David Hume || Frankenstein

“Reason alone cannot be a motive to the will”, part of one of David Hume’s four thesis on his theory of Passion over Reason. This theory states that human decisions are made dominantly by passion not reason. “Beware; for I am fearless, and therefore powerful.” , Mary Shelley’s novel, Frankenstein, portrays examples of this theory in some of it’s characters throughout the journey of Doctor Frankenstein and his creation, The Creature. Wherever one of the characters is making a significant decision, they display evidence of proceeding based on passion and their feelings, rather than logic and reason of the situation. Another theory of David Hume’s – a popular one of his time – was Nurture over Nature. This vitally links to The Creature with his development and learning in the real world. These philosophical ideas of David Hume’s connect well with Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein possibly because they both come from the same time period, David Hume 1711-1776 and Frankenstein being set in 1817.

BP2 – The Creature to Passion over Reason

Frankensteins creation, The Creature, comes into the world not knowing anything about it. Physically, he is reasonably able, but mentally, he is blind. He knows nothing about the real world and how things work, he uses trial and error to understand, such as when he burnt himself on the fire and then learnt that it was hot and later that he could cook his food on it. In these stages of his life he knows no logic, therefore all his decisions are made on passion of what he feels is right, even when he starts to discover more, his decisions tend to still be driven by passion not logic. This reflects David Hume’s main theory of passion over reason to The Creature. When The Creature is telling his story to Doctor Frankenstein, he explains about a time where he went to a cottage and stole food because he was hungry. He camps out in a hovel outside the villagers house and observes them through a crack in the wall, after observing them for a while he feels bad for stealing from them as they are poor, out of this feeling the Creature decides to gather wood for them to compensate for his wrong doing. This decision is made from his passion, from his feeling of guilt, showing how David Hume’s second and third theses of his theory relate to the Creature. Hume’s second thesis is: “Moral distinctions are not derived from reason” and his third following on: “Moral distinctions are derived from the moral sentiments: feelings of approval (esteem, praise) and disapproval (blame) felt by spectators who contemplate a character trait or action. Another time when the Creature displayed traits of this theory was when he killed William, he did not choose to kill him because of logic, he was angry at Frankenstein and wanted him to feel the same way he was feeling. This can relate to Hume’s fourth thesis: “While some virtues and vices are natural, others, including justice, are artificial”. While the Creature makes a lot of important decisions in the novel, he does not do so through logic and reason but through passion and feelings.

BP3 – Victor Frankenstein to Passion over Reason

Along with the Creature, Victor Frankenstein also demonstrates the act of making decisions considering passion above reason. Being a scientist, you may think that Frankenstein is a very logical man, but even his choices are weighted by passion more than reason, especially when his feelings take over near the end of the novel. Further along in the book, the Creature has killed Frankenstein’s brother William, his best friend Henry Clerval, and finally his bride Elizabeth on their wedding night which leads to the death of his father, Alphonse, from grief. Victor is broken. He wants revenge on the Creature for what he has done, so he chases him. He never stops chasing him. Frankenstein follows his creation through Geneva, down to the Mediterranean Sea, onto a boat to the Black Sea, through Russia and eventually ending up on their way into the Arctic Circle (where he meets Walton).

Relate to thesis 1 ^^^^^