acquainted with more languages
Walton's inability to speak other languages would presumably magnify his
sense of isolation after almost four months in Russia. Generally
speaking, in this pan-European novel Mary Shelley conveniently allows her
characters, wherever they come from or are educated, to communicate freely
across national borders. The exception is the Arab Safie, who must be
taught by the De Laceys to speak their language. Since the book chosen
for that end is Volney's Les Ruines, ou meditations sur les
revolutions des empires (2.5.4),
she and the Creature who secretly participates in her lessons are educated
in French. French is likewise the language of the Frankenstein household,
but Victor, in 1.1.10, recounts his
education in Latin, Greek, English and German: he receives his scientific
education in German, in the heart of Bavaria at Ingolstadt, and is adept enough in English to
negotiate his way around Scotland
and the Orkney Islands. While in
prison there his delirious ravings revert to French, which only Mr. Kirwin
the magistrate is able to understand (3.4.4). When he hails Walton, the mariner
will tell his sister in Letter 4.2,
Victor does so in English "although with a foreign accent." By the time
the Creature and Walton meet one another, however, Mary Shelley finesses
her otherwise careful observation of linguistic difference in favor of an
unimpeded confrontation; yet Victor's concern that his narration be
faithfully recorded (Walton in
continuation) and his warning that the Creature's eloquence should be
distrusted (3.7.9) emphasize radical
instability and the problematic of translation as inherent in language.
