commanded his countenance
The connotations of this verb, along with the panoply of described
emotions surrounding it, forcefully indicate Victor's awareness of the
effect he has had on his audience over the previous six days. Walton's
language, however, coming immediately upon his assuming what purports to
be a narrative objectivity, seems intended to have an even more pronounced
effect on the larger audience of Mary
Shelley's novel. Where Walton may feel
he is experiencing an authentic emotionality, we in our greater detachment
may wish instead to discern in Victor's recounted autobiography an
accomplished actor's knowing manipulation of his subject matter and his
audience.
