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Robert Walton In Mary Shelly's Frankenstein

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A foil is a character who contrasts with another character in order to highlight particular qualities of the other character. In Mary Shelly’s Frankenstein Or The Modern Prometheus, Victor Frankenstein is telling his story about his trials and tribulations so far in his life. Characters like the creature, Elizabeth, and Henry Clervel help highlight Victor’s qualities. Robert Walton is a more effective foil for Victor Frankenstein based on his experiences that parallels and contrasts Frankenstein’s life. Robert Walton is going on a journey to the North Pole while Victor Frankenstein is on a journey of exploring the scientific world. Walton’s innocent expedition highlighted Frankenstein’s destruction. Frankenstein wanted to explore the …show more content…

Walton will help providing information about northern lands, Frankenstein will provide information about the human frame and science. Frankenstein does want to help the world even though it might be a more complicated process than Walton’s research. Although both of their research may benefit society, both may cause havoc to the world around them by the effects their knowledge. Robert Walton is isolated from the world while he is on his journey. Walton desires to find a friend on board but doesn’t believe he could get along with his crew members. When Walton meets Frankenstein, both characters realize that they could have been good friends if they had met earlier in life. Frankenstein basically isolates the creature from his life and society by creating him an ugly being; however, Walton is isolated by the geography. Mary Shelly helped develop the novel by creating the contrasting characters of Walton and Frankenstein. Both characters do wish to gain knowledge and expand their horizons by going on a journey; however, Walton and Frankenstein grow apart from each other by their motives. The creature could have been the second best foil to Victor Frankenstein with his sympathetic ways turned into Satan’s assistant, but Walton opening letters to his sister Margret set the tone for similarities between himself and Frankenstein thus allowing him to be a better

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452 Words | 2 Pages

But, in the detail which he gave you of them, he could sum up the hours and months of misery which I endured, wasting in impotent passions.” (Shelly 273) The monster feels as though Frankenstein has wronged him in every way, first by making him ugly, second by abandoning him, and lastly he destroyed the only thing he had hope in; a mate. In the previous quote he explains that there is more that just one side to every story, he explains to Walton the pains he went to on account of Frankenstein. Victor

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1439 Words | 6 Pages

After successfully creating the monster, Frankenstein is perplexed by what he has created. Due to the monster’s annoyance with Frankenstein, he acts back against Frankenstein mostly due to his lack of parenting and responsibility. Shelley’s novel strongly connects with the act of parenting. It is clear that Victor Frankenstein did not complete his role as a parent. Due to this, it further led the monster to misbehave and feel as if he does not have a purpose in life.

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974 Words | 4 Pages

Maybe Walton finally sees the monster because he gets lonely again after Victor dies and longs for someone else to talk to so he then imagines the monster since Victor disappeared from his imagination and all he wants is someone to talk to since he has no one. So not only is the creation a figment of Victor’s imagination but Victor and the whole story is a figment of Walton’s imagination. Citations Biography.com, A&E Networks Television, www.biography.com/news/mary-shelley frankenstein-i-frankenstein-movie. “How Humans Deal With And Survive Extreme Cold.” Science of the Cold How Humans Deal with and Survive Extreme Cold, www.coolantarctica.com/Antarctica%20fact%20file/science/cold_humans.php.

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738 Words | 3 Pages

Moments, when characters have a sudden change in attitude, can be found often throughout Frankenstein, but it is prominent during Walton’s last letter to his sister as he tells of meeting the monster. The monster mentions his past concerning Victor Frankenstein and that his feelings were “forever ardent and craving; still [it] desired love and fellowship, and [it] was spurned…” (Shelley 211). While the monster recognizes his desire for love, he then contradicts that desire by stating that “[Frankenstein’s] abhorrence cannot equal that with which [it regarded itself]” (Shelley 212). The monster’s growing internal conflict through the novel between his desire to be accepted and his knowledge of being different is what causes him to be a dynamic character.

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499 Words | 2 Pages

In the novel, Frankenstein by Mary W. Shelly, Victor Frankenstein creates a creature. The creature and Victor Frankenstein have conflicts between each other, which is why Robert Walton is necessary to help the reader relate to Frankenstein, by having many of the same attributes are Victor Frankenstein does. Robert Walton has many similar traits to Victor Frankenstein, ultimately helping the reader greater relate to Dr. Frankenstein. Even though Frankenstein is viewed as a monster himself and Walton is considered a normal person.

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1487 Words | 6 Pages

The novel Frankenstein, written by Mary Shelley depicts certain ideas that can not be described or written within novels. For example, the telling of the story between three different narrators can teach the reader about putting together “pieces of a puzzle” in order to understand the plot of the story. The three narrators in Frankenstein are Victor, Walton, and the Creature, all with very distinct personalities and character traits. Of these storytellers, Victor could possibly be debated as the most extraordinary. The qualities that make Victor pictured as this unique character, that the fact that he is a dynamic character, and that he is an unreliable narrator.

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171 Words | 1 Pages

The relation between Robert Walton and the stranger rescued from the glaciers is adequately portrayed by Mary Shelley as the history of each character is further revealed, specifically in their experiences and dedication to the acquisition of knowledge; Walton recounts on his practice of studying mathematics and science with anguish because of the prolonged nights which not only lacked in sleep, but also led to impending insanity. The doctor had similar encounters with tiresome sessions of study and experimenting, and eventually sacrificed the people he loved supplement his understanding of the world. Each scholar individually discovered the consequences of exaggerating a passion or compulsion. Despite the arduous work of their studies, Shelley

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994 Words | 4 Pages

„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” (Shelley 163-164). This is the wish of the scientist Robert Walton whose letters start Mary Shelley’s novel Frankenstein. Unlike the first thoughts coming to mind when hearing the title, friendship is one of the main topics in the story and the wish Walton expresses in the beginning stands for the desires of all the main characters. Not only Walton feels to be in need of companionship, the central character Victor Frankenstein does so too and even the Creature he brings into being expresses its strong wish to belong to someone.

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488 Words | 2 Pages

In Mary Shelley's novel "Frankenstein" each of the three main characters "possesses a self-governing, passionate intellectual curiosity, which, rather than any formal system of education, is responsible for the formation of their characters." (Englert) Robert Walton's education was mostly from his uncle Thomas's library. He was in pursuit to advance his personal development and factual knowledge, this was his self-guided education. Walton was extremely interested in the sea-faring life, he traveled for his own educational inquiry. "I often worked harder than the common sailors during the day, and devoted my nights to the study of mathematics, the theory of medicine, and those branches of physical science from which a naval adventure might derive

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661 Words | 3 Pages

Both the character of Captain Robert Walton and the character of Victor Frankenstein have the ambition to

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1619 Words | 7 Pages

This foreshadows that once Walton hears Frankenstein’s story, he will change his mind about his expedition. Also, during the thunderstorm that happened in Victor’s childhood, Victor sees a tree get struck by lightning. He becomes interested in the idea of electricity, and he starts to study its

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1921 Words | 8 Pages

The fictional horror novel of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein is driven by the accentuation of humanity’s flaws. Even at the very mention of her work an archetypal monster fills one’s imagination, coupled with visions of a crazed scientist to boot. Opening her novel with Robert Walton, the conduit of the story, he also serves as a character to parallel the protagonist’s in many ways. As the ‘protagonist’ of the story, Victor Frankenstein, takes on the mantle of the deluded scientist, his nameless creation becomes the embodiment of a truly abandoned child – one left to fend for itself against the harsh reality posed by society. On the other hand, Walton also serves as a foil to Victor – he is not compulsive enough to risk what would be almost

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786 Words | 4 Pages

It is not the arrival that matters, but the journey. The experience that is gained from journeys may come to change and mold characters, changing the decisions that may come in the future. Frankenstein has multiple events of travel and journeys that shape the main protagonist and several other characters, as well. In the novel, Shelley uses the physical journeys of Walton and Victor in order to highlight different ambitions, morality, and the overall warning of self destruction within the novel as a whole.

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929 Words | 4 Pages

The gothic fiction novel Frankenstein by Mary Shelley centralizes on humanity and the qualifications that make someone human. The content of the novel Frankenstein depicts a monster displaying human traits that his creator Victor does not possess: empathy, a need for companionship, and a will to learn and fit in. Throughout the novel Shelley emphasizes empathy as a critical humanistic trait. The monster displays his ability to empathize with people even though they are strangers. On the other hand Victor, fails to show empathy throughout the novel even when it relates to his own family and friends.

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1420 Words | 6 Pages

This quote makes it apparent that Victor regrets his decision to heavily pursue knowledge and create his monster, clearly showing that the path that he embarked on was one that resulted in severe suffering. In conclusion, it is clear that Victor Frankenstein’s intentions are pure, however he is unaware that his pursuit of knowledge directly leads to his personal suffering. Robert Walton, similar to many explorers during his time, is ambitious to discover land beyond the North Pole. However, to reach this goal, he has to walk the dangerous path of acquiring knowledge. Walton’s goal, which is to reach the North Pole, requires him to captain a ship which travels through thick and thin.

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