The Role of Women in Enhancing the Themes in Heart of Darkness

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The Heart of Darkness
The heart of darkness circulates on Marlow, a sailor who is appointed as the captain of a company involved in trade activities. Marlow faces a lot of brutality and inhuman acts while working in the company. As well, the workers are forced to work beyond their capabilities and are also ill-treatment. As a result, this creates the illusion of individuals in a small island in a vast darkness. The women around his life play a great role in enhancing the themes of power, authority, autonomy, and dependence as well as propelling the narration.
Dependence is displayed in the case of the native mistress. The initial introduction of the character displays someone who is courageous and bold. She is the only woman standing on the shore when the men are firing shots at the natives. The writer describes her as a "wild and gorgeous apparition of a woman, savage and superb, wild-eyed and magnificent" (113). In addition, men also consider expendable. At some point, the Russian claims that if the mistress had tried to come aboard, then he should have tried to shoot her out of the fear that she might be armed or dangerous. Therefore, she represented the courageous women in the society whose presence threatens the men around her. This is an indication of dependence. In addition, being Kurtz mistress, the native has been given authority over Marlow and the natives. She never talks to Marlow, and he knows nothing about her. The fact that she is associated with a powerful man puts her in the position of authority despite that she is one of the natives. The Russian trader believes that she is someone that should be feared as a result of the authority that she has gained from being Kurtz mistress. It is the power in her that allows her to stand ashore whenever Marlow's ship arrives.
On the other hand, the Intended is represented as an opposite of Kurtz mistress. she s shown as a woman who has to depend on a man for her to live a luxurious life. She seems to be living in a world of fantasy as evidenced on her reactions when Marlow tells her about Kurtz last words....