the justice of our judges
Alphonse Frankenstein's complacency stems from his sense of a
professional brotherhood with these men, for, it must be remembered from
the beginning of Victor's narrative,
that Alphonse too has sat in the syndic's chair, as had his ancestors
before him. Mary Shelley stresses not only the tight-knit patriarchy of
Genevan society, but also, more narrowly, the ease with which the system
can implicate all its members in an act of injustice, even when, as is the
case with the Frankenstein family, they are convinced of the innocence of
the accused.
