hypocrisy of victorians
Patrick Brantlinger's essay, "Victorians and Africans: The Genealogy of the Myth of the Dark Continent," presents a basis for the development of the theory of the "Dark Continent". Joseph Conrad suggests the universality of darkness, or "savageness", within every individual, whether he is black or white. The Europeans, in an effort to disprove Conrad, attempt to project their own "savage" impulses onto Africans (Brantlinger 194). They saw themselves as superior to Africans in every way, and refused to accept the darkness that Conrad proposed, resulting in the emergence of the Myth of the Dark Continent. H. Rider Haggard's novel, King Solomon's Mines, supports this idea of the projection of darkness onto to Africans. The term "dark" can be interpreted in many different ways as the word can imply several meanings. "Dark," often times synonymous with "evil," reflects the way in which Europeans perceive the Africans. "The British tended to see Africa as a center of evil, a part of the world possessed by a demonic "darkness" or barbarism" (Brantlinger 175). The rituals that African tribes commonly practiced, such as human sacrifices and cannibalism, were unheard of in the European world. The mystery that lies behind the da
I am bound to say that, looking at the thing from the point of view of an oldish man of the world, I consider her removal was a fortunate occurrence, since, otherwise, complications would have been sure to ensue. The poor creature was no ordinary native girl, but a person of great, I had almost said stately, beauty, and of considerable refinement of mind. But no amount of beauty or refinement could have made an entanglement between Good and herself a desirable occurrence; for, as she herself put it, "Can the sun mate with the darkness, or the white with the black?" (Rider 300) enchanted or bedeviled lands (unknown lands such as Africa). Whether he goes in search of treasure or simply to accomplish some goal, he must adventure against darkness. Africans were usually portrayed as an amusing or dangerous obstacle or as an object of curiosity (Brantlinger 176). find exactly what he expects, human sacrifices, cannibalism, and other such crude practices, but along with all this "uncivilized" activity, he will find an unexpected mirrored white face staring back, showing that, at the most basic level, everyone is on the same rank (Brantlinger 194). stars." Allan Quartermain, the narrator, commenting on the death of Foulata, which signified the end of the relationship of Captain John Good, a British man, and Foulata,, the black woman, by saying: Ultimately, in the most primitive, natural state, white people are no better than black people, nor the other way around. Everyone has the same "savageness" that he is born with, regardless of how hard he tries to escape it. Nineteenth century Europeans, in their efforts to project their own darkness onto the Africans, unintentionally created the Myth of the Dark Continent. They discovered that the Dark Continent was simply a "mirror, on one level reflecting what the Victorians wanted to see - heroic and saintly self-images - but on another, casting ghostly shadows of guilt and regression" (Brantlinger 198).
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Approximate Word count = 1390
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)
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