Sienna Seas

Literary Studies
Professor Strickler
11 March 2013
The Hidden Presence of Women in Heart of Darkness
Old, young, sexual, private, proper, wild, and mysterious personalities of women are
depicted throughout Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad. Yet these characteristics exist in only
a few women, not men, throughout the whole novel. Conrad depicts these women to the
extremesa work that in turn further intensified the domestic oppression of the female sex
(Hawthorn 414). A feminist would wonder why, why does Conrad make Marlow have strange
feelings around these woman? The silence and powerless woman is classic form of feminism by
depicting influential or typical images of women (Barry 117). The women seem to have no
power, yet their presence alone makes Marlow uncomfortable. Conrad gives the women either
the extreme of evil or goodness; neither side benefits from his creation of them. At the beginning
of the novel, Marlow meets the silent witchlike secretaries that seem to be guarding the door of
Darkness (Conrad 11). While finding Kurtz, Marlow is awestruck by the wild witchlike native
woman. After returning from the long journey, Marlow faces Kurtz Intended, a fragile proper
woman. Conrad doesnt give any of these women a voice; Marlows descriptions speak for them
all. The women are not given a choice either; they only play the part they were placed into.
Conrad makes the conditions for each woman, and they play their mysterious part down to their
very features.
As Marlow walks through the outer room, he describes the older woman; the old one sat
on her chaira cat reposed on her lapa wart on one cheek, and silver-rimmed spectacles hung

on the tip of her nose, (Conrad 10-11). Marlow creates this elderly woman as a witchlike figure.
She has a cat, a wart, and even silver-rimmed spectacles. Another woman is also with the
elderly woman as they both knit with black wool. The black color of the wool adds to the feeling
that these women are linked to witchcraft and evil. Marlow describes the woman knitting to seem
to know all about them and me too (Conrad 11). Marlow creates this horrid scene of the
women. Conrad depicts the women as the Fates of classical mythology (Hawthorn 405). The
witchlike women increase Marlows feeling of being uncomfortabletheir silence adds to the
evil Conrad has the women portray. As Conrad places each woman, they play the role as Marlow
interprets them. One may never know what who these woman truly are; Conrad has oppressed
the true womanly figures.
Conrad portrays a similar oppressed voice through the native woman. She was a
mysterious lone woman that Marlow encounters as he arrives in the heart of darkness to find
Kurtz. The native woman opened her bared arms and threw them up rigid above her head and a
silence hung over the scene (Conrad 61). When the boat arrives to Kurtzs station, the natives
are frightened. The native woman plays the role of leader of the native people, yet she doesnt
speak when intruders arrive. Marlow describes her as savage and superb, wild-eyed and
magnificent (Conrad 60). When Marlow describes the native woman this way, she begins to
play that role of savage mystery. Conrad places this woman in the jungle, and Marlows
description of her takes away the true woman that may be hiding beneath. In his essay, The
Women of Heart of Darkness, Jeremy Hawthorn says the native woman is like the wilderness
reflected in her, passionate and fecund (Hawthorn 409). Hawthorn sees Conrads method of
oppressing the womans voice. When Marlow takes Kurtz away, the native women expresses

herselfput out her hands, shouted something, but Marlow, incapable of understanding her
shouting, takes away any voice she might have had (Conrad 67).
Kurtzs Intended seems to have more voice than any women previously examined, but
she still cannot make her own decisions. She begins speaking to Marlow, and she doesnt stop
talking. When she begins speaking of Kurtzs death, she asks Marlow for Kurtzs last words.
Marlow slightly wonders about telling the truth, but his walls go up and lies saying he spoke her
name instead of the truth. I could not tell her (Conrad 77). Marlow admits that he cannot give
her the privilege of knowing the truthsomething everyone has a right to. Marlow takes away
any voice that the Intended may have had because of this restriction of the truth. Conrad and
Marlow still oppress the Intendeds voice, but it is more hidden than the other women in the
novel. Hawthorn describes the Intended as a passive virgin (Hawthorn 414). In this description
of the Intended, she is described as younger than the rest continuously taking away from any
voice that she may have had.
The oppressed women in Heart of Darkness have a multitude of characteristics, but are
all depicted the same way. Conrad doesnt give any of the women a voice to express how they
are truly experiencing the world. The secretaries only usher in new and old employees. The
native woman seems to have no true language. The Intended has no control over herself or what
she is given in life. Marlow feels uncomfortable in the womens presence because he cannot see
through their silence. This silence is controlled by Marlow himself and Conrad. Each woman is
placed into a role that they must play, and that Marlow must describe only as he sees fit. This
silence is rejected by the feminist view where male writers give influential or typical images of
women (Barry 117). Women will not be silenced anymorethe silence speaks for them.

Works Cited
Barry, Peter. "Chapter 6: Feminist Criticism." Beginning Theory: And Introduction to Literary
and Cultural Theory. Third ed. Manchester: Manchester UP, 2009. 116-133. Print.
Conrad, Joseph. Heart of Darkness. Heart of Darkness. Fourth ed. New York: W. W. Norton &
Company, Inc., 2006. 3-77. Print.
Hawthorn, Jeremy. "The Women of Heart of Darkness." Heart of Darkness. Fourth ed. New
York: W. W. Norton & Company, Inc., 2006. 405-15. Print.