Frankenstein
By: Mary Shelley
"Strange and harrowing must be his story, frightful the storm which embraced the gallant vessel on its course and wrecked it-thus (Page 14)!" As the nightmare tale first begins, the story becomes speckled with hints into the future and clues from the past. The first section, organized by letters representing the ideas, emotions, and experiences of Robert Walton, foreshadows the tale of Victor Frankenstein. Just as the phrase above suggests, the tale is foreshadowed as terrible beyond belief. Additionally, Robert Walton, as the narrator of the first frame story, introduces the reader to the beast that possesses the heart of the tale by describing him as "...being which had the shape of a man, but apparently of gigantic stature (Page 8)." Thus, through such deliberate wording and phrasing, the reader can infer that the being which Frankenstein chases has connection not only to the being previously seen, but to the tale that Frankenstein shares.
"Strange and harrowing must be his story, frightful the storm which embraced the gallant vessel on its course and wrecked it-thus (Page 14)!" As the nightmare tale first begins, the story becomes speckled with hints into the future and clues from the past. The first section, organized by letters representing the ideas, emotions, and experiences of Robert Walton, foreshadows the tale of Victor Frankenstein. Just as the phrase above suggests, the tale is foreshadowed as terrible beyond belief. Additionally, Robert Walton, as the narrator of the first frame story, introduces the reader to the beast that possesses the heart of the tale by describing him as "...being which had the shape of a man, but apparently of gigantic stature (Page 8)." Thus, through such deliberate wording and phrasing, the reader can infer that the being which Frankenstein chases has connection not only to the being previously seen, but to the tale that Frankenstein shares.
Through the deliberateness of Frankenstein's telling of his tale, the theme of caution towards the search of knowledge arises. The importance and stress placed on this idea foreshadows that the tale Frankenstein recounts is associated with the negatives and consequences of unrestrained ambitions. The theme foreshadows that Frankenstein, perhaps, had become so enveloped by the pursuit of knowledge, thus as Walton has become, that he lost sight of reality and the facts of life. In connection, I believe it is through this beginning frame story that Robert Walton suggests to the reader to proceed with caution and to look at the story presented with an ambitious but real perspective. I believe that Frankenstein not only foreshadows and suggests to Walton that careful analyzing is necessary with any pursuit or acquisition of knowledge, but to the reader as well, that not everything is as it first appears.
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