The use of the epistolary opening of Frankenstein by Mary Shelley adds a third narrator, Walton, to her narrative. This third narrator is effective because he lends a certain objectivity that an omniscient narrator, such as Shelley, could not. In addition, Walton lends another perspective to the same story that will develop. Thus, Walton's letters help to lend credibility to the tales of both Victor and the creature.
Walton's letters, in which he expresses his dream of "satiat[ing] [an] ardent curiosity with...a part of the world never before visited," also serve to lend more credibility to Victor Frankenstein's tale because Victor does not seem as strange when there are others such as Walton who also seek to conquer the unknown.
In addition, by using Walton as a narrator, Shelley creates another voice which acts as an "echo" of the other narratives in the novel. These echoing voices are suggestive of ghost stories as attention is focused upon the storyteller rather than simply upon the plot. As is known, Shelley wrote Frankenstein as a ghost story in response to a request by her and her husband's (Percy Bysshe Shelley) host, Lord Byron, who suggested that they each write a horror story to entertain one another while they were staying together in Switzerland.
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