1. Who is writing Letter 1 (and all the letters)?

2. To whom is he writing? What is their relationship?

3.  Where is Robert Walton when he writes Letter 1? Why is he there? What are his plans?

4.What does Robert Walton tell us about himself?

5. Where is Walton now (letter 3)? What do you think of Walton's question "What can stop the determined heart and resolved will of man"?

6. How much time has elapsed between Letter 3 and Letter 4? What "strange accident" has happened to the sailors?

7. Why does the man picked up by the ship say he is there? What condition is he in?

8.What sort of person does he seem to be? How does Walton respond to this man?

9.How much time has elapsed when Walton begins writing again? What has happened in the meantime? How does the man respond to Walton's project? How is Walton responding to the man? Why does the man agree to tell his story?