kurtz. Besides the savage appearance, the African mistress is often described as though she is an embodiment of the jungle from which she comes. For instance, after reaching the steamboat, Marlow says “she stood looking at us without a stir, and like the wilderness itself, with an air of brooding over an inscrutable purpose” (65). Conversely, Kurtz’s Intended is described as a beautiful and innocent-looking woman, a trophy of his by virtue of her beauty and femininity. After Kurtz dies, Marlow goes to see his Intended, and she remains in steadfast mournfulness, dressed in black. “She carried her sorrowful head as though she were proud of that sorrow, as though she would say, I—I alone know how to mourn for him as he deserves.” (75) The Intended’s street is compared to an alley of a cemetery, and the grand piano in the drawing room to a sarcophagus, extending the “ominous, dark qualities of the wilderness” to her home

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