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“What a treacherous thing a body was, how it so blatantly acted out the mind’s secrets.”

“There’s a certain lack of courage among people who seem to be good at everything.”

“Strangely are our souls constructed, and by such slight ligaments are we bound to prosperity or ruin.”

“Teach your people to delight in the glorious riches of what Christ has done on their behalf.”

Robert Walton, the first character introduced, is a self-educated explorer and seaman. An overarching theme revealed in his first two letters is the marriage of poetic whimsy and practical wistfulness. I expect to see this theme develop in Walton’s following voyage musings.

The introductions and preface tell the account of the story’s conception. After reading the circumstances which led Shelley to produce this classic, I am excited to experience the narrative itself.