a part of the inheritance of Elizabeth
This addition to the 1831 text recalls the changed circumstances by which
Elizabeth enters into the Frankenstein household, as the natural daughter
of a revolutionary Milanese aristocrat who had been imprisoned by the
Austrian government and had had his property confiscated (see 1.1.3) for being too ardent in the cause
of his country's liberty. Although Alphonse Frankenstein's
dealings here might be construed as an honorable, duty-bound attempt by
a citizen of a
neutral nation to right a wrong and restore to Elizabeth what had been
rightly hers, it is hard to imagine Mary Shelley, who abhorred the
Austrian occupation of Italy and represented Elizabeth's true father as
"nursed in the antique glory of Italy," not thinking this detail
commensurate with the essentially conservative, state-oriented political
views Alphonse exhibits elsewhere (see, for instance, 1.1.1 or
1.6.12 and
note).
