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Women and Femininity
(Click the themes infographic to download.)
Sorry, ladies: there's basically nothing for you here. Seriously. Conrad is all about the gentlemen. For Marlow—and presumably for Conrad, too, although we could argue about that—women exist in a totally separate world. Part of the reason the world in Heart of Darkness is so grim for the dudes is that they have to protect women's idealism. Of course, you could also suggest that the Intended stands in for all of Western civilization, which would mean that Marlow's lie about Kurtz lets us all go on pretending that foreign workers aren't suffering to produce our smartphones and $5 t-shirts, men and women alike.
Despite Marlow's disparaging comments about women, a number of women display or exercise a substantial amount of power in Heart of Darkness.
All the women within Heart of Darkness reflect the values of their society and are viewed as nothing more than trophies for men. Even the women who seem at first to have power are in fact powerless upon closer inspection.
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