Robert Walton

My name is Robert Walton and I have a sister, Margaret Saville, who lives in England. I have been writing her letters to keep her informed of my excursions I plan on pursuing. I am a wealthy Englishman with a passion for seafaring. My education was neglected, yet I was fond of reading my Uncle Thomas' books in his library. I read of the voyages that arrive at the North Pacific Ocean through the seas which surround the pole (#1, pg. 2). I am the captain of a ship, which is headed on a dangerous voyage to the North Pole. I have a desire burning in me to accomplish some great purpose and I have a thirst for knowledge (#2, pg. 3). I want to discover a northern passage to the Pacific, revealing the source of the Earth's magnetism. I am obsessed with learning new things. In my second letter to Margaret, I wrote: "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 ill endeavour to sustain me in dejection" (Letter 2, pg. 4). I desire the company of a man who can sympathize with me and I have no one near me (#3, pg. 4). I feel lonely and isolated and am too complicated to find comfort in my shipmates.

In the third letter, I wrote I was well advanced on my voyage (#4, pg. 7). At this point I have full confidence that I will achieve my aim. In my fourth letter, I wrote about how there were dangerous sheets of ice surrounding my ship from all sides and we were blocked in (#5, pg. 9). It was about two o'clock when a strange sight suddenly attracted my attention. I saw a low carriage with a sled, dogs, and a gigantic creature go by and disappear among the ice. We were then stuck on the sea because of the ice, and I therefore rested. When I woke up, I went outside and talked to this stranger who was very weak and emaciated. He refused to board the ship until I told him that we were heading north. As time went on, I nursed him back to health and the stranger and I became friends. We became very close and Victor told me his narrative about his life. After Victor's story, my crewmen entered the cabin and begged me to return to England if we could break out of the ice. Just before we headed back to England, Victor was dead. The monster in which Victor created was crying over his dead creator's body. The monster began to tell me all of his sufferings and said that he wanted to die. The monster left the ship and went into the darkness.