2.3.1
Robert Walton
Robert Walton
Robert Walton
Robert Walton is the Arctic explorer who we meet in his letters to his sister, Margaret Saville. Walton finds Victor in a state of desperation and takes him aboard his ship.
Walton and Victor
Walton and Victor
- Walton develops a deep affection for Victor as he helps try to nurse him back to health.
- He is deeply moved by his eventual death.
Framed narrative
Framed narrative
- Walton's letters open and close the novel, forming a framed narrative to Victor's story.
- It is through Walton that we hear both Victor and the Monster's stories, as he relays them both from the notes he made as Victor told his tale.
Parallel with Victor
Parallel with Victor
- Walton is important primarily as a narrator. But he also provides a parallel to the character of Victor.
- Walton is very ambitious and wants to pursue his exploration to become a pioneer and be remembered as a great man.
- Walton is willing to pursue his course of action at the risk of the lives of his crew. This echoes the dangers of ambition and the self-centred pursuit of scientific goals in Victor's story.
Contrast with Victor
Contrast with Victor
- Walton eventually decides to terminate his exploration and return to England.
- In this way, Walton acts as a foil (contrasting character) to Victor, highlighting the negative impact of Victor's inability to stop his actions and his downfall.
- Shelley uses Walton's contrasting actions (abandoning his own unhealthy pursuits) as a template for a more positive course of action than that which Victor takes.
Quotations
Quotations
Here are some quotations highlighting key aspects of Walton's character.
Ambitious
Ambitious
- 'You cannot contest the inestimable benefit which I shall confer on all mankind to the last generation...'
- Walton seems certain that his expedition will bring benefits to the whole of humanity, as Victor was.
- 'secret of the magnet'
- This wording also echoes Victor's discovery of the 'secret of life'.
Lonely
Lonely
- 'I have no one near me, gentle yet courageous, possessed of a cultivated as well as of a capacious mind'.
- Walton does not feel a connection to any of his crew and feels that the only meaningful friendship to him would be with a person of similar class.
Self-centred and corrupted
Self-centred and corrupted
- 'how gladly I would sacrifice my fortune, my existence, my every hope, to the furtherance of my enterprise.'
- Walton values his expedition above all else.
- 'One man's life or death were but a small price to pay for the acquirement of the knowledge which I sought.'
- Shelley uses Walton's words to highlight the corrupting influence of a self-centred pursuit of knowledge.
Avoids Victor's mistakes
Avoids Victor's mistakes
- 'Thus are my hopes blasted by cowardice and indecision; I come back ignorant and disappointed.'
- Although Walton feels like a failure, Shelley highlights through comparison with Victor that a less stubborn and more humble response to failure is ultimately more positive.
1Plot Summaries
1.1Volume I
2Characters
2.1Victor Frankenstein
2.2The Monster
3Key Themes
3.1Ambition & Pursuit of Knowledge
3.2Prejudice
3.4Companionship & Family
3.5Revenge
3.6Monstrosity
4Authorial Method
4.1Genre & Intertextuality
4.2Form & Structure
4.3Settings & Symbolism
4.4Imagery & Doubling
5Context
Jump to other topics
1Plot Summaries
1.1Volume I
2Characters
2.1Victor Frankenstein
2.2The Monster
3Key Themes
3.1Ambition & Pursuit of Knowledge
3.2Prejudice
3.4Companionship & Family
3.5Revenge
3.6Monstrosity
4Authorial Method
4.1Genre & Intertextuality
4.2Form & Structure
4.3Settings & Symbolism
4.4Imagery & Doubling
5Context
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