1- Compare Kurtz’s African mistress with his Intended.

How does the pairing of these two women

develop larger themes in the novel?

On the surface, Kurtz’s African mistress has nothing in common with his Intended. They dress and
communicate differently, and they take on the opposing feminine roles of fiancée and “other woman.”
However, despite coming from vastly different cultures, both women exhibit a fundamental similarity:
They exist not so much as characters in their own right, but as reflections of the man they share.
Conrad emphasizes this connection by referring to each woman according to her relationship with
Kurtz, rather than granting her an individual name. On one level, Conrad may be suggesting that
women inherently play subordinate roles in men’s lives. But on another level, Conrad uses Kurtz’s
African mistress and his Intended to attack the very notion that Africa can be seen as Europe’s
opposite.
Kurtz’s African mistress and his Intended differ in superficial ways. The African mistress wears bold
colors, stripes and fringes, brass rings that climb up her ankles, and jewelry that Marlow can only
describe as “barbarous” and “bizarre.” By contrast, the Intended presents herself in a way that suggests
decorum and restraint. She appears in the black garb of mourning, with a face whose paleness
contrasts starkly with the bright red paint on the mistress’s cheek. The mistress communicates by way
of wordless gestures and screams, whereas the Intended speaks in calm, thoughtful, and eloquent
sentences. The mistress strikes Marlow and the other men as scandalous and un-Christian, whereas the
very phrase “the Intended” bears Victorian connotations of modesty, chivalry, and propriety.
Despite these striking differences, the African mistress and the Intended share a prominent function in
the novel. Both exist primarily to symbolize Kurtz’s status and wealth. The mistress’s regal posture,
beauty, and excessive jewelry declare to all her countrymen the fact of Kurtz’s brilliance and power.
Likewise, the Intended can only state and repeat Kurtz’s vague claims to genius, to the extent that
Marlow becomes irritated. Without Kurtz, the women are merely “apparitions”—a term that Marlow
uses to describe the African mistress. Separated from Kurtz, the mistress surrenders herself to the
gunfire of the Pilgrims, and the Intended becomes a chattering, deluded fool. The two women exist
only to proclaim Kurtz’s greatness; when that role is removed, they lose their purpose and their
usefulness.
By emphasizing the fundamental similarities between a white woman bound by a traditional
engagement and an African woman living in supposed sin, Conrad builds on a series of false
dichotomies, or opposing pairs. Throughout the novel, he presents us with alleged oppositions that
turn out to be disconcertingly similar. Europe, for example, was once as “primitive” as the nineteenth-
century Europeans’ image of Africa. As Marlow notes, the Pilgrims exhibit many of the savage
tendencies of the cannibals. Repeatedly, the image of blinding sunlight becomes entangled with the
image of darkness: Both conditions hamper our ability to see things clearly. Powerless, ignorant, and
tragic, the African mistress and the Intended belong to this large set of false dichotomies.
Conrad’s two superficially different female characters illustrate his idea that Europe is not the moral
and cultural opposite of Africa. With their varied styles of dress and communication, the women
initially seem to come from different worlds. But Conrad shows that they are doubles, both confined to
the role of displaying Kurtz’s power. By exposing the shared tragedy of the two women’s lives,
Conrad builds on his theme of Victorian moral confusion. Just as Europe is not significantly more
advanced than Africa, a refined white woman is not significantly more enlightened than an African
“savage.”
2/- Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad: Symbols
In Heart of Darkness, every person and everything mean more than what we find on a superficial level. A
symbol is used to imply a hidden meaning behind the surface. Through the story, characters, and places
mentioned in the novel, Conrad wants to reveal the truth of colonialism and its effect on both the whites
and blacks.

The central figure in the novel is Kurtz who stands for many things. Firstly, he symbolizes the extreme
greed and the commercial mentality of the Whites. Secondly, he represents the white man’s excessive love
of the power to lead others, thirdly, he stands for the influence of the savages on the civilized man. And
finally, he is the epitome of the repentant sinner. The transformation of Kurtz into the cruel, savage and a
barbaric self ironically states that every civilized self has the primitiveness within. If it is not controlled, it
would rise and start governing the civilized self, and there remains no civilized one but the real primitive
one.

Another major figure of the novel is Marlow. He has a symbolic role in the novel. He symbolizes the spirit
of adventure and a love of knowledge. He stands for the thoughtful observer of human life and a student of
human nature. His habit of constant brooding and meditating upon what he sees and finds symbolizes the
philosophical approach to human life. And to a great extent, he too symbolizes the influence of savagery on
the civilized one and exposure of hidden primitiveness.

The minor characters too have significant importance. The manager of the central station symbolizes
spiritual emptiness. He is a good manager because he works like a machine, but he cannot inspire any love,
respect and fear as he is barren and empty in terms of spiritual fertility. The brick-maker represents the
cunning and trickery. He does not make any brick, but he works as a spy to the manager. The pilgrims
stand for a complete absence of any faith or belief. They further symbolize the parasitic existence. The
cannibal crew on the Marlow’s steamer symbolize efficiency and self-restraint because they control their
feeling of cannibalism in the boat even at the time of extreme hunger. The native woman represents a
woman’s strong devotion and loyalty to her lord or a lover. Kurtz’s fiancée stands for the illusion held by
an innocent woman.

Except these characters the novel has another many symbols. One of them is ivory, around which the novel
revolves around. The ivory is the symbol of the white man’s greed. It is the greed of wealth, greed of
success and greed of superiority. The aimless firing in the forest and the purposeless bombing of the rocks
stands for the futility of the works that the whites are carrying on in the African interiors. The dying and the
starved natives are the symbols of the negligence and indifference of whites towards the natives. The
silence of the woods and the abundance of trees mean mystery and horror that the land of Africa possesses.
The pictures of dark, dense woods and fog refer to the prevailing darkness of the human mind and heart.
The city of Brussels, especially the white sepulcher symbolizes all of European civilization. The beautiful
white outside reminds the supercilious ideas and justifications that Europeans use to justify colonization,
while the hidden hollow inside the sepulcher hides the insincerity and desire for power and wealth that truly
motivate the colonial powers.
The title of the novel, the Heart of Darkness, too has symbolic meaning. Geographically, the heart of
darkness is Africa, where barbarism and savagery is rampant, but psychologically, the heart of darkness is
within all of us. It is in our mind, in our subconscious, hidden and disguised in the form of civilized one.
Our greed and the ill intention towards others is dark. Thus, the heart of darkness is nowhere but inside us.

Finally, Marlow’s whole journey into the Congo is symbolic. This journey can be taken as the journey of
Marlow into his subconscious or a journey into the subconscious mind of humankind. In physical terms, it
is the journey towards Congo, an interior of Africa, a dark continent, but in symbolic terms it is the
psychological and mystical journey.