Letter One - Letter Four

Letter One

The first letter after the preface is one that Robert Walton is writing to his sister in England, Margaret Saville. Walton is well-off and passionate about seafaring, so he agrees to captain a ship headed to the North Pole. He is telling his sister about the preparations he made for his departure and how he desires to do something great with his life. Among his desires are to locate the source of the magnetism of the Earth, discover a different passage to the Pacific Ocean, or just find completely undiscovered territory on which he can be the first person to set foot. By using the letters, the narrative is better able to stay grounded in reality. It is easy to see how passionate Walton is for the life of a seafarer and how much his job means to him. Also easily seen in the letter is the love that Walton has for his sister back in England. He fears he may not see her again because the life of a sailor can be very uncertain, but yet he is so passionate about his job that he feels he must undertake the voyage even if it means he will never come home to England. He speculates on what he might find at the North Pole, and whether it will be anything like the vision he sees in his mind.

Letter Two

Letter two has Walton writing about how he does not have any friends. He finds himself isolated by the job he has, and he is getting increasingly lonely. He does have a crew onboard the ship he captains but he does not get along with them. He is a dreamer and a very sensitive person. His crew members are not. He is a romantic at heart and he loves and believes in the marvelous beauty of nature and exploration. That belief is what sends him down the path toward loneliness and solitude. It also leads him to keep exploring the world because he wants to discover all that it holds. The second letter is written four months after the first one, while Walton is busy getting together a crew for his expedition. He has not been able to find a friend to share in his desires for exploration, and this frustrates him. However, he is...

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