roman’s blog

In the book Conrad makes only a few references to women and but shares his overall attitude about them and his view of what ‘European’ men think or ought to think of women.  Marlow himself runs in to five different women throughout the book the most significant being the native woman and Kurtz’s “intended.” The native woman is described as wearing ” barbarous ornaments” made of brass and “carried her head high… she must have had the value of several elephant tusks upon her.” Basically this woman was rich, beautiful, but was also carrying ” a tragic and fierce aspect of wild sorrow and of dumb pain mingled with the fear of some struggling, half-shaped resolve” (p.136-137).

 Both women share the underlining attitudes expressed by Kurtz toward females and both seem to be living at the top of their social classes. Not to mention both seem to be in a sort of chaotic state of emotions that Marlow has to deal with especially with his encounter with the ‘intended’ back in Europe who was in an emotional wreck over the death of her fiancé. Her character seems to have no idea of what is actually going on and is only focused on Kurtz’s ‘greatness.’ At this point in the book after Marlow barely makes it out alive out of Africa witnessing both the brutal horrors of European expansion and Kurtz’s unsound methods, the women insists that she ‘’knew him best’’ and that when Marlow lies to her about Kurtz’s last words she is gullible and naïve enough to imply she knew it… (p.154-157). She thought Kurtz was the most lovable figure to ever grace Africa. The general attitudes about women being expressed are that women are living in an illusions which suggesting that women cling to simple interpretations of complex events and live simple lives that deny reality and instead focus on trivial things that don’t matter.