it, forcefully indicate Victor's awareness of the effect he has had on his audience
over the previous six days. Walton's language, however, coming immediately upon his
assuming what purports to be a narrative objectivity, seems intended to have an even
more pronounced effect on the larger audience of Mary Shelley's novel. Where Walton
may feel he is experiencing an authentic emotionality, we in our greater detachment
may wish instead to discern in Victor's recounted autobiography an accomplished actor's
knowing manipulation of his subject matter and his audience.