Walton

Walton:

• Presented as an endearing character "My dear sister"
• Explorer- curious about the world and discovering new things. Family tradition "satiate my ardent curiosity with the sight of a part of the world never before visited"
• Education was neglected- self taught
• Intelligent- references Homer and Shakespeare, knows of Coleridge's work. 
• Inherited a fortune from his cousin
• Became a poet "for one year lived in a Paradise of my own creation". Was a failure and disappointed him. Likes to succeed. 
• Admits fears "If I fail, you will see me again soon, or never"
• Wants company on his voyage "I bitterly feel the want of a friend"
• 28 years old
• Began reading poetry at 14
• More illiterate than a boy of 15
• Caring "I removed him to my own cabin, and attended on him as much as my duty would permit"
• Walton functions as the conduit through which the reader hears the story of Victor and his monster.
• He also plays a role that parallels Victor’s in many ways. Like Victor, Walton is an explorer, chasing after that “country of eternal light”—unpossessed knowledge
•  "What may not be expected in a country of eternal light?"