In an example of dramatic irony, Gentleman Brown convinces Jim that he is trustworthy, while readers know that Brown is intentionally manipulating him. When Jim decides to free Brown from confinement and trust that he will leave Patusan for good, readers are aware that Brown is working with Cornelius to plan an attack on the island community. The following passage in Chapter 40, narrated by Marlow, captures Brown’s true intentions:
“The idea of there being a fort—all ready to his hand—a real fort, with artillery (he knew this from Cornelius), excited him. Let him only once get in and . . . He would impose modest conditions.”
It is clear from this passage that Brown has plans from the beginning of his time in Patusan to take control of the island community in a classically colonial way. The irony comes in when, just a few chapters later, in Chapter 43, Brown successfully convinces Jim that he comes in peace, as Marlow describes:
“It is evident that [Jim] did not mistrust Brown; there was no reason to doubt the story, whose truth seemed warranted by the rough frankness, by a sort of virile sincerity in accepting the morality and the consequences of his acts. But Jim did not know the almost inconceivable egotism of the man which made him, when resisted and foiled in his will, mad with the indignant and revengeful rage of a thwarted autocrat.”
This passage makes it apparent that Jim (incorrectly) trusts Brown’s performance of “rough frankness” and “virile sincerity.” Marlow’s narration that Jim “did not know the almost inconceivable egotism of the man” highlights the irony of this moment. While Jim believes that it’s possible for white Europeans (such as himself) to have positive intentions in Southeast Asia, he overlooks the fact that many are driven by the desire to control and conquer.
In an example of dramatic irony, Gentleman Brown convinces Jim that he is trustworthy, while readers know that Brown is intentionally manipulating him. When Jim decides to free Brown from confinement and trust that he will leave Patusan for good, readers are aware that Brown is working with Cornelius to plan an attack on the island community. The following passage in Chapter 40, narrated by Marlow, captures Brown’s true intentions:
“The idea of there being a fort—all ready to his hand—a real fort, with artillery (he knew this from Cornelius), excited him. Let him only once get in and . . . He would impose modest conditions.”
It is clear from this passage that Brown has plans from the beginning of his time in Patusan to take control of the island community in a classically colonial way. The irony comes in when, just a few chapters later, in Chapter 43, Brown successfully convinces Jim that he comes in peace, as Marlow describes:
“It is evident that [Jim] did not mistrust Brown; there was no reason to doubt the story, whose truth seemed warranted by the rough frankness, by a sort of virile sincerity in accepting the morality and the consequences of his acts. But Jim did not know the almost inconceivable egotism of the man which made him, when resisted and foiled in his will, mad with the indignant and revengeful rage of a thwarted autocrat.”
This passage makes it apparent that Jim (incorrectly) trusts Brown’s performance of “rough frankness” and “virile sincerity.” Marlow’s narration that Jim “did not know the almost inconceivable egotism of the man” highlights the irony of this moment. While Jim believes that it’s possible for white Europeans (such as himself) to have positive intentions in Southeast Asia, he overlooks the fact that many are driven by the desire to control and conquer.
