beauties of nature
Readers have nothing at this point from which objectively to compare
Walton's surmises. From Victor's own narration, however, it will be
clear, that he is not particularly drawn to the natural world the way his
friend Clerval is portrayed as being (1.5.9); indeed, while engaged in his
scientific pursuits, he confesses himself wholly oblivious to the
attractions of the natural world (1.3.7). Rather than sense a narrative
disjuncture from this evidence, however, we might consider it a deliberate
attempt on Mary Shelley's part to distance herself and her readers from
Walton's increasingly inflated language. The figure Victor will cut in
his own narration is very much darker than the one to whom we are being
introduced through Walton's eyes. The underlying problem of how
perspective shapes reality is thus being subtly reinforced.
