Frankenstein Letters and Stories within

Frankenstein: Walton's Letters and Stories within

Letters, letters and more letters

How the story begins

Frankenstein begins with a series of letters from the explorer Robert Walton to his sister. Walton, a well-to-do Englishman has a passion for sea exploration, is the captain of a ship headed on a dangerous voyage to the North Pole. In the first letter, he writes of his preparations leading up to his departure and of the desire burning in him to accomplish “some great purpose”—discovering a northern passage to the Pacific, revealing the source of the Earth’s magnetism, or simply setting foot on undiscovered territory.

Summary: Letters 2–3

In the second letter, Walton is deeply upset by his lack of friends. He feels lonely and isolated, too sophisticated to find comfort in his shipmates and too refined to find a sensitive soul with whom to share his dreams. He shows himself a Romantic, with his “love for (and) belief in the marvellous,” which pushes him along the dangerous, lonely pathway he has chosen. In the brief third letter, Walton tells his sister that his ship has set sail and that he has full confidence that he will achieve his aim.

Summary: Letter 4

In the fourth letter, the ship is caught between huge sheets of ice, and Walton and his men spot a sledge guided by a gigantic creature not far away. The next morning, they encounter another sledge stranded on the ice. All but one of the dogs drawing the sledge is dead, and the man on the sledge—not the man seen the night before—is thin, weak, and starving. The stranger spends two days recovering before he can speak. The crew is burning with curiosity, but Walton, aware of the man’s weakened state, prevents his men from asking questions. Soon Walton and the stranger become friends, and the stranger eventually tells Walton his story. At the end of the fourth letter, Walton states that the visitor will continue his narrative the next day; Walton’s framing narrative ends and the stranger’s begins.

Multiple Select

Who is the stranger that Walton rescues?

• The Creature

• His sister, Margaret

• Victor Frankenstein

• Lord Byron

Analysis: Letters 1–4

Walton's story parallels Frankenstein’s. The second letter introduces the idea of loss and loneliness, as Walton complains that he has no friends with whom to share his triumphs and failures, no sensitive ear to listen to his dreams and ambitions. Walton turns to the stranger as the friend he has always wanted; his search for companionship, and his attempt to find it in the stranger, parallels the monster’s desire for a friend and mate later in the novel. This parallel between man and monster, still hidden in these early letters but increasingly clear as the novel progresses, suggests that the two may not be as different as they seem.

Analysis Continued

Another theme that Walton’s letters introduce is the danger of knowledge. The stranger tells Walton, “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.” The theme of destructive knowledge is developed throughout the novel as the tragic consequences of the stranger’s obsessive search for understanding are revealed. Walton, like the stranger, is entranced by the opportunity to know what no one else knows, to delve into and conquer nature’s secrets.

Important Quote

"I said in one of my letters, my dear Margaret, that I should find no friend on the wide ocean; yet I have found a man who, before his spirit had been broken by misery, I should have been happy to have possessed as the brother of my heart."

Poll

Is the search for knowledge dangerous and destructive, or right and just?

• Dangerous and destructive

• Right and just

• Neither right, nor wrong

Open Ended

What have you learned so far about Walton, the stranger and the story's beginning? Write a brief summary.