In Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, Robert Walton is a key character who’s narrative creates a frame tale that gives insight into Victor Frankenstein’s life to introduce themes, parallels, and Walton’s purpose in the story. In the novel, a group of letters opens and concludes the story, with recounts of Victor’s life. Through this narrative technique, the reader understands Victor’s story better and begins to identify similarities between Victor and his creation. Walton also learns life lessons through the storytelling and the reader sees him begin to apply them to his own life. Robert Walton is an important character to the novel as he sets the story up to introduce VIctor and the themes which connect the two men.
Robert Walton appears in Frankenstein …show more content…
These letters begin the story with the addition of letters that conclude the novel. The novel is told through the letters which is ultimately Walton’s point of view. Within the letters, Victor tells his story about why he ended up in the Arctic, and furthermore, within Victor’s tale, the creation recounts his struggles in society. Shelley’s purpose for writing the novel this way is to give the reader an intimate look into the characters’ lives. Also, the reader is given multiple points of views (Victor, the creation, Walton, and Victor’s family through their letters) to give the story more truth and meaning. Another purpose of the letters is to introduce important themes that appear throughout the novel. These themes include loneliness, the pursuit of knowledge, and pride. The pursuit of knowledge in Frankenstein is possibly the biggest theme in the novel because it is the whole reason that Victor decided to construct the creation. In Letter Two Walton describes his love of knowledge when he says, “there is a love for the marvellous, a belief in the marvellous, intertwined in all my projects, which hurries me out of the common pathways of men, even to the wild sea and unvisited regions I am about the explore” (15). When Victor and the creation tell …show more content…
Walton does not appear in the story for very long, but he provides insight into Victor’s life from an outside perspective and possesses many similar qualities to Victor and the creation. Through Walton, the reader is given an unbiased point of view to Victor’s story for the reason that he recounts the stories of Victor, the creation, Elizabeth, and Victor’s father. Without Walton present in the narrative, the reader would be unaware of events like Victor’s death at the end of the novel. At this point in the story, the narration is focused on Walton’s letters to Margaret again. In one of those letters he tells her of Victor’s passing. If Robert Walton was not a character in Frankenstein the reader would not have learned about events like this, at least from a perspective like Walton’s. Walton also functions as a representation of Victor’s younger self. After all, they do share many qualities like the pursuit of knowledge. Throughout the narration, the reader watches as Victor morphs into a corrupt and unstable individual. At the beginning of the novel, Victor recounts his childhood, noting that he was happy and calm, while his life was easy and pleasant. As the story continues, Victor becomes unstable. He informs the reader that “every night I was oppressed by a slow fever, and I became nervous to a most painful degree; the fall
Robert Walton appears in Frankenstein …show more content…
These letters begin the story with the addition of letters that conclude the novel. The novel is told through the letters which is ultimately Walton’s point of view. Within the letters, Victor tells his story about why he ended up in the Arctic, and furthermore, within Victor’s tale, the creation recounts his struggles in society. Shelley’s purpose for writing the novel this way is to give the reader an intimate look into the characters’ lives. Also, the reader is given multiple points of views (Victor, the creation, Walton, and Victor’s family through their letters) to give the story more truth and meaning. Another purpose of the letters is to introduce important themes that appear throughout the novel. These themes include loneliness, the pursuit of knowledge, and pride. The pursuit of knowledge in Frankenstein is possibly the biggest theme in the novel because it is the whole reason that Victor decided to construct the creation. In Letter Two Walton describes his love of knowledge when he says, “there is a love for the marvellous, a belief in the marvellous, intertwined in all my projects, which hurries me out of the common pathways of men, even to the wild sea and unvisited regions I am about the explore” (15). When Victor and the creation tell …show more content…
Walton does not appear in the story for very long, but he provides insight into Victor’s life from an outside perspective and possesses many similar qualities to Victor and the creation. Through Walton, the reader is given an unbiased point of view to Victor’s story for the reason that he recounts the stories of Victor, the creation, Elizabeth, and Victor’s father. Without Walton present in the narrative, the reader would be unaware of events like Victor’s death at the end of the novel. At this point in the story, the narration is focused on Walton’s letters to Margaret again. In one of those letters he tells her of Victor’s passing. If Robert Walton was not a character in Frankenstein the reader would not have learned about events like this, at least from a perspective like Walton’s. Walton also functions as a representation of Victor’s younger self. After all, they do share many qualities like the pursuit of knowledge. Throughout the narration, the reader watches as Victor morphs into a corrupt and unstable individual. At the beginning of the novel, Victor recounts his childhood, noting that he was happy and calm, while his life was easy and pleasant. As the story continues, Victor becomes unstable. He informs the reader that “every night I was oppressed by a slow fever, and I became nervous to a most painful degree; the fall