Jonathan Harker and Robert Walton clearly play important roles in their respective novels, and this is particularly shown by their status as narrators. Indeed, their importance is further emphasised by the fact that both characters provide both the opening and closing narratives in their novels.

Whilst both characters play narrative roles within the novels, there is a key difference in the way in which the reader must interpret their narratives: whilst Walton plays only a minor role in Frankenstein, Harker’s role in Dracula is much larger, and so his views are likely to be biased. Indeed, at one point Harker’s reliability as a narrator is seriously questioned when it transpires that he is ‘suffering from a violent brain fever’. By allowing the reader to doubt Harker’s versions of events, his reliability is, ultimately, enhanced when it is revealed that his narrative was entirely accurate. Walton only plays a small physical role in Frankenstein, and so Shelley clearly believes that he is less likely to be seen as a biased narrator, and the need to emphasise his overall reliability is not present.

Both Walton and Harker are shown to be erudite characters from the very start of their respective novels. Harker is shown to have a knowledge of several languages (‘I found my smattering of German very useful here’), and Walton is shown to have a knowledge of both Homer and Shakespeare, as could only be expected of somebody of a relatively high intellect. This quality is further emphasised through the characters’ use of both high register and foreign words, such as ‘mamaliga’ and ‘impletata’ (Harker), and ‘celestial observations’ (Walton). Harker is also shown to be familiar with shorthand.

Whilst both characters are well educated, their narrative style is rather different. Harker meticulously concentrates on reporting facts, such as exact times and dates. The very opening of his first journal entry begins ‘3 May. Bistritz – Left Munich at 8.35pm on 1st May’. This immediately establishes Jonathan’s reliability as a narrator, something which the reader has no cause to question until much later in the novel.

As a contrast, Walton’s narrative is filled with emotive metaphors: ‘These are my enticements, and they …induce me to commence this laborious voyage with the joy a child feels when he embarks in a little boat, with his holiday mates, on an expedition of discovery up his native river’. He also uses a variety of rhetorical features such as hyperbole, when he says that he will ‘regulate a thousand celestial observations’, and antithesis, where he contrasts the common view of the North Pole being the ‘seat of frost and desolation’ with his own view of a ‘region of beauty and delight’. It seems that because Walton features in Frankenstein for such a relatively short time, Shelley is keen to allow us to see into his psyche very quickly, and it is through allowing Walton to share his feelings with Margaret through this series of letters that this is achieved. The rhetorical features used also help to persuade Margaret, in terms of the plot, and the reader, in terms of narrative technique, that Walton truly knows that visiting the North Pole will be a difficult expedition, but one which he will find very spiritually fulfilling. The emphasis on accurate reportage of meticulous detail which is so important for Stoker to establish early in Dracula is not as important for Shelley, as Walton is simply seen to report the details as told to him by Frankenstein; Walton’s own observations play only a relatively small part in the narrative, compared to the crucial observations made by Harker.

Harker’s position in the novel of Dracula is crucially important, as it is his character who finally defeats the chief antagonist, and, indeed, it would not be unreasonable to see Harker as the chief protagonist of the novel. However, this position is very different to that played by Walton. Whilst both characters play an important part in the epistolary narrative of each novel, Walton’s narrative function is very much more important that his function as a part of the plot. Harker, in contrast, is important in terms of both the plot and the narration. This crucial difference is the reason for many of the differences in the way that the characters are presented. We learn much more about Harker than we do about Walton, simply because it is not necessary for us to know a great detail about Walton in Frankenstein, but as a chief character, it is essential that we know a great detail about Harker, in order to create expectation of his actions within the novel.

Both characters are portrayed in the novel as having a great deal of bravery. This is evident from very early on in each novel, where it is revealed that Walton ‘voluntarily endured cold, famine, thirst, and want of sleep’. Harker’s bravery is initially suggested through his optimism despite unfamiliar surroundings. In his first journal entry, he makes a joke about trains: ‘ It seems to me that the further East you go the more unpunctual are the trains. What ought they to be in China?’. Harker’s bravery is finally confirmed through his killing of Dracula, as well as through chasing him despite knowing, from Lucy’s death in particular, of the potential dangers with which he may be confronted.

In a similar sense, both characters are shown to be protective of others. Harker, however mistakenly, was ‘truly thankful’ that Mina should be left out of their work against Dracula, as he was fearful of the danger in which she may be placed. He was willing to continue without the help of his wife, who had clearly been of great assistance and was the first person to assemble the papers which ultimately led to Dracula’s downfall, in order to prevent possible injury to innocent Mina. Similarly, Walton eventually abandoned his life-long ambition to reach the North Pole for the benefit of his crew, despite the fact that this leaves him ‘ignorant and disappointed’. Whilst it is clear that he was under duress to do so because of the threat of mutiny amongst his crew, it would perhaps have been possible for him to insist that they continue, and so risk the lives of his crew. Instead, like Harker in Dracula, he shows compassion and decides that it is better not to risk the life of innocent human beings for his own ends.

Harker and Walton clearly play important roles in their respective novels, and have many similarities in terms of their characterisation. However, due to their differing functions within the novels as a whole, we see that Stoker and Shelley make their own characters to serve their given purpose, which inevitably leads to many differences in the two characters. Because of their appropriate characterisation, Walton and Harker, both central characters in their respective novels, fulfil their roles very successfully.