A FEMINIST PERSPECTIVE

OF HEART OF DARKNESS

By. Sam Vancini, Kiet Chau, Brian Fleming, Kevin

Jackson, and Bryant Lu

BACKGROUND INFORMATION
The time period of Heart of Darkness is assumed
to be sometime between 1885-1895.
During the Late 19th Century, men tended to
work further away from home meaning the only
time the men and women would communicate
was at meals.

This

led to a separation between the two genders

during this time period more than ever.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION
(CONT.)
Feminism- the advocacy of women's rights on the
grounds of political, social, and economic equality
to men.
In context of the time period, feminism was used
to help try to inspire women to stand up for
equality and no longer submit to doing whatever
men wanted them to.

FEMALE CHARACTERS
There is a lack of female characters in this book.
There are only 3:
1. Marlows Aunt
2. Kurtzs Fiance
3. Kurtzs African Mistress
It should be noted that none of the female
characters are given names.

Conrad doesnt name any of them to represent the

typical 19th century view that women were just tools
of male needs.

MARLOWS AUNT

Marlow treated his Aunt as a replaceable tool

that he only used to accomplish his own needs.
Charlie

Marlow set the women to work to get a job

In reality, he may not have been able to get to the

Congo without her assistance.

KURTZS FIANCE
She is not mentioned until the very end of the
book.
She is developed as a representation of all
women: all they are measured by is their beauty
and idealism.

Marlow

speaking about women: We must help them

to stay in that beautiful world of their own, lest ours
gets worse.

KURTZS AFRICAN MISTRESS

Marlow fears her power, stating that she is
savage and superb
Despite her power, she remains largely
submissive as she has no lines in the book.
She is developed as the exact opposite of Kurtzs
fiance, further explaining his fear of her.

SUBMISSIVENESS OF WOMEN

Conrad tries to portray women as being easily

swayed.
He

uses Kurtzs fiance's support of Kurtz as an

example of this.

Another example of submissiveness in this book

was when the Mistress handed control over her
tribe to Kurtz so easily.

POLL

Was this activity fair?

RESULTS OF POLL

CONRADS ACTUAL VIEW

At first glance, it may seem that Conrad was a
typical 19th century chauvinistic male.
However, Conrad wrote this text as a social
commentary on how irrational and sexist society
has become.
So in reality, Conrad was actually a strong
advocate of female rights himself.