My version was the 1818 Thomas Edition. My tag words were as follows:
admiration although appears believed confidence creature deep desire destroyed eloquence excites flow friend friendship gaze history hope interest life lost manner misery mortal neither night noble notices offended overcome pedantry plan pleased possible powers related respecting several silently speaks stranger succeeded suggested therefore throwing true trust utterly veil wise wish
There were several differences between our three versions of the text. My group found that the two different 1818 versions were much more similar than the 1831 version. Both 1818 editions had "friend" and "deep friend" as well as descriptions of the monster and of friendship. However the 1831 text was much darker, foreign, and brought up themes of conversation as opposed to the other two. Overall, the 1818 versions focus more on the emotions while the 1831 version focuses more on the action and motion.
My key bold words were "deep" and "friend." My key words were although, appears, believed, confidence, creature, desire, eloquence, excites, friendship, interests, misery, noble, powers, speaks, therefore, veil.
This helps to understand and visualize the text by providing different sources of emphasis. To me this is like reading a poem in different tones of voices with differing points of focus. Using this program helps to do so with less work :) .
2. Compare textual versions using JUXTA.
JUXTA allows you to compare two different versions side by side, in a much more detailed manner than tag cloud.
Did Mary Shelley write three different novels?
No I don't believe Shelley wrote three different versions of Frankenstein. I believe that in each revision of the novel, she realized something different about her own characters and adjusted the text and emphasis to support it. In this way, Shelley was able to insure she was portraying the characters to the readers in the way that we would best understanding. I think this is the point to revision: to make sure you explain, in the best way possible, which features and actions of the character are most important for the reader to understand.
In these passages, the stranger agrees to different things. Why do these changes matter?
In both 1818 versions, the stranger suggests that friendship is both desirable and possible to attain. However in the 1831 edition, the stranger explains the benefits of having friendship, and explains why it is desireable and necessary to have. These changes matter because, as stated above, they give us as readers differing insights into the thoughts and points of the author and the characters.
How does digitizing these texts help us think about the different versions?
Digitizing helps us visualize the important points in very different ways. In seeing these different versions we can see the different points that the author chose to emphasize each time she revised her novel. In this way we can get a better understanding of both the author's intentions and characterization of those she tries to portray.
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