Content Warning: Both the source material and guide contain references to suicide, murder (including the violent death of a child), and body horror.

In a letter to his sister, Mrs. Margaret Saville, in December of a year in the 18th century, Robert Walton writes that he arrived in St. Petersburg safely and that he is confident in his “undertaking” as he journeys to the North Pole. The cold wind feels like a “wind of promise” (1), and he cannot imagine the North Pole to be anything but a “region of beauty and delight,” a place where “the sun is forever visible” (1). He expects great wonder in this land and hopes to “satiate [his] ardent curiosity with the sight of a part of the world never before visited” (2). These thoughts prevent him from fearing danger. He hopes to “discover a passage near the pole” that will allow travel between countries, and he anticipates “the inestimable benefit which [he] shall confer on all mankind” (2).

Walton has wanted to take this voyage since he was a child. He read voraciously as a child even though he did not receive a strong education. He decided to venture to the North Pole six years ago when he traveled the North Sea with whalers.