Captain Robert Walton (Frankenstein 1818)

                                "What can stop the determined heart and resolved will of man?" - Robert Walton   

Captain Robert Walton is a character in Mary Shelley's 1818 novel, Frankenstein, or the modern Prometheus. He is the captain of a ship on an expedition towards the North Pole. The book is begun with a series of letters written by Walton to his sister. In the letters, Walton relays his preperation for his voyage, some of his history, such as his father not wanting him to go to sea, and his previous ambitions of becoming a poet. He also complains of loneliness and wishes for a friend. It is he and his crew that save Victor Frankenstein from freezing to death in the arctic. He befriends Frankenstein, and Frankenstein tells him his story, which he writes down. At some point his ship becomes trapped in the ice, and his men wish to abandon their voyage and turn back for England as soon as the ice breaks. Frankenstein, although weak, stands and rebukes the crew for their cowardice. Walton is assumed to be the last person to see The Monster before it jumps out of a window and is not heard from again. Captain Walton and his crew abandoned their voyage and turned back for England after the ice  broke.