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

Portrayal of Women in Heart of Darkness 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 exposed to the corruption either embrace the wickedness, as does Kurtz, or resist it and become enlightened. But the innocent European women swallow the lies of the colonial administration. If Conrad was appalled by the high-sounding rhetoric†¦show more content†¦After all, was not the demonic Kurtzs foremost attribute the artistry of his speech? He could, with his talking, put forth the pulsating stream of light, or the deceitful flow from the heart of darkness (63). That is, he might speak of white benevolence and the enlightenment of the savage African while hiding this less than philanthropic postscriptum in his heart: Exterminate all the brutes! (66). According to Johanna M. Smith, Marlow needs to construct a beautiful world around the Intended (180), one function of which is to stabilize both the feminine sphere of saving illusion and the masculine sphere of confounded fact (181). Indeed, he takes up Kurtzs method of deceitful flow when he tells the Intended - - a lady lost in the idolatrous illusion of a noble Kurtz -- that her fiancà ©s dying utterance was her name and not The horror! The horror! (Conrad 86). This, however, is no simple manifestation of chivalric lying -- falsehood for the sake of protecting delicate womanhood; for Marlow knows that she is out of it -- completely. They -- the women I mean -- are out of it --should be out of it. We must help them to stay in that beautiful world of their own, lest ours gets worse. (64; authors italics) Indeed, the stabilization of those spheres -- most importantly, the relation of each to the other -- does more than assureShow MoreRelated The Portrayal of Women in Joseph Conrads Heart of Darkness Essay1201 Words   |  5 PagesWomen 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 adventureRead MoreRacism And Sexism In Joseph Conrads Heart Of Darkness1108 Words   |  5 Pagesundertaking VCE. 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