The Role of Women in

The Heart of Darkness

October 12, 1989

Joseph Conrads The Heart of Darkness sees women from a rather Victorian
viewpoint, and often paints them as being the embodiment of the more pure
and gentle aspects of human nature. Conrad makes many references to a belief
that women live in an ideal world which is separated from the evil side of human
nature explored in the story, emphasizing that they must be protected from this
darkness at all costs. This theme can be justified by many details within The
Heart of Darkness, but at the same time there are a number of points in the
story which stand in stark contrast to this portrayal of women as noble and
exalted creatures.
One of the first incident where Conrad discusses women in an idealized manner
occurs in the very beginning of The Heart of Darkness, as Marlow is about
to depart for Africa. During his final meeting with his aunt, she talks to him
of how noble she feels the Companys attempts to civilize the African natives
are: an opinion which makes her nephew rather uncomfortable. Its queer, he
says, how out of touch with truth women are. They live in a world of their
own, and there has 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. Marlow believes that women cannot perceive the horrors that
men are capable of because they are so distant from them by virtue of their sex.
Another graphic example of this attitude comes when Marlow makes a reference
to Kurtzs fiancee, known as his Intended. He says of her: Oh, she is out of
itcompletely. Theythe women, I meanare out of itshould be out of it.
We must help them to stay in that beautiful world of their own, lest ours gets
worse. He makes it perfectly clear in this statement that he does not feel women
contribute to the evil in mankind he experiences during his trip to Africa.
A second aspect of this Victorianism can be found in Conrads descriptions of
the two principle women in The Heart of Darkness: Kurtzs African mistress
and his Intended. Both women are shown as being representative of a womans
great capacity for love and faithfulness: two of the more noble aspects of human
nature which are not attributed to the men in the story. Many of the words
Marlow uses to describe Kurtzs Intended make a point of this characteristic:
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one of the first statements he makes about her is that she seemed as though
she would remember and mourn (Kurtz) forever...she had a mature capacity
for fidelity, for belief, for suffering. Later on he says of her that her forehead,
smooth and white, remained illumined by the unextinguishable light of belief
and love. The detail which implies that these qualities are universal to women
is Conrads comparison of the Intended and Kurtzs mistress.
As Marlow is taking Kurtz away from the Inner Station, Kurtzs mistress is
the only native who does not flee from the pilgrims gunfire and the frightening
screech of the steamers whistle. Only the barbarous and superb woman did not
so much as flinch, and stretched tragically her bare arms after us over the sombre
and glittering river. This picture of love and faithfulness is referred to again
by Marlow during the episode with Kurtzs Intended. She put out her arms as
if after a retreating figure, stretching them back and with clasped pale hands
across the fading and narrow sheen of the window...resembling in this gesture
another one, tragic also, and bedecked with powerless charms, stretching bare
brown arms over the glitter of the infernal stream, the stream of darkness. This
comparison clearly implies a relationship between the two women; a relationship
which is defined by their mutual capacity for love and devotion.
These traditional, idealized views of women are elucidated within the story in
a distinct, substantial manner. In spite of this, however, there are numerous
details in The Heart of Darkness which paint women in an ominous and even
threatening light: details which seem to directly conflict with Conrads more
overt Victorian themes.
There are a number of allusions to the African wilderness which refer to it as a
feminine entity. Conrad uses the phrase Nature herself, as opposed to itself
when describing the jungles, and this femininity is brought up again as Marlow
is discussing the steamers trip down river. He states that sometimes we came
upon a station close by the bank, clinging to the skirts of the unknown. While
there are other inhuman objects, such as ships, which can be spoken of as being
feminine, the use of skirts is a direct reference to the human female. A passage
which makes this point even more vivid occurs as Marlow describes how Kurtz
was affected by his African surroundings. The wilderness...it had taken him,
loved him, embraced him, got into his veins, consumed his flesh, and sealed its
soul to its own by the inconceivable ceremonies of some devilish initiation. It
was his spoiled and pampered favourite. This portrayal of the inner jungles as
a sort of lover or mistress makes a definite connection between women and the
evils found in the wilderness.
On many occasions, the savage woman who is Kurtzs mistress is shown to
embody certain qualities of the jungles. When she first appears to Marlow,
Conrad describes her approach as ominous, and goes on to write that in
the hush that had fallen suddenly upon the whole sorrowful land, the immense
wilderness, the colossal body of the fecund and mysterious life seemed to look at
her, pensive, as though it had been looking at the image of its own tenebrous
and passionate soul. Similarily, Marlow says that after she reaches the steamer
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she stood looking at us without a stir, and like the wilderness itself, with an air
of brooding over an inscrutable purpose. Marlow sees the darkness found in
the jungles even in Kurtzs Intended, a woman who has never known nor seen
Africa. As he is listening to her speak of Kurtz at the end of the story, he tells
his audience that the sound of her low voice seemed to have the accompaniment
of all the other sounds, full of mystery, desolation, and sorrow, I had ever heard.
Since Marlows entire narrative focuses on the souls mysteries and desolation
that he discovers while in the Africa, these darknesses must be part of what he
is referring to.
Even the home of Kurtzs Intended is endowed with these ominous, dark qualities
of the wilderness. Her street is described as an alley in a cemetery, while her
piano is compared to a sarcophagus. When Marlow goes to visit her, he recalls
I asked myself what I was doing there, with a sensation of panic in my heart
as though I had blundered into a place of cruel and absurd mysteries not fit
for a human being to behold. The fact that women are so often associated
with darkness and evil is not something that can be overlooked when the role of
women in the story is considered.
Another aspect of the role of women in The Heart of Darkness which should not
be overlooked is the fact that it is such a comparatively large one. Conrad plainly
states that women do not play a part in the world of the darkness, yet he cannot
seem to keep his female characters away from it: women consistently appear
at the most important moments in the narrative. His aunt is the one who gets
Marlow the job in Africa to begin with: her influence with people in the Company
is directly responsible for sending him into the heart of darkness. When he goes
to fill out the Company paperwork, there are two female receptionists situated
outside the office. Marlow sees these two as guarding the door of Darkness, a
phrase which implies participation in the coming evil as opposed to innocence
from it. Marlow spends most of the book leading to the time when he finds
Kurtz at the Inner Station, and once again at this crucial moment a woman
appears: Kurtzs mistress. And the most crucial moment of all, the climatic
ending of the book, revolves around Kurtzs Intended.
While it is clear that women play conflicting roles in The Heart of Darkness, it
is difficult to come up with a coherent explanation for these contrasts. Both the
Victorian and the savage portrayals of women are well documented, and I cannot
dismiss either one of them. I also cannot find any evidence to support a claim
that perhaps one viewpoint is being written in an ironic or insincere manner,
so that in reality it is merely reinforcing Conrads true opinions: Marlow seems
perfectly honest and unsarcastic in all of his statements concerning women and
femininity. Even the final moment of the story holds an ambiguity concerning
the perception of women: Marlow tells Kurtzs Intended that his last words were
of her, but what does that imply? Is he saying this to chivalrously protect her
from the darkness, or is he literally making a connection between the horror
and the woman? In light of all the contrasting evidence as to Conrads view
of women in the story, it does not seem possible to say. Conrad leaves the role

of women in The Heart of Darkness unresolved, and it is possible that even he

was unsure of what that role actually was: plausibly, he many have even been
unaware of how pervasive these issues had become.