Frankenstein and Walton: A Comparison (With a Touch of Ozymandias)

Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein depicted striking similarities between two of her characters, namely Robert Walton and Victor Frankenstein. They were both infatuated by natural philosophy and believed that it was their respective destinies to achieve greatness through scientific discoveries or as Frankenstein puts it, “…unfold to the world the deepest mysteries of creations.” Although their fields of work differed (Frankenstein sought the secret to the animating force of life itself while Walton was determined to unravel the wonders of the North Pole and its role in magnetism), Shelley goes out of her way to impress upon the reader of how these two men are practically kindred spirits. In fact, Walton states that “I [Walton] begin to love him as a brother” (pg.11) scarcely two days after Frankenstein boarded his ship. Indeed, Frankenstein only recalls his story in an attempt to prevent Walton from encountering a fate similar to his.

That being said, it is implied that Walton was on the edge of a revolutionary scientific discovery, which would have earned him the glory that he yearned for through this contribution, when he encountered Frankenstein, who did indeed discover the secret to life. In short, both Robert Walton and Victor Frankenstein in years past were defined by their determined pursuit of scientific discovery, which, it seems, was merely the means through which they both would earn glory and thus leave their marks upon this world.

However long their glory would last, however, is a highly debatable issue. Prima facie, Percy Bysshe Shelley’s Ozymandias would seem to assert that any marks, any imprints, left by such glory as both Frankenstein and Walton sought would decay and ultimately leave behind a worthless, empty shell that is devoid of any of the grandeur with which it was overflowing at one time: “My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:/Look upon my works, ye Mighty, and despair!/ Nothing besides remains. Round the decay…”

Upon a closer look, however, it is worth noting that however empty and lonely the pedestal seems, the fact of the matter is that it endured, indicating that glory remain for a much longer time than one would expect, albeit in a barely recognizable form. Is this not exactly Frankenstein’s fate? After all, both Frankenstein and Victor Frankenstein, its namesake character, linger in modern popular culture, having endured nearly two centuries of changing social values and lifestyles. That being said, the popular conception of Frankenstein today is egregiously erroneous and in my humblest opinion, a mere husk of the greatness of the original as written by Mary Shelley. However, it is indubitable that the notoriety of Frankenstein has proven itself to be capable of enduring the ravages of time and, being a classic, will continue to be able to do so for the foreseeable future.