Frankenstein by Mary Shelley begins in a relatively unique manner by starting with letters from Robert Walton to his sister instead of jumping straight into Chapter 1 of the main story. This interesting literary device immediately sets the principal theme of family and friendship, using the correspondence format to highlight the importance of these relationships. Letters also enter Victor Frankenstein’s tale in Chapters 6 and 7 when his love Elizabeth and his father send news from home. These reoccurring communications symbolize the strong bonds between the family members and the concrete security offered by the written word.
The letters serve as an anchor when Walton journeys towards the North Pole and Frankenstein travels to Ingolstadt. They both leave the safety of their homes “to undertake a voyage of discovery to the land of knowledge.” This thirst for information and excitement push them farther than they had imagined, deeper into the ice-covered sea and further into the science of reanimation, respectively. In Chapter 4, Frankenstein even steps back from his project to impartially view the obsessive side of “the pursuit of knowledge.” He understands that his passion to unlock nature’s secrets might make him a less perfect human who is losing his “calm and peaceful mind” with “a tendency to weaken [his] affections.”
Both men realize the loneliness in their fanatical searches. In Walton’s second letter, he mentions that his greatest want has been lost during his quest for knowledge. He feels that it is “a most severe evil” to “have no friend.” Companionship becomes the biggest void during his expedition into the North Pole as he fears that he “should find no friend on the wide ocean.” The word “friend” also echoes through Frankenstein’s tale. As a child, he forms a close bond with Henry Clerval and is pained by their separation after he leaves for school. Upon Clerval’s arrival in Ingolstadt, his joy is restored and his health improves with this companionship. The frequent use of the word “friend” in this first section of Frankenstein shows the value of these relationships and their importance to the characters in this story.
