The Portrayal of Women in Joseph Conrads Heart of...

Women have gained equality with men over the many centuries of the evolution of the modern western civilization. Hence, it cannot be overlooked that there still exist many literary examples of social disregard for woman potential. Joseph Conrads Heart of Darkness exemplifies the Western patriarchal gender roles in which women are given the inferior status.p Not only are women portrayed as being inferior to men, but Marlows (the protagonists) seldom mentioning of them in his Congo adventure narrative symbolizes his view of their insignificance. There is a total of five women presented in Marlows narrative but only three of them are significant minor characters: Marlows aunt, Kurtzs African mistress, and Kurtzs Intended. The†¦show more content†¦She appears to be a greedy soul that wants a family member of hers to become wealthy through terrorizing and robbing innocent citizens of country for their valuable possession; ivory. From her perspective, the noble cause was as she pu t it weaning those ignorant millions from their horrid ways. It is hard to comprehend how she knows the natives of Congo to be horrible people without personally interacting with them. This talk from his aunt actually makes Marlow feel uncomfortable since he later learns that his aunt and the rest of the British are the truly ignorant millions, and not the natives of Congo. The next mentioning of a female character in Heart of Darkness is that of Kurtzs Intended. Since Marlows interaction with her comes at the end of the story, Kurts African mistress is the next female character Marlow encounters upon reaching the Inner Station. Her first appearance is when the ill Kurtz is being taken aboard the steamboat and with body remarks to her, Marlows Russian counterpart describes her as being mischievous. Marlows choice of words to describe the mistress contrasts this. As she walks with her head high, he sees her as being proud and beautiful, with aShow MoreRelated Portrayal of Women in Joseph Conrads Heart of Darkness Essay874 Words   |  4 PagesPortrayal of Women in Heart of Darkness      Ã‚  Ã‚   In his novel, Heart of Darkness, Joseph Conrad exposes the evil lurking in the soul of mankind; but this corruption is hidden from the innocent European women. Conrad?s novel depicts women simplistically in black and white ? without any confusing shades of gray. There are the innocent white European women who must -- for societys sake -- be misinformed, and the black African she-beast ? the antithesis to civilizations order.    Those exposedRead MoreRacism And Sexism In Joseph Conrads Heart Of Darkness1108 Words   |  5 Pagesundertaking VCE. 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