Configuration of Female Characters in Conrad`s Novels = Configuration of Female Characters in Conrad`s Novels

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

This paper aims to explore the ways in which Joseph Conrad portrays female characters in his works, ranging from his first novel Almayer`s Folly through The Secret Agent to Under Western Eyes. There might be a possible link between Conrad`s anti-imperialistic stance and his feminist views in terms of sharing a common endorsement for the liberation of the oppressed and his female characters. Conrad takes an ambivalent view of his female characters who are simultaneously justice-doers and outlaws. On the one hand, they are capable of inflicting a savage wound on Euro-centric, patriarchal, white male supremacy. On the other hand, they are on the verge of hysteria, madness, and self-destruction. The female figures under scrutiny are wide-ranging. Nina, in Almayer`s Folly, is a rebel disillusioned with Western civilization. Aissa, in An Outcast of the Islands, kills her lover, Peter Willems, a white European lost in the Malay. In Heart of Darkness, Kurtz`s Intended is pictured as a despicable figure living in a world of illusion and Kurtz`s African mistress as a noble savage. Winnie Verloc, in The Secret Agent, brutally murders her husband with a knife after he betrays her. Finally, Nathalia Haldin, in Under Western Eyes, naively advocates Russian revolution. Arguably, Conrad is neither fully misogynist nor feminist, but perhaps a bit of both. Conrad takes an ambivalent view of female characters whose actions, in his view, have both potential and limitations, allowing the reader to impose his/ her own ideas on them.