silent as a Turk
In the early nineteenth century Turkey
was the center of the far-flung
Ottoman Empire, which was to an English readership noteworthy for its
autocracy and corruption. Perhaps more to the point in 1831, that Empire abutted the
growing British presence in India and
Afghanistan, making it a natural
object of suspicion and prejudice. Whether Mary Shelley thought twice
about the terms of her analogy here one cannot know, but it is a fact that
Turks do not fare well in this novel. In its second volume (2.6.6) Safie's father acts an ungenerous
and even treacherous role.
