Character Analysis
In the novel Frankenstein by Shelley, I take a look at the role played by Robert Walton.
Debatable claim
Robert Walton is a minor character who narrates Victor Frankenstein’s story through his letters written to his sister Margaret Saville in England.
Context
Victor abandons his family and fiancée in search of knowledge without considering the effects of his actions. After discovering the secret of life, he isolates himself again to create a monster without considering how this new creature would feel or live. The monster ends up killing Victor’s family members and wife after Victor fails to fulfill his promise of creating him a mate to remedy his loneliness. Victor does not recognize his hand in his family members and his wife’s death but vows to kill the monster. He chases the monster across the globe and ends up meeting Robert Walton in the Arctic.
Robert is the captain of a ship that is on its way to find a route to the North-pole. The ship gets stuck in sheets of ice, unable to move forward. Robert and his crew find Victor, who is now sick, weak, and tired of chasing the monster he created worldwide (Shelley 25). Robert and his crew clean Victor up and take care of him until Victor tells Robert of his story and later dies. Walton narrates Victor’s story in letters he sends to his sister Margaret Saville in England. Walton later finds the monster mourning next to Victor’s lifeless body. The monster narrates his story to Walton and intends to kill himself, leaving Walton feeling curious and remorseful.
Telling details
Robert is as ambitious as Victor. He sets out on an impossible mission to find a sea route to the North-pole. He is motivated by the knowledge gained upon arriving in the North-pole. In his letter to Margaret, Robert writes, “the pole is the seat of frost and desolation; it ever presents itself to my imagination as the region of beauty and delight, the sun is forever visible, its broad disk just skirting the horizon and diffusing a perpetual splendor” (Shelley 2). Robert is aware that nobody has ever reached the North-pole and is motivated to be the first due to the immense impact on future generations. He writes to Margaret, “You cannot contest the inestimable benefit which I shall confer on all mankind to the last generation, by discovering a passage near the pole to those countries” (Shelley 4).
Robert is lonely, just like the monster; his affections are only reserved for his ambitions. Robert realizes he is lonely in the middle of his voyage to the North-pole as he yearns for a friend who is his equal. In his letter to Margaret, he writes, “I desire the company of a man who could sympathize with me, whose eyes would reply to mine. You may deem me romantic, my dear sister, but I bitterly feel the want of a friend; I have no one near me, gentle yet courageous, possessed of a cultivated as well as of a capacious mind, whose tastes are like my own, to approve or amend my plans. How would such a friend repair the faults of your poor brother?” (Shelley, 11).
Impacts
Search for dangerous knowledge leads Victor to create a monster who kills his family members and wife. The failure to take responsibility for one’s actions costs Victor everything dear to him. Robert is on a suicide mission to reach the North pole but learns from Victor’s mistake and abandons his ambition due to the responsibility he has to his crew.
Robert’s contrasting traits and actions to Victor’s character outline Victor’s character traits, the main character. Victor and his monster’s story is narrated by Robert through his letters to Margaret Saville, outlining his importance though he is a minor character.
Conclusion
Ambition is priceless and dangerous when put above our responsibility to the people around us. Frankenstein, a novel based in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, describes how a person’s selfish act and secrets can negatively affect the whole community. It emphasizes the importance of the journey, not the destination.
Works Cited
Shelley, Mary Wollstonecraft. Frankenstein, or, The Modern Prometheus, 1818. Engage Books, AD Classic, 2009.