We enter here into a third level of narrative, one that is embedded within Victor
Frankenstein's autobiography, which is itself being transcribed by Walton each night
of its recounting for his sister's future perusal. Issues of the authority and even
the reliability of any particular level of the narrative thus abound and have raised
serious debate in the critical literature on the novel. As the Creature twice in these
two paragraphs speaks of his "tale," so Victor refers to his narrative as a "tale"
as well (see I:L4:30 and I:3:13). The underlying question is how true is any tale.