FrankensteinMary Shelley’s

Letters 1-4 by April Marshall

Title: A Story Within the StoryChapter Numbers: LETTERS 1-4

Summary

THE LETTERS

The Letters begin with Captain Robert Walton, from England, who is on an expedition to the North Pole. He is searching for the source of magnetism in the regions, but in larger part, he is on a quest to see new places, and to make a name for himself by going where no man has gone before him.

To pass the time while he is on his trip, he writes letters home to his sister, Margaret. In these letters, Walton tells his sister that he has no friends and feels very lonely. He feels that he is too good for the other men on the ship, and that no one could possible understand him because he’s so smart and sensitive. Walton thinks of himself as a classic tragic Romantic figure.

Summary

THE LETTERS

As the ship sets sail, Walton is overly confident about the outlook for his trip. He is so confident and optimistic, that the reader begins to realize that something bad is surely about to happen.

And then, in Letter 4, the ship gets stuck in sheets of ice in the ocean. As this ship is stuck, the crew sees a giant figure in the distance going across the ice on what Shelley calls a “sledge”, which is another term for a dog sled. The crew is getting restless and a little frightened.

Summary

THE LETTERS

The next day, the ship crew finds another man on another sledge. This man is stranded with all but one of his dogs, dead. The man looks like he is on the verge of death himself

The crew brings the man aboard the ship, rubs his body with brandy and gets him drunk to warm him up. Walton becomes very possessive of the man. He hopes that this guy will become the friend he’s never had. Walton becomes strangely possessive and attached to the man.

Summary

THE LETTERS

The letters end with Walton telling his sister that the man they found in the ice is going to tell his story the next day.

Characters

CAPTAIN ROBERT WALTON At this point in the story,

Walton is a lonely explorer, and he gets his crew stuck in ice. In this icy, polar region, he comes into contact with the Monster and with Victor.

He is a tragic Romantic hero because he rejects norms and conventions, in a way, his loneliness is similar to being rejected by society, and he views himself as the center of his existence. In other words, everything is all about him.

We do not find out more about Walton until the end of the story, but at this point the reader begins to put together that he will have a lot in common with both Victor and the Monster.

Characters

VICTOR FRANKENSTEIN At this point we don’t

know anything about Victor, except that he was chasing some giant creature through the rough and deadly terrain of the north pole on a dog sled.

MARGARET

This is Robert Walton’s sister. We know nothing about her except that Walton feels connected to and loved by her, and we get to know him through his letters to her.

Literary Devices

SETTING

At this point in the story, we see that frame narrative is taking place (a story within a story), and the setting in the letters is aboard Walton’s ship in the frozen waters of the arctic.

ALLUSIONS

What is important to note about the setting at this point in the story is that everyone is stuck in frozen water. This is a literary allusion to Dante’s Inferno; the ninth circle of hell is reserved for those who have committed betrayal. All sinners are stuck in frozen water, up to their shoulders, or necks or eyes, or whatever, depending on just how bad their betrayal was.

Literary Devices

SYMBOLISM / ALLEGORY The entire story of

exploration for knowledge is symbolized by Captain Walton’s quest for the North Pole. It also becomes a cautionary tale and allegory about the dangers of boundless science. This symbolism and allegory will be spread out through the entire novel

Connections to Mary Shelley’s LifeINDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION This part of the novel

doesn’t directly connect specifically to Mary Shelley’s life; but it does connect to the time period during which she wrote it. Shelley began Frankenstein in 1818, which was right on the brink of the Industrial Revolution (which went on in the 1820’s).

Any Questions?