The Female Spirit in Two Novels

One of the means by which men attempt to control women is by molding them into idolized images. Thus Tess is wary of Angel when, in a burst of romanticism, he refers to her as his Artemis or Demeter. Tess informs Angel that she prefers to be Tess. Tess seems able to sense that Angel's linking her with divinity precludes his ability to deal with her as a mortal: " . . . Angel does not only see her as an attractive prospective wife, he sees her as an embodiment of the pure figure from the romantic pastoral myth. She represents his pagan romantic hope in the flesh" (Watt 151). Inevitably, when Tess confesses to Angel her past transgression, he is unable to accept her as an errant, repentant human being: "Yet Clare's love was doubtless ethereal to a fault, imaginative to impracticability . . . The figurative phrase was true: she was another woman than the one who had ex

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self, with an air of brooding over an inscrutable purpose . . . she looked at us all as if her life had depended upon the unswerving steadiness of her glance" (Conrad 274). The African mistress also assumes the male role of leader. Although there are other "dark human shapes" in the distance, only she comes forward to confront the Europeans on the steamer. Although it is clear that the African mistress's heart yearns to board the steamer, the potential consequences of her actions leads her to make a rational decision based on protracted mental calculation. The chaotic nature of sexuality, represented by the African mistress is also implied in Marlow's description of her. He states, "She was savage and superb, wild-eyed and magnificent: there was something ominous and stately in her deliberate progress" (Conrad 274). The threat that her presence represents is common knowledge to the Europeans aboard the steamer. One of them relates his failure to keep her away from the recuperating Kurtz: "I had been risking my life every day for the last fortnight to keep her out of the house" (Conrad 274). Through persistence, the African women succeeded in gaining access to Kurtz: " . . . she talked like a fury to Kurtz for an hour, po
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Some common words found in the essay are:
Essential Hardy's, Kurtz Kurtz, Marilyn Monroe, Don't God's, Tess African, Africa Africa, Angel Tess, Tess God, Heart Darkness, Roger Ascham, african mistress, tess d'urbervilles, conrad 274, hardy's novel, women's voices, heart darkness, ed thomas hardy, sex feminist, feminist perspectives, margaret higonnet, ed sense, thomas hardy tess, elledge ed thomas, hardy tess d'urbervilles, urbana university illinois,
Approximate Word count = 4415
Approximate Pages = 18 (250 words per page)

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