Latin . . . Greek . . . English . . . German
These languages are considerable accomplishments for an adolescent, though
both Percy Bysshe Shelley and William Godwin could assert similar
claims. More important, with the exception of German, by this time in
her life so could Mary Shelley.
Within the fictional ambience itself,
the reader can imagine how rekindled, in listening to this account, would
have been Walton's retrospective guilt over his undereducated, undirected
adolescence (Letter 2.2).
- Critical Approaches:
- Themes:
