Walton’s Letters in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein Essays

Ironically, Walton’s isolation comes by the pride of his own hand in his conquest for glory. In contrast to the doctor, he is ghastly disturbed by his abandonment as he comes to express, “I have no friend, Margaret: when I am glowing with the enthusiasm of success, there will be none to participate my joy, if I am assailed by disappointment, no one will endeavor to sustain me in dejection” (Shelley 5). With regard to the dialogue, the author offers insight to Walton’s arrogance and discontentment which disassociate him from his shipmates and family. His resilience to remain isolated exemplifies his ignorance heavily. Additionally, Walton’s egotism reveals that he is purely motivated by the personal gain a friend will provide him through comfort and praise. Walton portrays the balance between Victor and the monster because he is capable of recognizing the cost of his pride, and yet still desires companionship. Walton makes mention of his self-inflicted isolation as he explains to his sister Margaret, “You may deem me a romantic my dear sister, but I have no one near to me , gentle yet courageous, possessed of a cultivated as well as a capricious mind, whose tastes are like my own, to approve or mend my plans” (Shelley 5). Being a specimen of narcissism, Walton essentially communicates that none of his shipmates are good enough for his company. He irrationally bemoans in his loneliness, while his own

Walton's letters to his sister at the beginning of the story foreshadow the feelings and motivations that Frankenstein experiences when he first discovers the "the cause of generation and life." Both Walton and Frankenstein are adventures and obsessive with

Frankenstein and the creature’s thirst for knowledge bring them to eventually find what they are looking for but it also takes them to dangerous, and unwanted places. When Frankenstein first encounters Walton, he tells him “You seek for knowledge and wisdom, as I once did; and I ardently hope that the gratification of your wishes may not be a serpent to sting you, as mine has been”(Shelley14). Significantly, Frankenstein became obsessed with science, which led to the creation of a new life form. He

Pg. 62). The letters with in the preface tell the story of Walton and his sister, and reveals that both he and his sister both put themselves in harm’s way simply to be the first to gain knowledge. The novel shows that sometimes the actions you take do not necessarily give you the outcomes that you want. This is shown in chapter four when Dr. Frankenstein was first conducing his experiment and becomes extremely obsessed with the lust to create life. Dr. Frankenstein ultimately removes all of his personal relationships and isolates himself from people who care about him. “For this I had deprived myself of rest and health. I had desired it with an ardor that far exceeded moderation; but now that I had finished, the beauty of the dream vanished, and breathless horror and disgust filled my heart.”(Chapter 5, pg. 42) It is clear that Dr. Frankenstein dislikes the monster he just created and notices that he does not make something that is beautiful but more on something that’s is monstrous. Increasingly, Shelly makes a point by giving the reader a sort of “warning” on the aspect of wanting knowledge too much She makes the effort by making Dr. Frankenstein a example for the magnitude of gaining dangerous knowledge. “A flash of lightning illuminated the object and

Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein has a very complex narrative structure: “the narratives seem to grow organically from one another”. Within the novel, Shelley weaves characters and their different narrative perspectives together, creating a cyclical, triplicate layout to the story. Her use of multiple narratives provides a range of perspectives on the story, allowing us insights to the

In the early chapters of Frankenstein by Mary Shelley the character of Walton is introduced through a series of letters he is writing to his sister back in London (the whole novel is an epistolary structure) as he is on a voyage to the North Pole in hope of fulfilling his goal of a breakthrough scientific discovery and “discovering some of nature’s most profound secrets”. Walton is full of hope and scientific curiosity and a passionate determination that he will achieve his goals “I shall satiate my ardent curiosity with the sight of a part of the world never before visited,

The novel begins with an explorer, Robert Walton, writing letters to his sister about his travels to the North Pole. Connections to the novel are made within these letter through discussion of loneliness and a desire for companionship, passion for studies, etc… In the last letter, he writes to his sister about a stranger he found and helped and later on became friends with. This stranger later on is going to be known as Victor Frankenstein.

In Frankenstein, the shifting point of view brought the story together in a way I was unfamiliar with. Most of the books I read were either strictly first or third person instead of the retelling of a monster's life through his creator's own retelling of his life all narrated by Robert Walton. To make it clearer, Frankenstein was told through Walton's letters which tells Victor Frankenstein's story, which tells the monster's story, which tells Felix's and the cottager's story. It was slightly confusing, initially, but not unwelcome. Especially since it made me almost sympathetic towards Frankenstein's monster's plight. Looking through his eyes made it harder to dislike him because his short life was filled with loneliness

Here Walton is acting like the young child, being selfish to the needs and safety of his crew only caring about himself and the knowledge he can attain within this adventure. After telling Victor Frankenstein this, Victor looks shocked and replies to Walton, “You seek for knowledge and wisdom, as I once did, and I ardently hope for the gratification of your wishes may not be a serpent and sting you, as mine has been.” (Shelly 28). This quote represents the guilt and regret found within Victor’s life that lead from the want and desire of knowledge.

The novel Frankenstein is written in the first person point of view, but at different points in the book, different storytellers recount the tale. Therefore, it can be found three different narrators, being Robert Walton the first narrator, who in his letters cites, second narrator, Victor Frankenstein’s narration; Victor, at the same time, cites the third narrator’s story. Furthermore, Elizabeth Lavenza and Alphonse Frankenstein narrate parts of the story through their letters to Victor as well, but they are not as relevant narrators as the other characters. With Victor Walton’s character Mary Shelley uses a device denominated epistolary form, novel in the form of a sequences of letters written by one or more characters:

The entire story is told through the letters of Robert Walton to his sister, Margaret Saville. Walton’s letters start and end the novel, which sets up the framework for Frankenstein. Walton shares a few similarities with the characters of Victor and the monster. For instance, much like Victor’s character, Walton has an inquisitive nature and he loves to explore. In his first letter he writes, “I shall satiate my ardent curiosity with the sight of a part of the world never before visited” (Shelley 16). While Victor has a deep interest in new sciences, Walton has an interest in exploring new places. This curiosity drives both men to take their interests to the limits. Walton’s character also shares some similarities with the

With austere, scientific accounting of human nature, Shelley documents how zealous Captain Walton rescued Victor Frankenstein, the passionate student of natural philosophy and impetuous, chance creator of life, from death in the remote regions of the North Pole. It is through Walton's journal entries that readers comprehend Frankenstein's

Author Mary Shelley’s gothic tragedy Frankenstein utilises a frame narrative to present distinct perspectives in order to illicit ideas of the dangers of ambition, the psychological corruption of isolation and how these two aspects result in the loss of innocence. This is achieved through having three separate yet intertwining narratives: Robert Walton’s, Victor Frankenstein’s and the Wretch’s. It is from this that Shelley simultaneously creates a warning tale of the dangers of ambition in her 18th century tragedy Frankenstein. The character of Captain Robert Walton, the opening and closing narrative of the novel, allows Shelley to immediately present the isolation of ambition by having Walton contact his sister through letters, illustrating

     Frankenstein, an epistolary novel by Mary Shelley, deals with epistemology, is divided into three volumes, each taking place at a distinct time. Volume I highlights the correspondence in letters between Robert Walton, an Arctic seafarer, and his sister, Margaret Saville. Walton's letters to Margaret basically explain his expedition at sea and introduce Victor Frankenstein, the protagonist of the novel. Volume II is essentially Frankenstein's narrative, told in his point of view, with much action, death, and many more characters. There are a few chapters within this volume in which the monster narrates his adventures while alone. Volume III displays Victor's

The scene is set on a dreary night of November at one o'clock in the