Heart of Darkness Essay

The mistress was always considered primitive and did non become civilised subsequently be with Kurtz, showing she had strength to stay who she was and non be influenced by the white man, as many an(prenominal) black muckle were. Her spring on Kurtz, however, was far too swell and he could not serve but be influenced by this wild woman and also by the country, in which she lived. Kurtz was also influenced and changed by the power of Africa.He could have control over the natives but he would never be equal to succumb to the heart of darkness. The mistress, herself was actually a commission of Africa like the wilderness itself which emphasises her power and comp ares it to that of her basis into which even white men were afraid to venture too deep. When Marlow looked at a map of Africa he described the Congo river as looking like a snake.This again makes the audience relate rachis to Adam and Eve. A snake which symbolised the devil convinced Eve to tempt Adam. So through this we cigaret see that the mistress received some of her power through a greater source. Her inability to peach makes readers think of her as more animal and primitive but this just adds to her mystery and makes her appear more like Africa and at one with the power in it. the immense wilderness, the colossal body of the fecund and secluded life seemed to look at her, pensive, as though it had been looking at the image ofits knowledge tenebrious and passionate soul. Emphasising these three characters power, Conrad uses a contrasting character for comparison. This character is Kurtzs intended who was really oftentimes opposite to the other females, in particular Kurtzs mistress. This woman was a typical strait-laced fantasy This fair hair, this pale visage, this pure brow her forehead, smooth and white her fair hair seemed to thingmabob all the remaining light in a glimmer of gold. She is the type of woman any British man would want.The use of words such as fair, white, smooth and pure sends her as being innocent and good and she was never spoken about in a sexual way- she seemed not to have any sexuality- which is a very powerful attribute to have. Someone with these characteristics is usually not very powerful. Also her background she is British and British women were often marginalised from power or authority due to males determine so too would she be- she is no exception to this- more like an example of it. A year after Kurtzs death she still mourned him and tells Marlow I have survived. This tells readers she visits it hard to like without Kurtz- she is finding it hard to find the power to struggle on. Then when Marlow lies to her about Kurtzs last words- readers are aware that he is does not believe she has enough strength (power) to handle that kind of truth. This lie is made to maintain womens great and saving illusion. For this powerless woman Marlow wants to help (her/women) to stay in that beautiful world of their own This is contras ted with the other three powerful women as they were not in that beautiful world of their own.The aunty was almost in a mans world- finding power from others in noble places. The knitting women were represented as being in the after world having power over peoples lives and guarding the door of Darkness therefore having the power (like the men believed they had over women) of deciding who could come in to their world and who could not. Then there was the mistress her personality and her world was the complete opposite to the intended (who was the representation of powerless).The mistress was considered wild, very sexual and uncivilised, living in an almost animal world obtaining her power from nature. The typical woman in the novel Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad, is represented as not possessing much or any power.This is seen through the eyes of a man therefore women are marginalised. They are excluded from the bulk of the story but when they do make an appearance, the aunt, the knitting women and the mistress all convey some sort of amazing power that is not typical to Marlows views and that men (of those times) do not consider or want women to have. Show preview only The above preview is unformatted text This scholar written piece of work is one of many that can be found in our GCSE Joseph Conrad section.