In her revisions Mary Shelley strengthens the similarities between Victor Frankenstein
and Robert Walton. In this case, although Victor is about to undergo a systematic
education, the 1831 text leaves him virtually as lacking in discipline as Walton represented
himself to be in writing to his sister (1831:I:L1:2 and note). In the context provided
by the terms of Walton's letter, where he remarks how much he needs a friend to help
regulate his mind, Victor's lack of a close associate in these early weeks spent almost
in solitude is ominous.