Lecture Seven:  Reasoning in Frankenstein

Core 155

Spring 2005

I.                   Reason and Rationality in Frankenstein

A.        Both Victor and the creature are extremely reasonable—they are intelligent and are responsive to argument.

B.         Both use reason to rationalize their situations.  Both are victims, and the power of reason helps them spin this.

C.        Reason is really at the heart of their nature as individuals and of their relationship with each other.

1.                  Fathers and sons are related primarily via reason in this book.

2.                  Master/Slave Dialectic and Reason: This dialectic applies to the relationship between the two because of the force of reason.

D.        Note that reason is the engine of unhappiness for both Victor and the creature (pp. 116-117).

III.       Analyzing Arguments in Frankenstein

A.        There are many points at which arguments are found:  Victor’s many (in)decisions, the creature’s decisions concerning the de Lacey’s, etc.

B.         We’ll look at two critical junctures:  the arguments presented by the creature to Victor in the hut on the glacier (Vol. II, Ch. IX), and the argument constructed by Victor on the hut in the Orkneys (Vol. III, Ch. III).

C.                 Creature’s Arguments:

1.         P1:       If I am to be kind and accepting as opposed to enraged and vengeful, I must be with someone who is kind toward me.

            P2:       Humans cannot be kind toward me because of my appearance.

            P3:       If humans can’t be, then someone else must be, or I will wreak havoc.

                        P4:       This someone will have to be created by you.

            __________

            5:         You must create a companion for me.

2.         P1:       If you don’t create a companion for me, I’ll create fear, cause destruction, etc. etc.

            P2:       If you do create a companion, we will run and never be seen again.

            P3:       It is in your best interests to do what will get rid of me.

            __________

            4:         You must create a companion for me.

3.         P1:       You created me and so are obliged to me as your creature.

            P2:       This obligation is in part to be just to me, and do what you can as father to improve my lot.

            P3:       My lot would be most improved by companionship.

            __________

            4:         You must create a companion for me.

D.                 Victor’s Argument:

1.         P1:       If I create a mate for the creature, then

a.                   She might be much more malignant than him.

b.                  She might refuse to go along with him to the wilds of the new world.

c.                   She might hate him and refuse to be a companion.

d.                  She might prefer the “superior beauty” of man.

e.                   She might join with him in being the progenitor of a race of “devils” that would be a bane on humanity.

                                    P2:       Given all of this, I have a duty to humanity not to create a companion for the creature.

                                    P3:       I should do my duty.

                                    __________

                                    4:         I should not create a companion for the creature.

E.                  Thoughts on the arguments

1.         They are one and all moral arguments—they concern the right thing to do in this instance.

2.         The first two arguments are consequentialist and the last two are deontological, or duty-based.  Note that it is the duty-based arguments that are most persuasive to Victor.