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Comparing Frankenstein And Heart Of Darkness

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Mary Shelley and Joseph Conrad were both amazing writers, especially for their time. Shelley is associated with the Romantic time period and Conrad to the Twentieth century and after. The Victorian and twentieth century time periods were both influenced by the Romantics, but they had major differences. Shelley only 19 years of age when she wrote the amazing Frankenstein horror story, that is still being used as a literature reference today, had just a little help from her husband Percy Shelley. Joseph Conrad, on the other hand, is known for his story Heart of Darkness. The Heart of Darkness is a horror story as well, but there a lot of differences in the two stories. Yet, there are a lot of similarities in the two stories. I will compare and …show more content…

In Frankenstein Shelley for the majority uses the first person point of view, but there is a part in the story where she seems to shift into third person. Independence and sacrifice are two main themes in Frankenstein. Conrad uses only first person throughout his novel. Similar to Frankenstein, The Heart of Darkness themes are freedom, but also right vs. wrong. Shelley switches the point of view just a few times throughout the story but, the change helped the reader connect with the characters more. She also used a lot of imagery throughout the novel, which increase the attentiveness of the reader. The beginning of the novel contains letters 1-4 between Victor Frankenstein, Elizabeth Lavenza, and Alphonse Frankenstein. The letters shift between first person and third person point of view, depending on if Victor is reading or if he is writing the letter. Shelley’s protagonist is Victor Frankenstein, he is the narrator of the story for the most part. Victor is very fascinated with life and science, when he combines the two his life takes a turn. Victor creates a monster, who becomes upset with …show more content…

Marlow out of curiosity wanted to explore, he expected more. He goes off on this curiosity, adventure to meet a man with a great reputation named Kurtz. Marlow’s trip was not at all easy and timely. At one point he had to wait for several months to repair his steamboat, before he could continue his journey. This long period of time taken away from Marlow’s journey, made him more eager to meet Kurtz. Continuing his trip to Kurtz, Marlow and the others on the boat were fired at from the outskirts of the forest. Upon arrival, though, they are greeted and warned of Kurtz abnormal behaviors. The independence for Kurtz is now shown. The fact that Kurtz has put himself in the position to rule over the natives has caused widespread mayhem. In the search for ivory Kurtz went on brutal raids and even went to the extent to put severed heads on the fencing around the station. His independence lead to the fate of others and to his own fate eventually. This trip effects Marlow’s morals to do good deeds and know right from wrong. Prior to leaving, Marlow had a good foundation and knew clearly how to distinguish the two. While on his trip the reader can tell that this is becoming harder and harder. Kurtz is seen to do all these wrong deeds, because he is the God to the natives. Yet, the native woman, that was his lover had complete influence over Kurtz. At the end of the story when Marlow is speaking with Kurtz’s fiancé, he

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