Frankenstein 3

• “I believe I left him incredulous to the last, for his constant answer to my unwearied entreaties was the same as that of the Dutch schoolmaster in the Vicar of Wakefield: - ‘I have ten thousand florins a year without Greek, I eat heartily without Greek.’” (p. 53)

The Vicar of Wakefield was written in 1766 by the Irish author Oliver Goldsmith. Shelley is comparing Clerval's father to the stubborn schoolmaster in the novel. The school master believes that “if I don’t use Greek and have succeeded, there is no need for it.” Similar to the school master, Clerval’s father is hard to persuade to accept this type of education as he doesn’t find importance for literature and culture. (Clerval’s father believes it necessary to study the “noble art of bookkeeping” p. 53)

(Works Cited)
"The Vicar of Wakefield." Wikipedia. 22 July 2009. Web. 31 July 2009. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Vicar_of_Wakefield.

(Photo Credit)
The Vicar of Wakefield. Photograph. Google. Web. 13 Sept. 2009. http://www.atlantiszkiado.hu/file/i1239734170511z9qzaxxl.jpg.