Frankenstein
You will rejoice to hear that no disaster has accompanied the commencement of an enterprise which you have regarded with such evil forebodings. I arrived here yesterday, and my first task is to assure my dear sister of my welfare and increasing confidence in the success of my undertaking. I am already far north of London, and as I walk in the streets of Petersburgh, I feel a cold northern breeze play upon my cheeks, which braces my nerves and fills me with delight.
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Summary
The novel opens not with the famous scientist but with Robert Walton, a sea captain writing letters to his sister Margaret as he sails toward the Arctic in pursuit of the North Pole. Walton's letters frame the story that follows: he is the reader's entry point into the tale Victor Frankenstein will later confess to him on the ice.
Themes to continue
- The framing letter — Shelley's use of nested narrators (Walton → Victor → the Creature) invites you to treat your continuation as a document inside a document.
- Romantic ambition vs. domestic warning — Walton's sister has cautioned him. He has gone anyway. There is a parable here about how knowledge is paid for.
- The cold as moral atmosphere — the Arctic is more than setting; it is the emotional climate of the entire novel.
Vocabulary
- Petersburgh — Saint Petersburg, the Russian imperial capital, a common waypoint for Northern voyages.
- Forebodings — anxious premonitions, here a key word: the entire frame is built on doubts the protagonist has ignored.
Continuation prompts
- Write Margaret's reply.
- Continue Walton's letter as the ship pushes further north.
- Diverge: have Walton see something on the ice he cannot explain.
About the author
Mary Shelley (1797–1851) wrote Frankenstein at eighteen during the famously dark summer of 1816 at Villa Diodati in Switzerland. Published anonymously in 1818, it is widely cited as the first true science fiction novel.