Gentleman Brown acts as a foil for Jim in the novel, meaning that his presence is used to reveal information about Jim’s character. The two men are similar in some ways—they are both European men who have found themselves in Southeast Asia after losing their reputations—but, for the most part, their characters differ wildly.
Jim proves over the course of his time in Patusan that he is a compassionate and effective leader who values integrity, while Brown is a pirate who seeks to conquer and plunder any community he comes across. In this way, Brown’s presence helps readers to see how much Jim has matured over the course of the novel and, more specifically, how heroic he has become since he abandoned the Patna with 800 passengers on board.
Marlow’s characterization of Brown near the end of the novel communicates the ways that he differs from Jim:
“Some great men owe most of their greatness to the ability of detecting in those they destine for their tools the exact quality of strength that matters for their work, and Brown, as though he had been really great, had a satanic gift of finding out the best and the weakest spot in his victims.”
As Marlow suggests, Brown has the potential for being a “great man” but, instead, uses his “satanic gift” of manipulating people for personal gain, including Jim. Jim, on the other hand, uses similar leadership skills in order to act morally and protect the people of Patusan. And, when he fails to do so—after Brown successfully attacks and kills several Patusan people—he accepts that he must be punished, taking responsibility for his actions by letting Doramin shoot him in the chest.
