3/6/2023 0 Comments Lies of p protagonist![]() ![]() Marlow is not alone in his perception of women, Kurtz in one instance tells Marlow that to protect their world from getting worse they should help women stay “in that beautiful world of their own” (Conrad, 16). The Intended is valued only as a collected object and not as an autonomous being (Boyle, 64). Through the eyes of the male narratives, the Intended is an embodiment of oppressed female stereotypes and reflects the misogyny of their societies. The painting reinforces how blind to the truth about Kurtz and about Imperialism she is, and how she is confined by her white European view of society. Marlow describes Kurtz’s painting of the Intended in which she is blindfolded holding a torch. Conrad paints a picture whereby women’ unawareness with the goings on around them and which remains constant subject matter to base the female characters all through text “especially the Intended whose naiveté makes her a caricature of women of the time” (Boyle, 64). This may form the background of Marlow’s lie and try to explain why he lied to Kurtz’s intended. Marlow goes ahead to even ridicule their innocence and says that “its queer how out of touch with the truth women are” (Conrad, 34). To Marlow, all the women he encounters are “unintelligent, uninformed and unimportant” (Conrad, 83). Nevertheless, Marlow’s perception of the intended is not how he sees her alone but all the women he encounters in his journeys. He tells her of how any man would be proud to have her as his wife, that her “beauty is a trophy and to a man’s eye her only redeeming quality” (Ellis, 6). Marlow only recognizes and praises her beauty when he meets her but that is as far as he goes in acknowledging her. This shows very little value is accorded to her by Conrad through Kurtz and Marlow. A further indication of this is her being referred to as the intended and depicted as a possession belonging to Kurtz that remains unnamed (Conrad, 22). Her depiction paints women as naïve, idealistic and deeply devoted to the males in their lives, as seen by the intended towards Kurtz. She holds a huge significance in Conrad’s portrayal of importance on women in the text. Both Marlow and Kurtz see the intended as the epitome of the naiveté of women. Marlow sees women as holding less importance in the society. ![]() Does he lie to protect Kurtz’s intended’s feelings or is his lie fostered by other reasons? Another more profound influence over Marlow was his perception of women (Conrad, 50). ![]() The meeting between the two made Marlow realize that Kurtz was not an ideal person and did not have good principles too. This can be said to be one of the influences over Marlow that led to his lie. One was what Marlow, Kurtz’s intended and other people idolized and the other was what Marlow found out (Ellis, 96).Īll through his journeys, Marlow saw Kurtz as a ‘hero’ and admired him but on meeting him and getting to see for himself the real Kurtz and such things as dried heads on stakes facing his station, his view of Kurtz changed. To understand the reason for the lie, first we must understand there were two images of Kurtz being portrayed. The circumstances and world Marlow lives in, is one that paints a picture of Europeans males as men able to chase after their every impulse (acquiring fame, women and wealth-embodied in Kurtz) (Conrad, 46). So why does he lie or what is Conrad trying to portray here? He claims that he called out to her and mentioned her name (Conrad, 50). As a replacement for Kurtz’s last words “The Horror, The Horror” he lies about Kurtz’s last words. The big question here is why did Marlow lie to Kurtz’s intended, was it the right thing to do to lie or not and why? Marlow on recounting to Kurtz’s intended about her lover’s death lies to her about Kurtz’s last words. All this reactions are divided into two common inconsequential misdemeanors and trifling lies and the larger evils which in most cases are attributed to madmen (Conrad, 150 Milne, 88). Marlow’s experiences are pegged on evils of the human condition in these two regions especially Kurtz’s expedition to what he called the “heart of darkness” along the banks of the snake-like river Congo (Conrad, 19). ![]()
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