The Role of Women in Joseph Conrads Heart of Darkness Essay

The Role of Women in Joseph Conrads Heart of Darkness Women have taken an increasingly important role in literature. Only recently have authors portrayed women in a dominant, protagonistic light. Sophocles and other classical writers portrayed women more as reactors than heroines. Since the ancient Greeks, however, a trend has been established that gives women characters much more substance and purpose. A definite shift from the antediluvian ways can be seen, and the overall complexity of women characters has increased exponentially. In Conrad?s Heart of Darkness, however, the portrayal of women takes a backwards step and is reverted back to the primitive, more demeaning viewpoint. Conrad employs characters that reflect the†¦show more content†¦Marlow knew that these falsities were the only barrier between the Intended and the darkness of Kurtz and society as a whole. Marlow also described the Native Woman in depth throughout the novel. In one such passage, he gives the reader an illustration by stating ?She was savage and superb, wild eyed and magnificent?she stood looking at us without a stir and like the wilderness itself, with an air of brooding over an inscrutable purpose.? Conrad describes the Native Woman with such exuberance and detail in order to create a conflict between the African Native and the Intended. Later on in the story Marlow describes the Intended by stating: ?She came forward all in black and with a pale head, floating toward me in the dusk?I noticed she was not very young?I mean not girlish?The room seemed to have grown darker, as if all the sad light of the cloudy evening had taken refuge on her forehead. This fair hair, this pale visage, this pure brow, seemed surrounded by an ashy halo from which the dark eyes looked out at me.? By analyzing the differences in these quotes, we can reduce the message down to one of the most important themes of the entire story. The Native represents purity, innocence, nature, and simplicity; the Intended is a symbol of industry, clamo r, and exploration. Keeping this is in mind, and noticing how Conrad describes the Native as ?magnificent? and ?superb? and the Intended as ?dark? and ?cloudy?, it is apparent in which ideal ConradShow MoreRelatedThe Significant Role of Women in Joseph Conrads Heart of Darkness1986 Words   |  8 PagesIn the 1900s novella Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad, the protagonist often encounters women at landmarks of his life. Charlie Marlow is a sailor and imperialist who sets out along the Congo River to â€Å"civilize† the â€Å"savages.† The novella begins with a crew on the Thames waiting for the tides to change. During their wait, a character named Marlow tells of his exploits on the African continent. 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