| Romantic Circles

1412

unmingled with disbelief Victor's self-consciousness as to his effect as narrator shadows this deposition
of his case, both for the magistrate and for Mary Shelley's readers. We cannot help
recognizing here that the end of a novel is to make fiction appear like truth. That
Victor in the end does not gain the credence of his judge does, of course, vindicate
his earlier reticence; but it also in some sense impinges on his reliability as a
witness. Does it also have a destabilizing effect on the larger narrative of which
it is a microcosm?

1411

the threatened fate as unavoidable Victor's constant attention to his unavoidable fate is at least partly to be construed,
at this point in the discourse, as a justification for the blindness with which he
worried so exclusively about himself, leaving Elizabeth unprotected. But it falls
in line as well with his reiterated invocation of destiny during this narration to
Walton, a rhetorical ploy by which, whether or not it is his explicit intention, he
exonerates himself of acknowledged responsiblity for the events his actions produce.

1410

I lay for two months It has been less than three years since Victor Frankenstein had been seized with
a similar "nervous fever" that, after the creation of his being, confined him for
months (see I:4:17 and note). Mary Shelley emphasizes how severely debilitated his
physical state has become as a result of the acute psychological stress under which
he has been laboring and from which no amount of diversion can seem to liberate him.

1409

like the turning of the wheel When Ixion, king of Thessaly, fell in love with Hera, Zeus punished him for his effrontery
by binding him to a wheel in Hades that revolved in perpetuity. In notable instances
in the English literary tradition the mode of Ixion's torture is reconceptualized
in psychological terms. Mary Shelley would surely have been familiar with King Lear's
portrayal of himself as "bound/ Upon a wheel of fire" (IV.vii.46-47). It could well
be that her own image influenced Percy Shelley's employment of the same figure in
Prometheus Unbound (see I.139-42).

1408

I tried to conceal Although Clerval has just been described as like a "former self" to Victor, the difference
between them involves more than the effect of experience on each man's sense of well-being.
Victor is, in effect, living a lie, and his lack of openness to Clerval is the actual
wedge by which their division is being enforced.

1407

concealing the true reasons

Asked to reply candidly, Victor lies to his father. This might be considered of a
piece with the way he recalled his solemn promise to the Creature two paragraphs earlier:
no sooner was it invoked than he began immediately to consider what would result should
he dare to break it.

1405

trembling with passion We are returned to the language of "ardour" associated with Victor's earlier obsession
with his scientific experiments and to his lack of self-control in their pursuit.
What is new here is the sudden resort to unchecked and criminal violence.

1404

trembled violently

This is also the phrase used to depict Felix De Lacey upon his last appearance in
the novel (II:8:11 and note).

1403

To you first entering on life In regard to this curious reminder of the present tense in which Victor narrates
the story of his life, it is important to recall that, far from being Victor's junior,
Walton is 28 years old at this point in the account, one year older than Victor. A
useful point of comparison is the exchange between the simple Chamois Hunter and Manfred
in the second act of Byron's Manfred, the dramatic poem he began in the summer of
1816 and set in the same Alpine wilderness as the second volume of Mary Shelley's
Frankenstein.

1402

the tour of Scotland alone Obviously, Victor needs to isolate himself in order to carry out his scientific labors.
On the other hand, the phraseology here may be seen as indicative of an antisocial
instinct that has been so long indulged as to have become an essential aspect of his
character.