Conradian femmes fatales – Winnie Verloc, Freya, the Governess, and Susan Bacadou: Utterly Evil?

Abstract

Joseph Conrad has been undeniably treated as a writer whose literary domain gyrated around a meticulous portrayal of life of men and their adventures. Hence, the vast majority of Conradian researchers emphasize that the weakest point, and, in consequence, the least analysed aspect, of Conrad’s literary output is a figure of a woman. The author of the paper cannot agree with the proclamation that female characters that permeate Conrad’s literary world are invariably offered an inferior position in relation to male characters, fulfilling the background of the story at their best. The truth is that female protagonists saturating the matrix of Conrad’s literary output are many a time responsible for shaping development of the stories, appearing as equal male characters. However, the objective of the author of the paper is not to study all categories of Conradian women but only those femme fatale whose iniquity is visible in its powerful intensity. Since the notion of evil is a diverse reality, an ensuing analysis of wicked women will therefore be of multifaceted nature juxtaposing women inclined to crime, deceit, pride, passion and a detrimental influence upon men defending thus a hypothesis that this rarely analysed aspect of the Conradian fiction discloses a hidden potential to be one of the most significant in Conrad’s fiction.