One of the women was described as having “… a cat reposed on her lap… a wart on each cheek, and silver-rimmed spectacles hung on the tip of her nose.” She was also called “the old one” . These are attributes which are commonly found in witches. Witches- who were women- (a second representation of power) had supernatural powers which were powers beyond mortal men; they used magic and spells to get what they wanted.
Marlow used a Latin quote directed towards the knitting women: “Ave! Morituri te salutant.” (“Hail! Those who are about to die salute you.”) This was what Roman gladiators used to say to their Emperor (someone with a lot of power) before entering the fighting arena. With the gladiators it was always the ruler who made the final decision on whether or not they deserved to live. So once again the knitting women once contain the symbolic characteristics of having power of life or death. Holding someone’s life in your hands- being able to make that final decision on their future- would probably be considered the greatest form of power to have over someone.
These knitting women also symbolised tricoteuses- these were women, who were around after the French Revolution, who would knit as they watched people being executed by the guillotine. This was just another powerful symbol of death and woman being part of it.
Also the simple fact that right after Marlow tells his audience about these two women, the next thing he goes on to discuss his appointment at the doctor’s. Doctors are also a symbol of power- being able to save lives and also just having a high status in society. This accentuates even more the power these women had and the fact that Marlow was then clearly thinking of his health- for which were symbolically responsible. He was aware that they had the power to keep him alive or let him die and that is why later in the text, when he reaches Africa, he still thinks of them: “The knitting old woman with the cat obtruded herself upon my memory…” It was almost if she forced herself into his memory. This conveys her power and that she made an impact on Marlow because why else would a young man remember back to an old woman on a straw-bottomed chair whom he saw for only a few minutes?
Another powerful image which stayed in Marlow’s mind was that of Kurtz’s mistress “…a wild and gorgeous apparition of a woman… savage and superb, wild-eyed and magnificent.” These are not the type of things you would say about just any woman- she has strong sexual power which seems to cry out to Marlow and he is in awe. For a one minute he just stared at her: “…a whole minute passed, and then she made a step forward.” This quote also shows she made her own choices and was a free spirit who was not going to be told what to do by anyone- let alone a man! She steps forward when she wants to- probably letting her sexual aura sink in. In this way she is like a temptress. We often think back to biblical times in the garden of Adam and Eve. The mistress represents Eve who tempted Kurtz with her sexual power and he gave into her- just like Adam- once again showing the power of women. The fact that she could not talk only made her outer and sexual power more prominent because that was what the focus was on.
Although the mistress was with Kurtz, she was not bound to him and could leave him any time she chose. In a sense, this made her and Kurtz equals and he was a very powerful and influential man- therefore she must be too. In the end she could even be considered more powerful than he as Fanon’s view is: “the native woman retains her blackness, while Kurtz loses his whiteness, albeit only superficially.” In the end Kurtz was considered to have changed and even considered to have gone primitive: “ The shade of the original Kurtz frequented the bedside of the hollow sham, whose fate it was to be buried in the mould of primeval earth… (Kurtz) fought for the possession of that soul satiated with primitive emotions…” The mistress was always considered primitive and did not become civilised after being with Kurtz, showing she had strength to stay who she was and not be influenced by the ‘white man’, as many black people were. Her power on Kurtz, however, was far too great and he could not help but be influenced by this wild woman and also by the country, in which she lived.
Kurtz was also influenced and changed by the ‘power’ of Africa. He could have control over the natives but he would never be able to succumb to the “heart of darkness”. The mistress, herself was actually a representation of Africa: “… like the wilderness itself…” which emphasises her power and compares it to that of her land into which even white men were afraid to venture too deep. When Marlow looked at a map of Africa he described the Congo river as looking like a snake. This again makes the audience relate back to Adam and Eve. A snake which symbolised the devil convinced Eve to tempt Adam. So through this we can see that the mistress received some of her power through a greater source.
Her inability to speak makes readers think of her as more animal and primitive but this just adds to her mystery and makes her appear more like Africa and at one with the power in it. “…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.”
Emphasising these three characters’ power, Conrad uses a contrasting character for comparison. This character is Kurtz’s ‘intended’ who was very much opposite to the other females, in particular Kurtz’s ‘mistress’.
This woman was a typical Victorian fantasy: “This fair hair, this pale visage, this pure brow… her forehead, smooth and white… her fair hair seemed to catch all the remaining light in a glimmer of gold. ” She is the type of woman any British man would want. The use of words such as ‘fair’, ‘white’, ‘smooth’ and ‘pure’ conveys her as being innocent and good and she was never spoken about in a sexual way- she seemed not to have any sexuality- which is a very powerful attribute to have. Someone with these characteristics is usually not very powerful. Also her background: she is British and British women were often marginalised from power or authority due to males’ values so too would she be- she is no exception to this- more like an example of it.
A year after Kurtz’s death she still mourned him and tells Marlow: “I have survived.” This tells readers she finds it hard to like without Kurtz- she is finding it hard to find the power to struggle on. Then when Marlow lies to her about Kurtz’s last words- readers are aware that he is does not believe she has enough strength (power) to handle that kind of truth. This lie is made to maintain women’s “great and saving illusion”. For this ‘powerless’ woman Marlow wants to “help (her/women) to stay in that beautiful world of their own…”
This is contrasted with the other three ‘powerful’ women as they were not in “that beautiful world of their own”. The aunt was almost in a ‘man’s world’- finding power from others in high places. The knitting women were represented as being in the ‘after world’ having power over people’s lives and “guarding the door of Darkness” therefore having the power (like the men believed they had over women) of deciding who could come in to their world and who could not. Then there was the mistress: her personality and her ‘world’ was the complete opposite to the intended (who was the representation of ‘powerless’). The mistress was considered wild, very sexual and uncivilised, living in an almost ‘animal world’ obtaining her power from nature.
The typical woman in the novel Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad, is represented as not possessing much or any power. This is seen through the eyes of a man - therefore women are marginalised. They are excluded from the bulk of the story but when they do make an appearance, the ‘aunt’, the ‘knitting women’ and the ‘mistress’ all convey some sort of amazing power that is not typical to Marlow’s views and that men (of those times) do not consider or want women to have.
