Letters Practice Quiz — Frankenstein
by Mary Shelley — tap or click to flip
Practice Quiz: Letters
To whom does Robert Walton address his letters?
He writes to his sister, Mrs. Margaret Saville, in England.
Where is Walton when he writes Letter 1, and what is his destination?
He is in St. Petersburgh (St. Petersburg), preparing for an expedition to the North Pole.
What two goals does Walton hope to achieve on his Arctic voyage?
He wants to discover a northern passage between the Pacific and Atlantic oceans and to uncover the secret of magnetism.
What happened to Walton before he became an explorer?
He attempted to become a poet but failed, then inherited his cousin's fortune and turned to exploration.
What strange sight does the crew witness before rescuing the stranger?
They see a gigantic figure driving a dog sledge across the ice at a distance of half a mile.
How is the stranger rescued in Letter 4?
His sledge drifts toward the ship on a fragment of ice overnight, and the sailors persuade him to come aboard.
What does the stranger ask before agreeing to board Walton's ship?
He asks where the ship is bound, and only consents to board when he learns it is heading north.
What does the stranger agree to do at the end of Letter 4?
He agrees to tell Walton his full life story, which Walton will transcribe for Margaret.
What kind of person is Robert Walton?
He is a 28-year-old self-educated, ambitious, and romantic English explorer who is deeply lonely and craves a true friend.
How does Walton describe the ship's master?
The master is a man of excellent disposition known for gentleness, mild discipline, integrity, and dauntless courage.
What selfless act did the ship's master perform in his past?
He gave up the woman he loved, along with his farm and prize-money, to her true beloved because she wept and confessed she loved another man.
How does the stranger appear when first rescued?
His limbs are nearly frozen, his body is dreadfully emaciated, and his eyes show wildness and even madness, mixed with moments of benevolence.
What word does the stranger use to describe the figure he is pursuing?
He calls the figure a "demon."
How does the theme of dangerous ambition appear in the Letters?
Walton is willing to risk his life for glory and discovery, and the stranger warns him, "Do you share my madness?" suggesting that such ambition leads to ruin.
How is the theme of isolation and loneliness developed in the Letters?
Walton repeatedly laments his lack of a true friend, foreshadowing the isolation experienced by both the stranger and his creature later in the novel.
What does the Arctic ice symbolize in the Letters?
It symbolizes isolation, emotional coldness, and the dangerous extremes to which unchecked ambition can drive a person.
What literary device structures the opening of Frankenstein?
An epistolary frame narrative — the story begins through Walton's letters, which enclose the stranger's tale within them.
What literary work does Walton allude to in Letter 2, and why is it significant?
He alludes to Coleridge's Rime of the Ancient Mariner, foreshadowing a tale of transgression against nature and its dire consequences.
How does Shelley use parallelism between Walton and the stranger?
Both are ambitious, self-educated, isolated men driven by a thirst for knowledge, establishing the novel's pattern of doubles and mirrors.
What is foreshadowed by the stranger's warning to Walton?
His words "Have you drunk also of the intoxicating draught?" foreshadow that the pursuit of knowledge has led to devastating consequences in the stranger's life.
What does the word "forebodings" mean as used in Letter 1?
It means feelings of anxiety or predictions that something bad will happen.
What does "emaciated" mean as used to describe the stranger?
It means abnormally thin and weakened, especially from starvation or illness.
What is the significance of Walton's statement, "I shall kill no albatross"?
It references the Ancient Mariner's crime of killing an albatross and ironically reassures his sister, while foreshadowing that his voyage may bring suffering nonetheless.
What does the stranger mean when he says, "Unhappy man! Do you share my madness?"
He recognizes that Walton's ambition mirrors his own and warns that the same obsessive pursuit of knowledge destroyed his life.