The uncertainty that enveloped the Creature in the early paragraphs of this letter
now surrounds Victor as well. He and Walton do not, at least at this point, perceive
the same reality.

We will later discover (III:WC:4) that it was not "nearly" enough for Victor, who
proceeds to rewrite Walton's narrative. But, then again, it could very well be his
own narrative that he so conscientiously revises. Whatever the particular case is
immaterial: what matters is the fact of emendation. Mary Shelley's deliberate accentuation
of the unreliability of her text will recur at crucial points throughout the novel.

Astronomy was another science, like chemistry, undergoing marked advances in England
during Mary Shelley's day. The major force behind this was Sir William Herschel, assisted
by his sister Caroline Letitia.

Waldman points to a distinctive feature of scientific discourse of the later eighteenth
and early nineteenth century. From Carolus Linnaeus (1707-1778), who in the study
of botany established the terms for the classification of plants, to John Dalton (1766-1844)
who in chemistry determined the universal table of atomic weights, late Enlightenment
science was extensively engaged in taxonomic classification.

Angelica is the heroine of Ariosto's epic romance Orlando Furioso (1516-32). In the
first edition this is one of the works from which Henry Clerval wrote plays for himself,
Elizabeth, and Victor to act (see I:1:11 and note). Thus, this would be a natural
reference for Elizabeth to make, suggestive of her long intimacy with the two young
men her letter implicitly addresses.

This notion, repeated as a motif throughout the previous chapter (see, for instance,
I:3:1 and note; also the definition), is at last recognized here as an energy exceeding
proper limits.

The repetition of wording within this paragraph (which is immediately reaccentuated
in the second sentence of the following one) alerts us to the "burning," that is to
say, "consuming," nature of this pursuit for Victor Frankenstein and echoes the similar
language of Walton (I:L1:2). Variations on this language recur throughout the chapter
and become increasingly associated with disease (I:3:9, I:3:14).

An explicit linkage of Walton and Victor through this echoed word first encountered
in Walton's initial letter (I:L1:2) and strongly emphasized in the first two paragraphs
of the present chapter (see I:3:1 and I:3:2).

The shores to which Walton refers are those of Siberia and Alaska (also at this point
a Russian dominion) fronting on the Bering Straits. Once again, his innocent choice
of language links his present and past states of enthusiasm (see I:L1:2, I:L2:2) and
prepares us for similar language surrounding Victor Frankenstein's scientific pursuits
(I:2:7, I:3:1).