Although this appears a sensible maxim, on extended examination it tends to favor
a low level of ambition and to inhibit most attempts to reach beyond a status quo.
The "tranquillity" attained in this way, seeming to forestall the pursuit of excellence
in a particular field of endeavor, or a concentrated exertion to achieve a particular
goal, or, indeed, any real application of genius, rather assumes the appearance of
passivity or inertia. Although certainly, Victor's remark questions the activities
not just of himself but of his auditor, Walton, as well, and thus fits into the overall
moral rationale for his narration, this blanket reversal of both of their strongest
impulses is likely to create a counterthrust of ambiguity in the reader's reaction
to the statement.
Behind the statement and our reaction to it lies the cosmic ambiguity of Milton's
Paradise Lost, which exerts a continuing pressure on Mary Shelley's novel.