unparalleled eloquence
Later Walton calls Frankenstein's eloquence "forcible and touching" (Walton 2) and just three weeks after the
present letter the crew will witness its effect (Walton 7). But on that occasion the crew
will not be swayed by Victor; and even Victor himself, somewhat earlier,
evinced himself as distrustful of mere eloquence, warning Walton against
the power of the Creature's speech and suggesting that it might mislead
him (3.7.9).
Eloquence as a concept implicitly assumes multiple perspectives and an
underlying uncertainty as to where truth resides. It is thus focussed as
a highly vexed issue in the novel, which reveals itself to be at once
selfconscious in its employment of manipulative rhetoric and suspicious of
the effects.
