Mary Shelley’s opening to the novel Frankenstein was about how an explorer named Robert Walton writes letters to his sister, Margaret Saville. He explains to her about his passion for sailing, and how he is headed on a dangerous voyage to the North Pole. Robert tells her about his lack of friends. He feels lonely and is too sophisticated to find comfort in his shipmates.he thinks his shipmates are to uneducated to share his ideas with.then he explains the ship is stuck between huge sheets of ice, and he and his men spot a sledge thats being ridden by a gigantic creature. The next morning, they see another sledge stranded on a sheet of ice. the man on the sledge is not the same sledge they saw before. The man on this sledge is in terrible condition and on the verge of dying. even though he is in bad condition refuses to board the ship until robert tells him that it is heading north. The stranger spends two days recovering, nursed by the crew, before he can speak. Robert and the stranger become friends, and the man eventually tells robert his story.