Frankenstein: Walton, in continuation Summary & Analysis

The novel returns to the frame of Walton's letters to his sister, Margaret Saville. In a letter on August 26, Walton says that he believes Victor's story and recalls how Victor described himself as the victim of "lofty ambition," which brought him to despair. Walton laments that he did not know Victor when they could have been friends. As Walton writes, "I have sought one who would sympathize with and love me." Yet while Victor responded kindly to his offers of friendship, he remained fixated on his only remaining destiny: to destroy the monster.

In a letter on September 2, Walton tells Margaret that his ship and crew are in grave danger: the ship is now surrounded entirely by ice. He blames himself for their fate and says they may all die as a result of his "mad schemes." He fears a mutiny.

In a letter on September 5, Walton says that his crew have demanded that he turn the ship around and head for home as soon as the ice frees them. Victor speaks up in his defense, telling the rebellious crew members they should "be men," for they had set out to be the "benefactors of [their] species." The speech changes the crew's mind, but Walton fears only temporarily. He says he'd rather die than return in shame with his "purpose unfulfilled."

In a letter on September 7, Walton says he has agreed to the crew's demand to turn back. He considers what has happened an injustice.

In his final letter on September 12th, Walton says that he has turned back, his hopes of "glory" and "utility" crushed. In addition, Victor has died. Victor had objected to Walton's decision to turn back his ship and said that his own "purpose" remained firm. Victor then tried to rise and return to the ice, but could not. He reaffirmed his certainty that he acted well in trying to defend his fellow man against the monster, his creation. He then died quietly, eager to rejoin the relatives he had lost in life.

Walton interrupts his letter upon hearing a disturbance in the cabin where Victor's body lies. He returns to tell Margaret that he has just seen the monster crying over Victor's corpse. To Walton's shock, the monster says he suffered remorse and pity for Victor all along. Walton calls the monster a "wretch." The monster is unsurprised, having been rejected by people from the start. It says that it abhorred itself even as it was doing evil, and describes itself as a "fallen angel," yet it also wonders why only it, and not Felix, or the man who shot it, or Frankenstein, is considered a "criminal." The monster then promises to end its own life, springs from the cabin back onto the ice, and disappears.