The influence of Conrad’s personal experiences on the modelling of male and female characters in his writing

Abstract

In this article I argue that the sphere of complex and difficult relations between men and women plays an important role in Conrad’s fiction, as it brings together all the existential, socio-philosophical and ethical dilemmas faced by the protagonists. Scholars who have discussed this subject include A. Gillon, E.B. Harrington, S. Jones, B. Meyer, A.M. Roberts, B. Soane and C. Watts. It would seem that there was a strong link between Conrad’s traumatic experiences as a child (when his parents were unable to provide him with the emotional warmth and security which he needed), his later unsuccessful relationships with various women and the way in which he portrayed relations between the sexes in his fiction. Conrad’s pessimistic outlook on life and the difficulties he had experienced in forming relationships with women would seem to have been reflected in the way in which he constructed the ‘represented world’ of his novels. Conrad’s characters are torn between attraction to the opposite sex and a feeling of alienation resulting from an inability to achieve mutual understanding. The words “irresistible and fateful impulse” – used by Conrad in the story Amy Foster – not only seem to be particularly applicable to relations between men and women in Conrad’s fiction, but would also seem to constitute a model according to which the author maps out the courses of their lives. The Conradian drama of relations between men and women is played out between two extremes or poles, as it were. In most cases we have an “irresistible and fateful impulse”. At other times the woman is idealized, while the man is left to play the equally unconvincing role of enthralled admirer. Either way, there is an awareness of the immense obstacles which hinder mutual understanding and which result from a sense of the tragic nature of human existence – and relations between men and women in particular.