Heart of Darkness: Women

Women do not play an important part in Heart of Darkness. This is not too surprising as the text was first published for a magazine in 1898. Throughout Marlow's voyage he encounters few women and he does not consider any of them to be his equal. His reference to women places them in their own little world where they should remain. There are a number of reasons as to why Marlow may have this understanding of the female being. These reasons include, but are not limited to, the lack of females in his life,
the fact that he is primarily surrounded by men, and the type of women he comes in contact with in his line of work.
First and foremost, we will note that Marlow is a seaman. He is a man who has dedicated his life to the ways of the water. As the narrator mentions when speaking of Marlow, "he was the only man of us who still 'followed the sea'" (Conrad 9). He has been picking up and traveling the world by way of a boat for most of his adult life. The simple fact that he is able to do ...