Feminist Consciousness In Heart Of Darkness

With Joseph Conrad’s own experience travelling Congo as the writing material and context of his novella Heart of Darkness, a perilous journey to the "dark Africa" spreads out slowly before the readers through Marlow, the protagonist’main narration.Published in1899, Heart of Darkness has been making waves ever since that come from scholars and critics of each side. Especially with the rising of Feminist Criticism, the inclination on gender discrimination in Conrad’s novels invites more and more Feminist scholars’remark and criticism. However, the remark always fails to pay due attention to the significant women pulsing in the deep structure of the text. Conrad’s ingenious portrayal of women in Heart of Darkness is actually satirical and critical to western patriarchal society and also an expression of deep sympathy to the women oppressed in the dual control of male-dominated and imperialism ideology. Based on the two-layer narration, all the words that have female-discriminated tendency are Marlow’s subjective opinions, which are not Conrad’s real intention.This thesis, by employing feminist critique, is to analyze Conrad’s efforts in Heart of Darkness to reconstruct women’s position and dismantle male’s patriarchal narration through the analysis of women figures and the reading of Marlow’s narrative discourse.Chapter One is an overall survey of Feminist Criticism and the influential relationship between Joseph Conrad and the women in his life. Subsequently, the feasibility of analyzing Heart of Darkness from Feminist angle will be proposed.Chapter Two seeks to describe five women in Heart of Darkness. There are two traditional virtuous women, one is Marlow’s aunt, and the other is Kurtz’s European Intended. Out of earnest concern and deep anxiety to women’s destiny in patriarchal society, Conrad gives a prominent position to the significance of these women. By contrast, Conrad’s positive portrayal of the black mistress reveals his praise and appreciation to such a courageous female characterized by modern feminist spirit. The appearance of the two knitting women can be associated with the manipulative and omniscient Fates in Greek myth. Therefore, women are not always passive, ignorant or marginalized. The depiction of the five women forcefully indicates that Conrad is a male writer with strong feminist consciousness rather than a masculinist. However, due to his unfortunate childhood experience and unclear understanding of the essence and developing prospects of feminist movement, Conrad leaves a few regrets for the ending.Chapter Three analyzes the narrative features in Heart of Darkness. The novella employs two-layer narration structure, which manifests that Conrad consciously differentiates himself from Marlow and attempts to dismantle Marlow’s male-dominated discourse hegemony. Based on Feminist Criticism, the thesis points out that Conrad sets Marlow as an unreliable narrator, whose narrative authority is frequently undermined by his monstrous lies, self-contradictions and false reading of the women.Conrad renders a true representation of the women oppressed under male chauvinism and ideology of imperialism in Victorian Age, expressing his doubt and repudiation to the western patriarchal society and its cultural value system. Although there are a few regrets at the ending of the novella, Heart of Darkness is still a great masterpiece revealing progressive Feminist consciousness.