| A | B |
|---|
| Who is writing the letters and why? | Robert Walton is writing from St. Petersburg to his sister, Margaret Saville in England to assure her that he is safe. |
| What has Robert Walton been doing for the last six years? | He has been leading a seafarer's life |
| What are Robert's ambitions? | to discover new lands or unknown routes leading to the countries near the pole |
| Why does Robert wish Margaret the best in life? | He is afraid he will not see her again because he must endure hardships at sea. He is headed to the North Pole which is sunny but bitterly cold |
| When is the first letter written? | In the month of December |
| When is the second letter written? | In March after Robert has hired a vessel and is busy organizing sailors for his expedition |
| What is Robert longing for? | A friend to share the joys and sorrows of his success or disappointment |
| Why does Robert admire the lieutenent he has employed? | His good qualities and describes how the lieutenant has once fallen in love with a Russian lady who he wanted to marry but never did because she was in love with somebody else. He left his money to her and her husband so they could get married. |
| How does the second letter differ from the first? | Robert is seen as rather depressed her in comparison to his enthusiastic and excited sailor in letter 1. |
| How is Robert's sense of loneliness similar to the protagonist of the story? | Victor was quite lonely at his time at the university when nobody around him echoed his romantic aspirations. |
| How does the lieutenant and Robert portray feminine traits associated with Romantic literature? | Both of them are kind-hearted and not likely to resort to violence even in the brutal atmosphere of sea life. |
| What does Robert mean when he promises the he will "kill no albatross"? | It comes from one of his favorite poems, Rime of the Ancient Mariner in which the killing of an albatross has dire consequences. One can identify Robert with the ancient mariner who started out like any inexperienced sailor but ended up a wiser man due to his curiosity about mysterious things. |
| When is the third letter written? | In July, four months after the second one. |
| How does the third letter reach his sister? | through a merchant who is bound homeward from Archangel |
| Why is Robert proud of his men in the third letter? | Because they do not let minor dangers like floating sheets of ice deter them. |
| How does the mood of the fourth letter differ from the other three? | The first three letters have shades of sadness, pessimism, and uncertainty. In this letter, Robert is excited to have met a friend that he has longed for (Victor) |
| What condition is Victor in? | He is very worn down by fatigue and had to be persuaded to enter the vessel rather than die outside in the cold. |
| Why is Robert impressed with Victor? | his love of nature, remarkable ability to express himself, penetrating observations. |
| Why does Victor attempt to dissuade Robert from pursuing his plans? | He wants to stop him from heading down the wrong path, a path which he had chosen for himself in the past. |
| How did Robert meet the monster? | His ship became stranded on ice and he saw a gigantic man on a sled driven by dogs. |
| Why is Victor like the hero of the Coleridge's Ancient Mariner? | He began his life full of enthusiasm but has wearied of all this curiosity and is a sadder man just like the hero of the poem. |
