Whether Mary Shelley, in framing her revisions, intended to give her novel a geographical
symmetry by placing an Italian sojourn in the early part of Victor's narrative to
balance that of Safie and her father at its absolute center (1831:II:14:12) can be
only a matter of conjecture. It is consistent, however, with the strong structural
patterning of the novel. By 1831, of course, she might simply have decided to translate
her own experience into the rewriting of the novel, for it was certainly the case
that she and Percy Bysshe Shelley sought Italy in 1818, just months after the publication
of Frankenstein, ostensibly for reasons of health.
One consequence of the considerable emendation made to this first chapter of Victor's
narrative is to emphasize how well off his family is. To see the sights of Italy is
one thing; to make a leisurely tour of the country, then extend the excursion to take
in France and Germany, requires substantial means as well as leisure. In the 1818
text the Frankensteins were respected members of their community; by 1831 they have
assumed something of the trappings of aristocracy.