with all my ardour
This word, which as a noun entered the novel with Walton rhapsodizing over
his passion for discovery (Letter
4.6), is now picked up by Victor as if deliberately to echo and
admonish the mariner. It will toll repetitively -- and resonantly --
through the remainder of this chapter. It seems clear that Mary Shelley,
capitalizing on her strategy in 1818, is here emphasizing the word in all
its ambiguity. The complex of associations in its definition can be
tracked here.
