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imitative structure in Heart of Darkness brings in some potential architextuality, and upon
decoding both books it is apparent that the nature of the relationship between each core narrative
and its frame is identical; even the setting of the frame is parallel in both stories (34). In each, the
real meaning of the story is found in the framing narrative, and the lengthier “primary” narrative
merely informs this encasement. The story of Frankenstein reaches out to inform the reader of
the dangers of overzealous scientific progress. Eventually, Shelley’s readers realize that the
whole story of the doctor and his monster is told to keep Walton from committing the crime of
which Frankenstein is “not all together free of blame” (53)—the crime of vice, overzealous
exploration, and scientific advancement. Thus, the doctor’s lengthy narrative is told to inform the
frame, which is then intended to inform the readers and keep them from making the doctor’s
mistakes—the mistakes Walton manages to avoid. The purpose of Conrad’s frame is identical to
Shelley’s, and he uses the meaty core narrative to teach Marlow’s listeners and Conrad’s readers
the same message of perilous progress.

Furthermore, the frames are geographically similar, taking place on the outskirts of
civilization. In Frankenstein Walton gets stuck outside of Russia on his way to the North Pole,
and in Heart of Darkness Marlow and his sailors are directly outside London, kept at the mouth
of the Thames waiting for the tide to come back in. These facts show two things in both
narratives, the first being the importance of the frame itself. Both authors put a great deal of
effort into placing the frames where they did, which means they must be important in and of
themselves. This deeper meaning is found in the second fact to be gleaned from the characters’
geographic placement, and that is the highlighting of the delicate balance between civilization
and savagery. Both primary narrators, Walton and Marlow’s transcriber, are on the brink of
leaving civilization, emphasizing the balance they and the other male characters have between