Switzerland was the single self-governing democracy in Europe in the later eighteenth
century. Although England sported liberal political ideals as a factor distinguishing
the nation from the rest of Europe, in practice its long battle against the French
and Napoleon had fostered a conservative reaction in which "republican" and "jacobin"
were virtually synonymous terms of opprobrium. This was particularly the case in the
years after Waterloo when, without an external enemy by which to rally the nation
and, experiencing a severe recession as a result of its rapid and radical demobilization,
the government was fearful of any expression of political dissent and began to prosecute
broadly to suppress it. Although Victor's emphasis on his family distinction seems
a gesture toward the familiar hierarchical structures of English society, the fact
that the first sentence of the novel as it presents itself ends with so defiant, if
understated, an assertion of liberal political values indicates the presence of a
submerged political viewpoint that observant readers will be able to detect throughout
the novel. That its contemporary readers would have recognized this aspect of the
novel is indicated by how strongly politics influenced its reviews, particularly the
one that appeared in the conservative Quarterly Review.