I was delighted . . . family
The phrasing here makes Victor sound cavalier and shallow, no longer
responsive to the weight of the universe he had felt after his encounter
on Mont Blanc (2.9.6). His aim seems
less to complete a difficult assignment than to procrastinate as long as
possible. Whatever one might argue in extenuation of his motives, it
seems clear in this passage that he gives no thought whatsoever to the
Creature's well-being. Perhaps it was with some sense of mitigating these
unflattering character traits that in 1831 Mary Shelley revised this
passage to suggest a greater degree of responsibility on Victor's
part.
