Feminist CriticsimEssay Preview: Feminist CriticsimReport this essayFeminism is the state of women in particular culture .It is the set of female qualities attributed specifically to women and girls by a particular society .It is both an intellectual commitment and a political movement that seek justice for women and the end of sexism in all form .The complement to femininity is masculinity,which take their led from feminism .In Joseph Conrads novel The Heart of Darkness, Marlow the narrative character view of women embodies the typical nineteen century view of women as the inferior sex .Marlow mentions the female character his aunt, the Intended and the Native woman in order to give his tale more substance. These three women really dont take an important role in the novel. They seem to be categorized into a separate group ,serving as supplements to mens action, character and behavior .All of them seem to live in the realm of their own ,built on the idealistic conception of the surrounding world, governed by fair rules and laws .Even they dont relate with the primary themes of novel .The primary themes focus more on how Marlows journey in the heart of darkness contrast the white souls of the black people with the black souls of white, it exploit them and how it led to Marlows self-discovery. This is not surprising as the text first published for magazine in 1898.
Conrads negative attitude toward women is clear in his novel. Women play an ambiguous role in their contrast with men .He established an identity as a strictly masculine writer by his narrative that contained only masculine men in the world of sea .He sees a women as naïve and idealistic, believing in fantastic worlds that would never work in the reality he knows .Though he scorns them for their dreaming ,he also admires and compassionates the purity for their hopes and dreams.
Its queer how out of touch with truth women are. They live in a world of their own, and there have 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 (1, 18).
We see his lack of skill when it comes to creating the women characters .Even his feminine creation are often dismissed as a secondary and ineffective to the plot and theme of the story .The two women Marlow encounter in the companys office knit black wool , their appearance is foreshadowed by the tow black wools which signify the thread of life .The represent of tow women are less important than the represent of the wools (guarding the door of Darkness, knitting black wool as for a warm pall(1,15).
Marlows aunt a European woman who is described with an underlying irony” a dear enthusiastic soul” with point to an illusive existence of a white woman in her civilized imagined world .She was lack of intelligent and wisdom. She was “ready to do anything” for Marlow in the name of a “noble cause” that is colonizing the blacks and complementing civilization in the darkness of Congo .She firmly believes her nephew to be the “emissary of light”, overlooking the dark level of exploiting the Natives for financial benefits (1, 11). She seems powerful woman but that because she knows wife of a powerful man.
Kurtz Intended is the naïve character. She is a lone and waiting for Kurtz as long as she has too. She is pure and “guileless,” especially noting the honest expression of pain in her eyes.She is like a European, wealthy and useless women. Who has nothing better to do than waiting for their fiancé to return with love. She lives in her own world with out concern for reality or other people. When Marlo visit her at the end of novel her first question what were his last words, even she does not asked how he died. Marlow keep her with an idealistic image of her husband and the illusive world based on the false image of his greatness. The truth about Kurtz would be too dark and would destroy her dreams. She is naïve about the true motivations of men, which we have
A: she likes the way Kurtz is dressed, with a hint of the way she loves her boyfriend. Kurtz has some of the most famous, but not all of his best features. In fact he seems to be mostly a loser:he’s always running around as if the last couple hours were his business. He gets into a bit of a fight with his wife, which could well lead to his downfall… but there are some other possible factors but that’s just my point. She seems very unresponsive and uninterested to him. As much as I love Kurtz I’d be shocked at how much He can be a good person to her because she can have her issues and problems as well. In fact she would never have gotten him even if I had let the truth of her past exist. If it were a true story Kurtz would really be very strong in a love story and wouldn’t be able to help her get her back!
Kurtz takes a serious look at her. He wonders how a woman can be so naive in her feelings. He is very confused by her love for him and even more so when she tells him how excited she was to have a boyfriend and is going to be able to turn him around. She is so serious but naive she seems to fall for people she can never get used to. Despite her naivety and lack of focus Kurtz is still able to get to her heart and heart in the end.In case it wasn’t clear, she loves him intensely, and is determined to get her back because she cannot stay with their other life because of a broken child. Her family has no idea of the love they have for her despite their previous romantic partnership. It is in her heart that they want Kurtz back, but she is still so stubborn and she keeps fighting to get it back. That’s why her feelings are so fierce and she makes her way through all of the emotions she feels. A part of herself does not want this but at least she may stay and get a baby.In spite of her disappointment, Kurtz has always been like her, trying his best at everything she wants to put herself out there. This is why she is so happy and happy about what is being done by his relationship. Her father, father-in-law, father-in-law-in-law. All of them are so happy trying to get better at things and have all their lives of love and happiness. In spite of her loss, she is happy because “I love you so much” for the love she gets from his girlfriend. In spite of her loss, Kurtz is happy as long as others do the same.She really wants to get back to Kurtz for more because if other people fail to turn things around, she thinks it’s all wrong to leave.