Comparing Frankenstein By Mary Shelley And Heart Of Darkness By Joseph Conrad

The short stories, "Frankenstein" by Mary Shelley and "Heart of Darkness" by Joseph Conrad are similar in regards to the technique and writing mechanisms used. However, the plot of the stories are drastically different. Shelly's short story is a tale about a man who experiences isolation from society and his family as he defies nature and brings back the dead. Meanwhile, Conrad's short story, is about a trip a man takes down the Congo of Africa, and the effect European traders have on the country and the natives. In both short stories, the setting, narration, and literary devices such as symbolism, significantly contribute to how greed shapes human interaction and corrupts their mentality. The internal conflict in both of these stories involving greed indicates how aspirations effect

In "Frankenstein," Victor's greed for knowledge blinds him from being able to understand the consequences of his action, which led to the corruption of his mental state. This is portrayed during the exposition of the story, through his detailed first-person narrative for he urges Walton to "learn from" his example because of "how dangerous … the acquirement of knowledge" is to the mental state (Shelly 72). Moreover, his aspiration to bring back the undead led to him "neglecting" his duties and his friends (Shelly 74). This is also present in "Heart of Darkness," as Kurtz ambitions for the Congo consumes him and he loses his vision of his aspirations. During the falling tension, the limited omniscient third person narration expresses how the environment of the Congo took "vengeance for the fantastic invasion" of Kurtz's mind (Conrad 1933). Kurtz's greed of obtaining more riches by