In this famous picture drawn in 1575, Jan van der Straet depicts the "discovery" of America in an allegorical way--as a pornographic encounter between a man and a woman. Amerigo Vespucci, an Italian explorer who "discovered" America, is portrayed in the drawing as a fully clothed man who stands masterfully before a naked and sexually inviting woman, who extends her hand in a gesture of seduction and submission. Vespucci, a god-like figure who represents civilization and technology, was about to conquer, to "penetrate" or to "pierce" the virgin land, which is allegorically portrayed as a naked woman. In other words, the rhetoric of "discovery" hinges on a gendered ideology, in which male is conventionally seen as active or aggressive while female viewed as passive and vulnerable.
However, this kind of male-centered imperial discourse cannot always be that triumphant and cocky. In the background of the drawing, we can see a cannibal scene in which human bodies are dismembered and roasted, suggesting threat and danger lurking in the wilderness. The "feminized" wilderness, in fact, is never that passive and vulnerable as imagined by male explorers; oftentimes, it provokes anxiety and fear.
In "Heart of Darkness," can you find similar portrayals of the wilderness that is being "feminized" or "eroticized"? Besides the imperial hubris and narcissism, with its delusional fantasy of male might and unstoppable pillaging and looting, can you also spot a contradictory fear of engulfment or castration? Identify passages and explain them. Make your answer into a 250-300-word essay. Cite texts to prove your points.
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After reading “The Heart of Darkness,” I find that in addition to describing the imperialism and civilization about white people’s invasion to the black people, Joseph Conrad also portrays the landscape by the image of being intrusion and fighting back.
To begin with, the views of the wilderness or darkness are frequently feminized. For instance, in chapter one, the river is described as a “snake uncoiled, its head in the sea, its body at the lost in depths of the land.” It’s an image of women’s figure lying on the ground. Here, the snake also has a connotation to do with the seduction of women. And the coast is “smiling, frowning, inviting, grand, mean, insipid, or savage, and always mute with and air of whispering”, like a woman who is trying to lure men. At the same time, erotic sentence can be found through the text. For example, men’s aggressiveness is shown in “they had bone, muscle, a wild vitality, an intensive energy of movement” In chapter two, “a large limb of some tree projected rigidly over the stream” suggests sex. When the Russian man says that he and Kurts “had come together unavoidable, like two ships becalmed near each other, and lay rubbing, sides at last”, it may implies their ambiguous relationship. And there are many image of “penetrate” such as “pierced the still air like a sharp arrow flying straight to the very heart of the land”, ”with spears in their hands”, and Kurts stare is portrayed as “piercing enough to penetrate all the hearts that beat in the darkness.” The examples given above bring us the gendered ideology that women are obedient to men.
However, there are many contradictory fears of engulfment and castration of the wilderness which means women’s strike back. In chapter one, the nature “had tried to ward off intruder” and “invaded the contorted mangroves, that seemed to writhe at us in the extremity of an impotent despair.” In this sentence, nature means women while intruder and mangrove means men. And we can see that women are attacking men. Then, the contradictory of women’s images can be seen from the following examples, “the wilderness without a sound took him into its bosom again”, “meant as an appeal or a menace”, and “but the wildness had taken on him a terrible vengeance for the fantastic invasion” It tells us that women are so attractive that men wants to conquer; nevertheless, women are tough enough to bend a man easily. Furthermore, the “fog” of the wilderness and “snag of the river” show the assaults of women. Last, the word “impenetrate” which means totally opposite to “penetrate” appears six times in the text such as “an impenetrable forest” and “from the heart of an impenetrable darkness”. It symbols that women are being powerful and fighting against men. From these point of view, we know that women are never inferior to men.
Although the “feminized” wilderness is portrayed as passive and vulnerable just like the gendered ideology; however, we could see some contradictory fears of engulfment and castration in “Heart of darkness” For example, as to fears of engulfment of male, we could see from passage that “The wilderness had patted him on the head……it had caressed him, and –lo!-he had withered ; it had taken him, loved him, embraced him, go into his veins, consumed his flesh, and sealed his soul to its own by the inconceivable ceremonies of some devilish initiation”-it shows us that the body of male was engulfed by nature after he died whatever how powerful when he was alive.From passage that” Beyond the fence the forest stood up spectrally in the moonlight ,and through the dim stir, through the faint sounds of that lamentable courtyard, the silence of the land went home to one’s very heart-its mystery, its greatness , the amazing reality of its concealed life.”, we cold also see the fear of engulfment of male to nature. In next passage we could know Marlow is confused by what the stillness brings and he says: “I wondered whether the stillness on the face of the immensity looking at us two were meant as an appeal or as a menace.” As to fears of castration of male, we could see form passage that- She carried her head high; her hair was done in the shape of a helmet; she had brass leggings to the knee, brass wire gauntlets to the elbow……She was savage and superb, wild-eyed and magnificent”- it shows us that the woman warrior is charming but dangerous . Marlow appreciates her beauty and pride but also fears her power of savageness, because she seems so different from the image male also put on female in that time: so powerful that male begins to think of the possibility of castration. As to wilderness is being feminized and eroticized, we could see in passage” No sooner had we fairly entered it than I became aware it was much narrower than I supposed……..The twigs overhung the current thickly, and from distance a large limb of some tree projected rigidly over the stream” – the description implies intercourse between man and woman. All above these are ideas founded in tradition gendered ideology, man is superior to woman so man can do what he wants without any consideration about woman; woman can only accept it and even have to endure any unfair treatment without complaint .Imperial narcissism implies the gender ideology in that time, jus like the idea in the picture: the Italian explorer was about to “penetrate” the virgin land such as a man can have sex with a woman as long as man decides personally.
In Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness, the landscape is feminized as rhetoric of embodiment. According to Marlow’s description, the big river is like an immense snake, and the river had charmed him. In psychology, snakes are taken as women. Hence, Joseph Conrad depicted Marlow wants to conquer the place with masculinity.
Besides, the wilderness is figuratively described in the form of Kurtz’s mistress who is a native woman. The woman is depicted as a figure of wilderness and darkness which finally destroyed Kurtz. The portrayal of the relationship between Kurtz and the native woman emphasizes a sexual one is a representation as cannibalistically devouring Kurtz. However, Kurtz is eager to own the tender jungle, but that makes him to be swallowed by the wilderness and darkness.
In the novel, imperial hubris is like male’s arrogance. At the end of the story, Marlow says a lie to Kurtz’s fiancée. In fact, it means that he tries to find security to protect masculinity without revealing fear of the wilderness. The personification of the wilderness and darkness in Heart of Darkness is feminized. Kurtz is in the inanimate jungle just like a child is raised by its mother. Finally, the horror of the truth breaks him down. The horror is possibly implied incarnation of women in the story.
In the text of “Heart of Darkness”, I find the landscape and river are feminized in chapter 1. Moreover, the contradictory fear of engulfment or castration is shown in chapter 2 and 3.
First, in chapter 1, Marlow mentions that he had a passion for maps and the blank spaces on the earth. In this case, the blank spaces mean “virgin soil”, and the term “virgin soil” itself is been feminized. Second, Marlow describes the river of Africa as a snake- “There was in it one river especially, a mighty big river, that you could see on the map, resembling an immense snake uncoiled, with its head in the sea, its body at rest curving afar over a vast country, and its tail lost in the depths of the land. And as I looked at the map of it in a shop-window, it fascinated me as a snake would a bird-a silly little bird.” In literature, snake is a symbol of woman, and Marlow seems to be seducing by a lying woman. Furthermore, “a silly little bird”, the description of Marlow himself, may imply the danger of the river’s seduction. Third, in chapter 2, Marlow mentions that “the Eldorado Expedition went into the patent wilderness that closed upon it as the sea closes over a diver. Long afterwards the news came that all the donkeys were dead. I know nothing as to the fate of the less valuable animals...” This paragraph shows the unpredictability of forest. Marlow doesn’t know what time the “patient wilderness” would engulf him. Forth, in chapter 3, Kurtz’s African lover is described as a beautiful warrior. Actually, the woman is a symbol of forest- beautiful but dangerous. People who want to invade the wilderness would also have the danger of castration.
Wilderness is usually pictured feminized. Describing the continent he sees on the map (p.1894) in “Heart of Darkness,” Marlow says that “there was one yet—the biggest, the most blank, so to speak—that I had a hankering after.” According to the dictionary, the word “blank” means an empty space or place to be filled in, so using “blank” to depict a continent indicates that the continent invaded by explorers is like a virgin by a male. Furthermore, there in that continent is a special and big river, “resembling an immense snake uncoiled, with its head in the sea, its body at rest curving afar over a vast country, and its tail lost in the depths of the land.” The shape of the curved snake represents a kind of beauty of flexibility and feminine image. Thus, the snaky river (woman) seems to seduce explorers (men), including Marlow to explore and intrude.
However, this male-centered imperial behavior can’t always be triumphant; in fact, threat and danger lurk in the “feminized” wilderness which is never vulnerable as imagined by male explorers. For instance, when seeing high primeval forest and glittering somber gap in front of him (p.1909), Marlow wonders “whether the stillness on the face of the immensity looking at us two were meant as an appeal or as a menace,” and feels “how big, how confoundedly big, was that thing that couldn’t talk and perhaps was deaf as well.” He then asks “could we handle that dumb thing, or would it handle us?” Although it seems that the wilderness is tame and vulnerable, explorers never know what is in it and whether they’ll be attacked by “the invisible enemies.” Accordingly, we can see that the “feminized” wilderness isn’t easy to be conquered and a contradictory fear in the text.
In “Heart of Darkness”, women’s position is considered lower and inferior to the men. Marlow’s description sometimes talks about women. Moreover, in the end of the story, his protection to Kurtz’s fiancée even shows the image of women in that time: vulnerable and powerless. However, on the other side, women are actually a symbol of wilderness in “Heart of Darkness.” There are many similar images of woman and the wilderness. The passage in which describes the African woman who has affair with Kurtz is an evident support. “She was savage and superb, wild-eyed and magnificent; there was something ominous and stately in her deliberate progress.” and then in the later lines writes that “She stood looking at us without a stir, and like the wilderness itself, with an air of brooding over an inscrutable purpose.” That African woman is the symbol of forest and it seems that she has the power to devour and castrate the men.
This similar fear of being castration also appeared in part two, when Marlow is about to go up the river. The wilderness is described as “patient” and “as the sea closes over a diver” Then Marlow continues to say that “the big trees were kings” In that wilderness though those white men consider themselves as civilization and power, they still can’t help being afraid of the scene presented to there eyes. “And this stillness of life did not in the least resemble a peace. It was the stillness of an implacable force brooding over an inscrutable intention.” This passage shows that the wilderness actually have the power of threatening the invaders. Like the picture depicts the discovery of America, the imperialism, which is most a male-dominated world, thinks that they have the power and duty to civilize the wilderness, which has the similar image of woman in “Heart of Darkness”, however, they are still being afraid of castration.
The wilderness is hard to say a specific explanation, one of the explanation is the “fantastic invasion” of the white man. The white man in the novel strives for ivory and plots for position and status with each other. The whole society seems to be unrealistic according to Marlow’s comments “The word ivory rang in the air, was whispered, was sighed. You would think they were praying to it…I’ve never seen anything so unreal in my life.” The wilderness appears solid, ominous and threatening. When Marlow stays at the Central Station, he describes the surroundings as a “rioting invasion of soundless life, a rolling wave of plants, piled up, crested, ready to…sweep every little man of us out of his little existence.” The surrounding is like a woman to seduce and tempt the white man. Moreover, Marlow defines the big African river as “There was in it one river especially, a mighty big river, that you could see on the map, resembling an immense snake uncoiled, with its head in the sea, its body at rest curving afar over a vast country, and its tail lost in the depths of the land. And as I looked at the map of it in a shop-window, it fascinated me as a snake would a bird-a silly little bird.” The snake-shaped river alludes to women, and Marlow describes himself (or the white man) as a silly little bird.
Another example of the potential danger which threatens the white men, ” Beyond the fence the forest stood up spectrally in the moonlight ,and through the dim stir, through the faint sounds of that lamentable courtyard, the silence of the land went home to one’s very heart-its mystery, its greatness , the amazing reality of its concealed life.” The passage totally depicts the fear and unease in Marlow’s mind and also the “feminized” land. Another gender ideology in the novel is the Kurtz’s mistress. Kurtz’s mistress is not a different entity from the jungle for Marlow. They are the same to him because both the jungle and women are things to be tamed and conquered. It is clear in the passage of Marlow’s description of Kurtz’s mistress: “And in the hush of that had fallen suddenly upon the whole sorrowful land, the immense wilderness, the colossal body of the fecund and mysterious life seemed to looks at her, pensive, as though it had been looking at the image of its own tenebrous and passionate soul.” A lot of examples in the novel represent the gender ideology under the imperialism. The personification of the wilderness and the darkness in Heart of Darkness imply the “virgin” land and exploration of the white race. In addition, their fear of engulfment from the unknown danger.
49602011 Claudia
In Heart of Darkness, the land is frequently feminized. For example, in chapter one, the river is described as a snake with its curving body lying across the land. The snake is a metaphor of a woman, and the image is a seductive woman resting there. Furthermore, the coast is described as “smiling, frowning, inviting, grand, mean, insipid, or savage, and always mute with an air of whispering. The nature is like an attractive female trying to seduce a man to conquer, intrude and penetrate her.
However, behind the beautiful and inviting images, dangers are hidden inside. The nature has the possibility to engulf men, for instance, it is said that the nature “had tried to ward off intruder”. Kurtz’s lover is a symbol of forest: beautiful, wild, enchanting, yet she is also unpredictable and dangerous at the same time.
From Marlow’s depiction, we can see how male-dominated ideology is applied in the work. Females are symbolized as land and nature, inviting and seductive, and men are the conqueror, intruder and penetrator. However, interestingly, we can also sense the anxiety from men: they are anxious about the danger women may bring them: castration and so forth.
Back to the age of discovery, the idea of colonialism has deepened a sense of superiority in both race and sex in the society of white men’s. In heart of darkness, there is a portrayal similar to “the discovery of America”. Inside the small sketch that painted by Mr. Kurtz there is a woman who was blindfolded, carrying a light torch. The movement of the woman was stately, and the effect of the torchlight on the face was sinister, Marlow says. We can say that the woman in the gloom represents the savage African natives, and the torch means white people’s enlightenment. What’s interesting is that although she has the light around her, she can not see it, and the light on her face is evil. This shows that the painter, Mr. Kurtz, seems to know clearly how the oppressive governance works on those natives, just like the draped woman that could be treated at anyone’s will. He knows that the enlightenment is nothing but an invasion, still he enjoys his job.
In chapter three, there is a woman being both seductive and respectable. She is described savage, superb, like a warrior, but what’s different is that her showing up brings fear to the men. “She stood looking at us without a stir, and like the wilderness itself, with an air of brooding over an inscrutable purpose.” She is the aggressive and mysterious side of the jungle, with “bizarre things, charms, gifts of witch-men hung on her.” This fearless figure reflects the natural power of the wilderness, with just a gesture or a quick glance, the civilized men will feel threatened and draw back on the spot. Although the jungle seems to be so peaceful and patient, they never know when it will fight back. These are the two images of women that used to describe the barbarism. I think either way they show a disdainful idea to women for years.
We usually describe wilderness and nature as feminized image and use “she” or “her” to be the pronoun of nature and so is “Heart of Darkness.” For example, in chapter 1 (1894) it said, “At that time there were many blank spaces on the earth, and when I saw one that looked particularly inviting on a map, I would put my finger on it and say, When I grow up I will go there.” The word “blank,” which indicates that the land is like a virgin waiting for someone (men) to “explore.” In p.1895, it said, “But there was in it one river especially, a mighty big river, that you could see on the map, resembling an immense snake uncoiled, with its head in the sea, its body at rest curving afar over a vast country, and its tail lost in the depths of the land……The snake had charmed me.” We can see that Marlow describes the river as a snake, which is a significant symbol of women.
As professor Hsu point out, this kind of male-centered imperial discourse cannot always be that triumphant. In p.1914, it said, “In a few days the Eldorado Expedition went into the patient wilderness, that closed upon it as the sea closes over a river.” The patient wilderness means the forest has the patience to wait for her time to be the boss, to pounce on the people who invade her. The situation is as the same as the relationship between the earth and human beings; we all know that in order to get more profit, humans did many things that spoil the earth, and we also know that the earth has already begun her vengeance by big earthquake, huge typhoon and abnormal heat that force humans to face the issue seriously.
In “Heart of Darkness,” Joseph Conrad uses the symbolic way to describe the river as a snack, in page 1895, Marlow says: “a mighty big river,…resembling an immense snake uncoiled, with its head in the sea, its body at rest curving afar over a vast country,…..it fascinated me as a snake would a bird- a silly little bird,” and he also says “the snake had charmed me.” The undiscovered land just like virgin, makes Marlow wants to disclose it, just like the man wants to penetrate the virgin. However, Conrad uses the word “impenetrable” many times to describe the river or the forest, signify that wilderness is not that easy to penetrate, and not always being passive and vulnerable.
The reactions of wilderness happen plenty times in Marlow’s journey. For example, in page 1914, Marlow memorizes that “In a few days the Eldorado Expedition went into the patient wilderness, that closed upon it as the sea closes over a diver,” suggests that wilderness can devour you. Also in page 1919, Marlow mentions a fog which makes them feel that “we will all be butchered in this fog.” This fog can also be regarded as the rebel of wilderness, which makes the invader dreaded, and makes them cannot easily penetrate it. The other example is in page 1935, Kurtz’s mistress is described as “wilderness itself, with an air of brooding over an inscrutable purpose,” a powerful and influential woman who can control the situation and protect herself from being violated, just like wilderness has the power to castrate invaders.
Then talk about Kurtz, in the beginning of this story, Kurtz was molded a man who thought that he can exploit and penetrate the wilderness, but in page 1925, Marlow states that “the wilderness had patted him on the head, and, behold, it was like a ball- an ivory ball; it had caressed him, and lo- he had withered; it had taken him…and sealed his soul to its own by the inconceivable ceremonies of some devilish initiation.” And in page 1933, “The wilderness had found him out early, and had taken on him a terrible vengeance for the fantastic invasion.” In the long run, Kurtz is not the invader, but a victim of wilderness.
In “Heart of Darkness”, we can find that the landscape and the wilderness are always feminized. For example, after mentioning having a hankering for the biggest and the blankest space, Marlow goes on to say that “true, by this time it was not a blank space any more. It had got filled since my boyhood with rivers and lakes and names. It had ceased to be a blank space of delightful mystery─a white patch for a boy to dream gloriously over.” The “blank space” here means unexplored or virgin land; therefore, the intrusion on the land indicates the invasion of a virgin. Moreover, Marlow depicts the big river as “an immense snake uncoiled, with its head in the sea , its body at rest curving afar over a vast country, and its tail lost in the depths of the land.” The description of the river, obviously, is the image of a female. Then, the coast, according to Marlow, is “smiling, frowning, inviting, grand, mean, insipid, or savage, and always mute with an air of whispering, Come and find out.” As a result, the coast is not only feminized but also personified as a woman who is trying to seduce the men.
Despite the imperial hubris and male might, the contradictory fear of engulfment or castration can be found in the text. For instance, Marlow encounters two women who are knitting black wool when he is going to meet his employers and sign the contract in the very beginning of the story. The ominous in the atmosphere makes him feel uneasy. Afterward, he points out that “often far away there I thought of these two, guarding the door of Darkness, knitting black wool as for a warm pall…Not many of those she looked at ever saw her again─not half, by a long way.” In addition, Marlow states that “the Eldorado Expedition went into the patient wilderness that closed upon it as the sea closes over a diver.” The two examples above both show the unpredictability of the wilderness and reveal the fact that jeopardy actually lies in the seemingly vulnerable nature as well.
In Heart of Darkness, I find that the wilderness is feminized by Joseph Conrad. To begin with, in chapter 1, Marlow said, “I have been in some of them, and…well, we won’t talk about that. But there was one yet—the biggest, the most blank, so to speak—that I had a hankering after.”Marlow depicted Africa as the biggest, the most “blank”place. Blank indicates another meaning and that is virgin. European is a symbol of man and the wilderness is a symbol of female. European (man) tries to conquer and invade the wilderness (female). In addition, there is a river in the continent which is mighty and big, “resembling an immense snake uncoiled, with its head in the sea, its body at rest curving after over a vast country, and its tail lost in the depths of the land.” The snake here is actually the metaphor of female. Later, Marlow mentioned,"And as I looked at the map of it in a shop-window, it fascinated me as a snake would a bird—a silly little bird." Here,we can see that the snaky river (female) is seducing the little bird (Marlow himself and all the invaders).
Professor has mentioned that male-centered imperial discourse cannot always be triumphant. There is a potential danger in the forest (female) which threatens the explorers (man). In chapter 2, “In a few days the Eldorado Expedition went into the patient wilderness.”—“patient”here is used to describe the forest which refers to female. The forest now is invaded by the explorers, but who knows that later the forest (female) will turn over and devour all the explorers (men). Another example is the description of the amazon,“She stood looking at us without a stir, and like the wilderness itself”and “She was savage and superb, wild-eyed and magnificent; there was something ominous and stately in her deliberate progress.”Here, she is the symbol of forest and the figure who is beautiful but dangerous. The invaders (men) try to “penetrate”and conquer the virgin land (female) just like the picture, but it shows out to be that the continent (female) itself maybe look patient and vulnerable; however, the wilderness may outburst and turn down the people who think that they are boss.
In “Heart of Darkness”, the protagonist, Marlow, is portrayed by Conrad as a chauvinist who despised himself for asking a woman (his aunt) for help and regarded women as unrealistic and vulnerable. Nevertheless, the curious part is that the powerful and dangerous wilderness was often feminized by Marlowe which contradicted his image toward female in mind. Marlow had once compared the wilderness with the Amazonian woman (Kurtz’s mistress):“the immense wilderness…seemed to look at her, passive, as though it had been looking at the image of its own tenebrous and passionate soul” which was clearly feminizing the wilderness.
Furthermore, Marlow expressed his fear and misgivings constantly toward the feminized wilderness through out the whole story. In chapter one, Marlow finally got to visit the Congo area as he always dreamed to, and during his journey, he often encountered the threatened feeling by the Mother Nature. For instance, in paragraph 20, he said that “all along the formless coast bordered by dangerous surf, as if Nature herself had tried to ward off intruders… It was like a weary pilgrimage amongst hints for nightmares”, and in paragraph 39, he also expressed the similar fear and uncertainty toward the wilderness: “I wondered whether the stillness on the face of the immensity looking at us two were meant as an appeal or as a menace. What were we who had strayed in here? Could we handle that dumb thing, or would it handle us?”.
The description of the wilderness’s “patient waiting” for the eventually fightback and engulfment of the intruders is visible in the “Heart of Darkness”. For instance, in paragraph 34, Marlow described the wilderness was “waiting patiently for the passing away of this fantastic invasion” and a similar sentence appeared again in Paragraph 49: “The high stillness confronted these two figures with its ominous patience, waiting for the passing away of a fantastic invasion”.
Moreover, the character, Kurtz is in some way quite similar to the Italian explorer, Amerigo Vespucci, who ambitiously went to conquer the woman-like wilderness. However, in the end, Kurtz was actually the one who lost his ability of restraint and was conquered and engulfed by the wilderness. In paragraph 71, Marlow described that” the wilderness had patted him [Kurtz] on the head…He was its spoiled and pampered favorite”, and also in the same paragraph “Everything belonged to him [Kurtz]—but that was a trifle. The thing was to know what he belonged to, how many powers of darkness claimed him for their own”, and last, in paragraph 87: “the wilderness had found him [Kurtz] out early, and had taken on him a terrible vengeance for the fantastic invasion...” which all point out that Kurtz (a man) who is ultimately conquered (and maybe castrated) by the wilderness (a woman).
49502027 蘇羿慈
The history of Exploration is very macho, and it is about the records of those big-deal male mariners. How magnificent they “found” the new continent, and how valiant they explored the “virgin” land, and even how legendary they were engulfed by the “wildness.” Since the history of Exploration is from the male gaze, these intruded lands were often feminized and demonized. In Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness, the readers will find the similar male point of view in the depiction of Africa.
Basically, the storyline of Heart of Darkness is along with the piercing and exploring progress of River Congo, which is feminized and demonized as a serpent: “…that you could see on the map, resembling an immense snake uncoiled, with its head in the sea, its body at rest curving afar over a vast country, and its tail lost in the depth of the land…it fascinated me as a snake would a bird…The snake had charmed me.” This suggests that the emblem of the Continent, River Congo, is dangerous, seductive, and depraved as well as a serpent. Marlow and the pilgrim go from the downstream to the upstream, and they feel that they are sexually invited by the river: “There it is before you － smiling, frowning, inviting, grand, mean, insipid, or savage, and always mute with an air of whispering, come and find out.” Yet the river and the jungle are seductive but fatal. Those intruders may think they are potent and mighty as to conquer the wildness, which is feminized. However, they are being mentally and physically defeated by her: “The wilderness had patted him on the head……it had caressed him, and –lo!-he had withered ; it had taken him, loved him, embraced him, go into his veins, consumed his flesh, and sealed his soul to its own by the inconceivable ceremonies of some devilish initiation.”
Those male explorers hold a love-hate complex toward the unknown wildness which is shown in the narration of the text. On one hand, they are fascinated into the mystery and the profit of the Dark Continent; on the other hand, they are afraid of being engulfed and castrated by the dark power of her. This is a demonized accusation since what those explorers had done is far more devilish.
At the beginning of the “Heart of Darkness,” when the narrator talked about his thought about the map when he was young. In the page 1895 and the first paragraph, there were the portrayals of the wilderness that is being feminized and eroticized. “It was ceased to be a blank space of delightful mystery – a white patch for a boy to dream gloriously over.” “But there was in it one river especially, …, resembling an immense snake uncoiled, …, its body at rest curving afar over a vast country, and its tail lost in the depths of the land.” Usually we seemed snake as a symbol of evil which then transformed into the symbol of seduction, and we thought of women when we talked about seduction.
“Going up that river was like travelling back to the earliest beginnings of the world, when vegetation rioted on the earth and the big trees were the kings.” (P.1914) “Mother earth:” they were finding the original nature which also has the meaning of woman. Just like the sperm in woman’s womb, tries to reach their lifelong destination.
The woman first emerged in the page 1935 was impressive and extremely weird. This character didn’t actually talk anything but she produce a kind of atmosphere which is like a phantom that you might even doubt whether she’s really exist or not. “She turned away slowly, walked on, following the bank, and passed into the bushes to the left. Once only her eyes gleamed back at us in the dusk of the thickets before she disappeared.” (P.1935) In the page 1940, the woman and the wild mob shouted made the pilgrims scared. When they faced these people who come and go like ghosts, the pilgrims had no ideas to exterminate them like before which made them scared more.
In “Heart of Darkness”, Conrad portrayed the images of the “feminized” and “eroticized” wildness. In the first part of the text, Marlow described Africa as a “biggest, the most blank” space that implied a virginal space which can be explored by men, and he said “at that time there were many blank spaces on the earth, and when I saw one that looked particularly inviting on the map." In addition, in Africa, there is a river “resembling an immense snake uncoiled”, and then he said again that “the river was there－fascinating－deadly－like a snake”. The image of snake is not only the symbol of evil but also feminine seduction that caused the Fall of man. Besides, he talked about the death of Kurtz that the wildness “had taken him, loved him, embraced him, got into his veins, consumed his flash, and sealed his soul to his own by the inconceivable ceremonies of some devilish initiation. It reveals the wildness which was eroticized.
However, the author tried to create an atmosphere of horror and fear that men are afraid of being engulfed and castrated. The captain who he replaced “thought himself wronged somehow in the bargain”. “He probably felt the need at last of asserting his self-respect in some way. Therefore he whacked the old nigger mercilessly”. During the sentences Marlow described his aunt we can also found the despite to women. He said that “it’s queer how out of touch with truth women are. They live in a world of their own,” and they never know what the truth is. “Some confounded fact we men have been living contentedly with ever since the day of creation would start up and knock the whole thing over.” With these violent abuse in physical and in words, men tried hided their fear of being weakened and lose face to others. In other words, the captain tried to show his power in front of his crew and the people in the village, and Marlow didn’t want to consider less powerful than his aunt to his audiences, so they have to take some actions to expose themselves. Moreover, these white people went into the wildness as conquerors, nevertheless Marlow portrayed the environment as “the patient wildness” which seems to wait for hunting. He afterward heard a news that the donkeys were dead, and than he said “they, no doubt, like the rest of us, found what they deserved”. We can feel the fear of the unpredictable wildness which was lurking and waiting to engulf them.
In chapter one, the company’s chief accountant made a native woman as a maid serve him even he was in such “barbarous” Africa. ‘I could not help asking him how he managed to sport such linen. He had just the faintest blush, and said modestly, “I’ve been teaching one of the native women about the station. It was difficult. She had a distaste for the work.”’ (p. 1902) It is creepy that he chose a female but not a male. For him, women might be more subdued and tamed, but he didn’t anticipate that it was not that easy to conquer her. What’s more, in the conversation, he blushed. The teaching progress could be unimaginable. It was “difficult” because he probably force the woman to do much more against her will.
In chapter three, it is hard to confirm if the gorgeous apparition of the woman was a real figure. ‘She was savage and superb, wild-eyed and magnificent; there was something ominous and stately in her deliberate progress.’ (p.1935) Standing for the wilderness of Africa, this woman revealed its august, splendid and sacrosanct image. Actually, the wilderness was not that vulnerable as imagined by male explorers. ‘“If she had offered to come aboard I really thing I would have tried to shoot her,” said the man of patches nervously.’ (p.1935) They only could use weapons to defend the fear and the dread of the wilderness.
In “Heart of Darkness,” gendered ideology was portrayed such as wilderness or forests. In this sentence “In a few days the Eldorado Expedition went into the patient wilderness.” (p.1914) the way of using “patient wilderness” which means a place waiting for visiting and penetration. It expressed gender ideology here because the wilderness often symbolized female such as “virgin land”, waiting for male’s invasion and intrusion. However, in this paragraph, the scary toward the forest was also revealed by men. Even though they wanted to go into, they also scared the forest will devour them. Beside, this sentence “I saw him extend his short flipper of an arm for a gesture that took in the forest, the creek, the mud, the river-seemed to beckon with a dishonouring flourish…” (p.1914) forest is represented as forest, and it point out that the man wants to capture the forest, which symbolized the power of control women with pejorative attitude.
On the other hand, Kurtz has a mistress who is a native in the dark continent. She is totally different form Kurtz’s fiancé in Europe, and Marlow haven’t seen this kind of woman before. “She was savage, and superb, wild-eyed, and magnificent.” “She carried her head high” “The colossal body of the fecund and mysterious life seemed to look at her, pensive, as though it had been looking at the image of its own tenebrous and passionate soul.” (p.1935) those paragraphs describe the detail of the native woman and the feeling when they saw her, revealing the castration and the fear of engulfment. However, the silence of the native woman (she didn’t say any single word in the article), and the sentence “She must have had the value of several elephant tusks upon her” still portray women in “Heart of Darkness” as an oppressed character and always can be objectified. Female characters are always constrained from the oppression of the patriarchality society
When speaking of the relationship between gendered ideology and the wilderness portrayals in Heart of Darkness, the passages I first think of is the two when Marlow recalls his ambiguous affection toward Congo: “Now when I was a little chap I had a passion for maps. I would look for hours at South America, or Africa, or Australia, and lose myself in all the glories of exploration.” and “True, by this time it was not a blank space any more. It had got filled since my boyhood with rivers and lakes and names. It had ceased to be a blank space of delightful mystery ─a white patch for a boy to dream gloriously over. (…) But there was in it one river especially, a mighty big river, that you could see on the map (.…) And as I looked at the map of it in a shop-window, it fascinated me as a snake would a bird ─a silly little bird.(…) The snake had charmed me.” In these passages, Marlow sees South America, Africa, and Australia as the “blank spaces” for him to satisfy his “glories of exploration.” It’s just like the concept of the word “virgin land,” objectifying females as something or some fields which they (males) compete to conquer and to enlarge their ego. Besides, he compares the river to a snake, which is thought as a feminine creature, as if telling that Africa is just like a “fascinating” woman, which “invites” and “seduces” men as the snake charms a bird. Such words as “fascinate” and “charm” are usually described for the emotion and relationship between lovers; however, here Conrad uses such words to describe Marlow’s (as a man) unstoppable enchantment to Africa (which is referred as woman) is kind of erotic. He also depicts that the blank place (Congo) as a “delightful mystery.” In my opinion, the word “mystery” refers to something secret and private, and when the Europeans intrude on the “mysterious land” with “delight,” it sounds pretty erotic like the situation of rape. All these descriptions point out that the rhetoric of “discovery” hinges on an unequal gendered ideology.
However, the Europeans’ emotions toward Africa are complicated and contradictory. Just like the panic that men would have when losing control on women, the imperial intruders are also struggling between their Eurocentric egoism and fear. That’s because besides the irresistible enchantment of fulfilling the imperial hubris, narcissism, pillaging and looting, there’s also an inextricable fear of the unknown and uncontrollable environment. Such uneasiness and fear of engulfment are revealed in the lines describing the nature of Africa in the book: “And outside, the silent wilderness surrounding this cleared speck on the earth struck me as something great and invincible, like evil or truth, waiting patiently for the passing away of this fantastic invasion.” In the lines, we can see that the wilderness is usually described as “silent” or “a dumb thing”; however, such silence isn’t passive. On the contrary, the silent wilderness is full of threat, “waiting patiently” as a panther waits for its prey to come closer ignorantly. In the passages below, such unknown and uncertain feeling is clearly spoken out by Marlow: “I wondered whether the stillness on the face of the immensity looking at us two were meant as an appeal or as a menace. What were we who had strayed in here? Could we handle that dumb thing, or would it handle us? I felt how big, how confoundedly big, was that thing that couldn’t talk, and perhaps was deaf as well.”
The contradictory emotions between the desire to conquer and the fear of backlash actually point out the male-centered imperial egoism and the guilty compunction, knowing there would be retribution. And the Nature itself as if had foreseen the unescapable crush-down of the Europeans’ chauvinistic egoism.
In “Heart of Darkness,” there are some descriptions of the wilderness is being feminized. When Marlow says that he had a passion for maps, he also mentions that “there were many blank spaces on the earth…” The portrayal is eroticized. Here the blank space is not already named on the map. It suggests that the land as virgin waiting for someone, the man, to explore. And then he describes the river as “an immense snake uncoiled, with its head in the sea, its body at rest curving afar over a vast country, and its tail lost in the depths of the land.” The snake is an image of female body.
Moreover, the portrayal of the coast is also feminized, as Marlow mentions “Watching a coast as it slips by the ship is like thinking about an enigma. There it is before you—smiling, frowning, inviting, grand, mean, insipid, or savage, and always mute with an air of whispering, Come and find out.” The coast is like a mysterious woman who attracts him.
However, there are some portrayals of the wilderness with a contradictory fear of engulfment and castration. In p.1906, Marlow says, “the silent wilderness surrounding this cleared speck on the earth struck me as something great and invincible, like evil or truth, waiting patiently for the passing away of this fantastic invasion.” The wilderness is silent and patient but also great and invincible that it might have the great power to fight back the invasion of white men. The similar idea also reveals in the part of the Eldorado Expedition that finally the people were dead as if “the patient wilderness” with a big mouth swallows them. In addition, Marlow tells about Kurtz’s death, he describes that “The wilderness had patted him on the head…it was like a ball—an ivory ball; it had caressed him…it had taken him, loved him…consumed his flesh, and sealed his soul to its own by the inconceivable ceremonies of some devilish initiation.” The wilderness finally resists Kurtz’s looting ivory from it.
Marlow undertakes the journey because his boyhood passion for maps where he saw the many blank spaces on earth and one that looked particularly inviting was in the center of Africa. What is fascinate him is a mighty big river... resembling an immense snake uncoiled, with its head in the sea, its body at rest, curving afar over a vast country, and its tail lost in the depth of the land. He said, the snake had charmed me. Marlow felt that he is invited by the river: “There it is before you － smiling, frowning, inviting, grand, mean, insipid, or savage, and always mute with an air of whispering” (1898) Marlow thought he must find out the seductive and mysterious river as the same as the wilderness. Marlow sees the image of the river as snake again on a map in a Brussels office, Marlow says, it was fascinating-deadly-like a snake-ugh! The river represents to Marlow, the sinister, unknowable female power which he seems to need to explore.
The outstanding narration is when marlow describes the native woman.“And from right to left along the lighted shore moved a wild and gorgeous apparition of a woman. She walked with measured steps, draped in striped and fringed cloths...She was savage and superb, wild-eyed and magnificent; there was something ominous and stately in her deliberate progress, and in the hush that had fallen suddenly upon the whole sorrowful land, the immense wilderness, the colossal body of the fecund and mysterious life seemed to look at her, pensive, as though it had been looking at the image of its own tenebrous and passionate soul... Her face had a tragic and fierce aspect of wild sorrow and a dumb pain...Suddenly she opened her bare arms and threw them up rigid above her head, as though in an uncontrollable desire to touch the sky...A formidable silence hung over the scene.” She is the symbol of Africa. She is the mysterious woman who is also the symbol of jungle which can bring immense power and devour those who want to intrude her. Marlow described the wilderness was “waiting patiently for the passing away of this fantastic invasion” I think women are not passive and vulnerable; instead, she waits for a suitable chance to respond the aggressive invasion of men.
In imperialism, imperialists always take their point of view to define those things that they don’t understand. In 1492, Columbus, Christopher, a navigator in Italy,arrived at America. This is the first time that European came to this continent. Therefore, they called this first trip to this continent was a discovery. This kind of description is similar to male-centered discourse. However, in “The Heart of Darkness”, although the robbing and looting of imperialists still exists, the male- centered discourse of imperialism is not tough anymore and presents the contradiction.
In “The Heart of Darkness”, the wildness is sometimes described as the image of dark and horrible. However, the image of wildness is sometimes feminized. In chapter 2, page1922, “when I saw an islet, a mere grassy hummock of bright green, in the middle of the stream. It was the only thing of the kind; but as we opened the reach more, I perceive it was the head of a long sandbank, or rather of a chain of shallow patches stretching down the middle river. They were discoloured, just awash, and the whole lot was seen just under the water, exactly as a man’s backbone is seen running down the middle of his back under the skin.” According to this description, the channel is described as a man’s backbone, but to concur the description in chapter1,” snake uncoiled, its head in the sea, its body at the lost in depths of the land” which implies that the river as woman’s shape. The shape of backbone is similar to the shape of woman. Although these images of wildness are feminized, the environment of wildness gave those male-centered imperialists many calamities.
Indeed, we can find some feminized and eroticized description the author assigns to the colonized in Heart of Darkness. “She walked with measured steps, draped in striped and fringed cloths, treading the earth proudly, with a slight jingle and flash of barbarous ornaments….” She here symbolizes the queen of the jungle who is ironically a follower of Kurtz. Kurtz who represents the powerful and mythical imperialism to the colonized is considered to be his/her God (including the queen). The conquest of the queen for Kurtz is like the conquest of the colonial place for the colonizer. To successfully conquer a woman is also meaning one can conquer the wilderness which is allegorically referring to a mother nature. Besides, the silence of the queen, even when she saw the dying Kurtz, she could do nothing but leaving eventually. It shows no matter how powerful a woman is she cannot rebel against what the male society does. Also, the unnamed queen tells the depressed truth that woman cannot at last be remembered in the history.
Again, in Heart of Darkness we can briefly discover the contradictory fear of engulfment on the pages talking about the first appearance of the queen. In her first appearance, Marlow portrayed the phenomenon in the way that was fully gloomy and unspoken that he arose the unknown and unpredictable fear from the act of the queen; “she stood looking at us without a stir, and like the wilderness itself, with an air of brooding over an inscrutable purpose.” “A shadowy embrace” and “a formidable silence” are symbolically to demonstrate the contradictory fear in Marlow’s mind. For the colonizer he should fear nothing with his alarming weapons in the colonial place—which is belonging his possession. How could fears happen to him; “a shadowy embrace” and “a formidable silence”. It just proves that the unreliable might of the colonizer is still remaining a question to where he colonizes. The colonizer is fear of the back stroke of the colonized. In the end, depending on the forced suppression of the colonized is not so reliable for the colonizer since he doesn’t get well control over that place and there people.
The wilderness that Marlow described is primitive and charming like a naked woman. In chapter one Marlow says he has a passion for maps. “At that time there were many blank spaces on the earth, and when I saw one that looked particularly inviting on map I would put my finger on it ….The glamour’s of.”(p.1894) Marlow wants to go blank spaces because they are mysterious like unknown virgins. But when blank spaces are named, Marlow doesn’t want to go because the charm is gone. At the same time, that these places are dark and unexplored seduce more explorers like Siren’s song. “Dead in the centre. And the river was there－fascinating－deadly－like a snake.”(p.1896) The river is feminizes like a snake. A snake waits the time to seduce its prey and to swallow it. The image of snakes makes the wilderness eroticized. “It gave me the notion of an exotic Immensity ruled by an august Benevolence.”(p.1927) In chapter two Marlow thinks the heart of darkness is exotic.
On the other hand, because of the incomprehensibility, the wilderness is also a power to fight against the delusional fantasy of male might and unstoppable pillaging and looting. “And outside, the silent wilderness surrounding this cleared speck on the earth struck me as something great and invincible, like evil or truth, waiting patiently for the passing away of this fantastic invasion.”(p.1906) To face the invasion, what the wilderness can do is waiting. The way of being patient seems passive, but the way can protect the wilderness herself. Besides, the nature will use natural power to fight back, such as the mist. The mist in chapter two makes uneasy and hopeless Marlow unable to do anything. “The mist itself had screamed, so suddenly, and apparently from all sides at once, did this tumultuous and mournful uproar arise.”(p.1919) In addition, Kurtz’s mistress in the heart of darkness seems powerful as well. Although she is still silent, she has courage to guard her lover. “Only the barbarous and superb woman did not so much as flinch, and stretched tragically her bare arms after us over the somber and glittering river.”(p.1940) The power of the nature and women is weak, but they do not escape. They have their own ways which are more sophisticated to cause fear of engulfment and castration.
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