We readers do not know whether or not Walton survives
his expedition or not, even though we assume that the story
is ended. What Walton wrote survives, that can be assumed,
but not that things went well for him on his way home after
he wrote the last word of his account of September 12th.
From the Saville perspective, it is clear that Walton is about
to have some serious problems. He has violated the order that
he understands keeps him within the bounds of moral safety.
He has killed the albatross,* which is something that he
promised he would not do.

Killing the albatross has dire consequences. In the Coleridge
poem, to which Walton alludes, the wind stops and the trouble
begins when the albatross is killed. The reason that Walton's
account ends where it does could be that the trouble has
interrupted him. We readers forget that a point of view is
recommended by the fact that every word of the novel is
written to Mrs. Saville.  The novel suggests possibilities that
will be apparent only to those who think of Walton as family.
Much as Victor Frankenstein tells Walton that there may be a
valuable lesson in his story, Mary Shelley informs the reader in
her preface there is something important to be gained through
the mental exercise the novel presents. Shelley makes it clear
that she is interested in more than entertaining her reader. When
she indicates that she expects her reader to be disturbed by some
of the moral tendencies of the characters, that is what she means.
She does not mean that we will be disturbed by immoral
tendencies only. No. Moral tendencies will cause disturbance.
For example, the first whole story told is one in which a moral
tendency causes serious unhappiness. She also shows us, in the
story of the ship's master, it was necessary for the hero to do
something that might seem very wrong to outsiders, in order to
put things right.  The ship's master appears to abandon the woman
he is supposed to marry and care for for the rest of his life. But we
know that he does that as a means to bringing about her happiness.
The hero has to wait for the father of the young woman to see that
there is something more important than keeping his word. His moral
tendency to keep his word was actually causing the opposite of what
was important to him as a father, until he put it into its proper place
with other considerations. Shelley abandons her Creature and waits
for us to do the right thing and control those of our moral tendencies
that got out of hand. Just as it is up to the father in the parable to
rescue his daughter from unhappiness, it is up to us to rescue the
Creature with whom we have sympathy. And as the Creature values
Frankenstein above all others, it is important not to give up on
Frankenstein. The very least we can do in our exercise is call for the
doctor to see if there is any chance that Frankenstein is still alive.
 [Conclusion] [HailMaryShelley Home] [Return to Exercise of Mind]
 

*If you are wondering, as Amy was, where in Shelley's
Frankenstein it says that Walton killed the albatross, this note should
help. The answer is that Walton's reference to the albatross in his
promise is metaphorical. The creature Victor Frankenstein claims to
have created is one he intended to be a happy being and a blessing to
human kind. The albatross in Colridge's poem, The Rimeof the Ancient
Mariner, arrives at a moment when the ship is surrounded by ice that
threatens to crush it and his coming and being nourished by the crew
seems to be connected with the splitting of the ice in a "thunder fit".
Besides the numerous similarities in the settings of Coleridge's poem
and Shelley's novel, the latter echoes the moral sense of the former.
Walton has heard from Victor that the creature promised that, if one
person showed him some kindness, he would be hostile to no human.
When Walton tells the creature that his expressed regret for the wrong
he has done is false and in doing so sends him away to die, Walton  is
upsetting the order that he recognized in his promise of March. The
allusions to Coleridge's poem are employed by Mary Shelley with
unusual economy and to great effect, once apprehended. The last
image of the novel is that of the ice raft "lost in darkness and distance".
This is very like the image of an albatross resting on the water, which
among other things, evokes the sense of the reckoning to come. The
suggestion of this image is that of the becalming  of the ship in the
poem happening also to Walton's ship in the novel. Although the
albatross can remain aloft for many hours in windy weather, when
the air is calm, it must rest on the sea. The more the reader looks
into the novel's reference and allusion to The Rime of the Ancient
Mariner, the more dynamic the experience of reading and rereading
the novel becomes. In the scheme of Frankenstein the involvement of
the reader is vital to Walton's redemption and the safe return of his ship.
[Return to text]