Abstract
Joseph Conrad’s novella Heart of Darkness is a popular modernist work which has often been implored for racist undercurrents. The characterisation of women in the novella remains frail and severely restricted. However, the seemingly mute and insignificant figures of the narrative are an ‘absent presence’ which shapes and directs Marlow’s spiritual quest into the “heart of darkness”. The novella is a text which captures the feminist ethos rising in the contemporary British society as an invisibly powerful undercurrent.
Highlights
Joseph Conrad wrote his novella, Heart of Darkness while the perception of women and their role in society was witnessing a transformation
Despite the dawn of societal changes in the ever-evolving identity of women, it is apparent that Conrad assigned little scope for women characters and their development in his work and cast them aside, into a fanciful and much restricted plane of existence, far away from that of men
The exploration in the novella narrated through the protagonist, seems to take place in a man’s world, and has scanty, weak women characters, with a severely restricted narrative role
Summary
Joseph Conrad wrote his novella, Heart of Darkness while the perception of women and their role in society was witnessing a transformation. Marlow consistently depicts women characters as weak, deluded and naïve. The exploration in the novella narrated through the protagonist, seems to take place in a man’s world, and has scanty, weak women characters, with a severely restricted narrative role. The narrator in the novella, towards the very beginning reads, “It’s queer how out of touch with truth women are...” (Conrad, 10).
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