As Victor is self-conscious about the shape and impact of his narrative (see I:7:13
and note), so is his Creature. His question also curiously echoes Justine Moritz's
recognition that facts alone are not sufficient to exonerate her (I:7:5 and note);
if she is to establish her claim to innocence she must move her auditors. Aside from
such thematic continuities within the novel, this issue is likewise very much alive
in the poetry that Percy Shelley was writing contemporaneously, particularly in The
Revolt of Islam, where Cythna's eloquence is an important element in spreading political
and cultural enlightenment: see particularly Canto 8.