The Heart of Darkness - The Woman
Being the only male in a literature class at Oranim affiliated to Haifa University, I ventured (to the horror of the female students and teacher) the idea that Conrad's seemingly clouded conception of the horror expressed by Kurt on his deathbed pertained not merely to the inward revelation achieved while the darker memories and visions of life flashed before him in his last moments, but alarmingly to the woman. Throughout the text allusions are made to the woman having some devilish super-natural power as seen by the dark-clothed knitters of destiny and the Jungle warrior set up rising up with the immagery of ghostly torch lit faces culminating in the final words of Kurt - transmitted by Marlow to his intended (woman) and equated with the horror - "your name" that of the intended.<br><br>I feel a sense of Conrad's helplessness as a man who realizes that the aim in life of reaching manhood and reproducing is self defeating where the torch or baton of light is passed on through the woman to leave the man once again after his moment of revelation in total blackness or on the down path to rot and decay while the seeds flow on and away.<br><br>Although the head of the English department at the University of Haifa wished to jointly develop my idea in a paper (He had been giving a series of lectures on "The Woman" as seen in Literature, I unfortunately never got around to doing it with him.<br><br>Maybe some other interested readers of the novel (unfortunately many seemed too bored and may not have connected with the essence of the man) will air their views on the subject so I can see if there is any simpathetic degree of sharing my views preferably by women readers.<br><br>All the best - Howard