Coincidence? I think not.

In the letters, Captain Walton is obviously writing to his beloved sister, Margaret. But, in one of the four letters, the Captain inserts a small clip from Samuel Taylor Coleridge's poem Rime of the Ancient Mariner. I've been pondering the poem, and it's meaning to Walton, and even the book of Frankenstein. As it turns out, Captain Walton, Victor Frankenstein, and the ancient mariner himself are related through these few lyrics.

All three of these men defy and disrespect nature and God/the gods.


DEEDS
-Ancient Mariner: killed the albatross (which led his ship to the correct route)
-Captain Walton: refuses to leave the Arctic until he reaches the North Pole (even though nature is not allowing his ship to move whatsoever)
-Victor Frankenstein: creates his "monster" (practically a mockery to the Creator)


All three of these men are also punished by Karma.


KARMA
-Ancient Mariner: condemned to tell his story over, and over, and over again
-Captain Walton: never fufills his "great purpose" of finding
-Victor Frankenstein: mocked by his own monster



It's not just a coincidence. I think Mary Shelley stratigically place that clipping of The Ancient Mariner in her novel. In the men's ultimate quests for knowledge, all of them failed, only because of selfishness and ignorance towards greater powers, but did they really seek just knowledge, or glory as well? Defying higher forces and seeking knowledge and glory is what connects Walton, Victor, and the mariner. Could this stanza be foreshadowing the end?