Even if we accept, as Dr. Darwin does in the preface to
Frankenstein, that Victor could create a living and thinking
being, there is reason to doubt that Victor is telling the truth.
There are discrepancies or inconsistencies in his story that
Walton does not question. In a court Victor's story would not
be credible. Walton's account could be used to prove that
Frankenstein's story is a fabrication. For example, Victor says
that he first saw the cliffs of England "in the latter days of
December", but then says that he "arrived in England at the
beginning of October." Now there is an interesting story.
It took nine months to travel by sea from a point in sight of
England to one of its harbors? This discrepancy is not an error.
It should not be put away as a careless mistake made by Mary
Shelley in a hurry to finish her first novel. Although she made
many changes and corrections to the first edition and clearly
scrutinized the whole text, she kept this inconsistency in the
book when it was republished thirteen years later. Why?
Because it is part of what she calls "the machinery of a story".
This discrepancy means that Victor has left out some quite
remarkable episode, or he has told Walton a story he has
fabricated, or he has become incompetent as a reporter of
events in which he participated. The story that Victor's enemy
would tell, if it is complete, will vary significantly from the story
we have read. That is for certain. Another discrepancy is found
in the story Victor tells Walton that the monster, his enemy, is
supposed to have told him. If Walton's dates are correct and it
is still the eighteenth century, then either Victor's dates are
incorrect or he has invented at least parts of the story. You see,
it is not possible that Felix could have read Volney's Ruins of
Empires to anyone, unless the chronology has been tampered
with. So, Mary Shelley includes two kinds of discrepancies or
inconsistencies, one kind simple and the other complex. Both
call for re-examination of the story and the possibility that a very
different outcome may be expected.    [Conclusion]
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