Frankenstein/Philosophy

Imagine a small being coming into this world. Innocent, right? How would you ever imagine this being to ever to take another’s life or make it their life’s work to destroy another’s life. There has been much discussion over If these beings are born with these desires to kill or the instinct to hate.John Locke took an interest in the human body and mind.John Locke was born, like the creature in Frankenstein, with a clean slate. He was not born to write his theories, he was not born to inspire future philosophers and he certainly wasn’t born knowing he was condemned to writing philosophy. He was born like his theory, a clean slate. His life’s working was down to his upbringing and the pure chance of events. This is called Life. These sensations lead to him being intrigued by the human body. He wanted to know, just like most of the philosophers at his time, why and how people develop into who they are. This lead to his theory “Tabula rasa” or the “Blank Slate” theory. This theory claimed that humans are born with nothing imprinted on their clean slate. Their soul is clean and life’s sensations imprint onto this slate which depicts their future. Mary Shelley, an English writer, took inspiration from John Locke’s theories when in deep conversation with her fathers friend. She took great interest and was one of the things that inspired her to write the novel “Frankenstein”. Frankenstein has many quotes, such as “I was benevolent and good; misery made me a fiend”?, that support the theory Tabula rasa and further help the reader to understand that humans are shaped by their past and the past determines their future outcomes. The creature is used as a physical example of the theory and how humans can imprint their life onto another’s.

The Age of enlightenment – also known as the long 18th century- in which occurred over the times 1685-1815 was a time of debate and crossfire between religion and science. People were not only asking why things happened but how they happened without the presence of god.These theories questioned the very beliefs and morals of the church, leaving the highly religious skeptical of the reliability of these theories. Most people were starting to move away from the church and the new theories coming from these newly found philosophers. One of the most popular debates, at the time, was around “The Blank Slate Theory” introduced by John Locke. He stated that humans were a “White paper, void of all characters” and that we were born with an inactive soul awaiting to be activated by the senses. Not only did he John Locke state that we were born without a soul, but he strongly believed that we were born with no “Permanent Inalienable rights” which consisted of three rights; Life, Liberty and Possessions/property.This destroyed the very foundations of the church. The church was run on money in which is donated from its church-goers. The idea of power in which we are born with allowed ministers to claim the wealth they “deserve” and feed off of the less powerful.They believed that god gave them the power of word and they possess the power of the word of god.Donations kept the ministers healthy and housed , however with the the theory that humans are not born with power and everyone is equal which risks their wealth their life is based around. The church had the power in which they believed to have been given by god ( similar power as kings) and these new theories tested the realism of power in which we are born with. His ideas went against the current belief that humans were born possessing rational understanding and basic desires and intentions in which are also known as “human nature”. He thought that we, due to the senses we experience, transfer experiences to knowledge and knowledge then interprets our future self. Gothic fiction fits the theory tabula rasa perfectly. It bases off of the supernatural and is used to scare. Ghosts are the resultant of a heavy soul. A soul in which cannot pass through the afterlife. One that has had a troubled life. A soul in which has been imprinted on and cannot be removed even to death. Mary Shelley, the author of Frankenstein, Uses this idea to enhance the readers experience. To scare them into realizing her intentions behind writing this story. Her intention was to show the dangers of power and that people can be born with a clean slate and without the desires to kill or the intention to hurt, but then turn into someone containing a craving of these “unholy Qualities”.