Who is walton in the book frankenstein

Walton wishes to make a geographical and scientific discovery that he feels will benefit ' all mankind ' not just immediately but for future generations. Walton's ambition also reveals his arrogance. Like Victor, he wants the respect and praise of his fellow humans and takes his crew into a dangerous situation in order to accomplish this. He feels that only he or someone like him will be able to achieve his goals.

Walton's ambition has taken him, literally, to the end of the Earth where he will have little human contact. Both Walton and the Creature want a companion who is like them, a companion to share their lives with, and both think that if they find this companion then their lives will be repaired and better for it. But it is a still greater evil to me that I am self-educated: for the first fourteen years of my life I ran wild on a common and read nothing but our Uncle Thomas' books of voyages……… Now I am twenty-eight and am in reality more illiterate than many schoolboys of fifteen.

Walton is lonely and ends up thinking only of himself by taking an entire crew on a suicide mission, but it is the combination of his loneliness and his desire for discovery that came from being self- educated that have lead him to this point of selfishness and danger. The Creature is the same in the fact that both loneliness and self-education are what lead him to be a danger. He was shunned by his creator, Victor, was shown no compassion, and was left to be forever alone.

It is only by his self- education that the Creature finds out about all that he is missing and decides to exact revenge on his creator who has left him alone. The character of Captain Robert Walton has a great impact on the novel.

Shelley does this by showing how both Walton and Victor share the same trait of being obsessed by one single goal. Both men are preoccupied with a self- admiring self- regard for themselves than with the needs of the other people who surround them. Both men lack a permanent home, lack a lasting relationship from which they may obtain love, sympathy or support, they actually lack any relationships at all.

The main focus and emotions of both of these men are channeled into untapped knowledge and what each man hopes to discover. So, by Shelley introducing us to Walton first we are prepared who longs for a companion. He fails to find a friend among the many members of his crew stating that none of them live up to his requirements for a companion.

He gives his English Lieutenant and his Russian boat-master as examples of his failed attempt at finding a companion. For the best experience on our site, be sure to turn on Javascript in your browser. Click the character infographic to download. When we first meet Robert Walton, he's writing to his sister about his "ardent curiosity" and his desire to confer "inestimable benefit … on all mankind" Letter 1.

When the story opens, Walton is like Victor Lite. Instead of wanting to penetrate the secrets of nature, he wants to reach the North Pole —but in every other way, these guys have a lot in common. Like Victor's, Walton's education was "neglected" Letter 2. At the same, Walton is also kind of like the monster. Frankenstein Augustus Phillips. Recent blog posts Forum. Explore Wikis Community Central. Register Don't have an account?

Captain Robert Walton Frankenstein